RV Road Trip!

For James' 12th birthday, we pulled out all the stops. It helps that his wishes aligned very, very well with the wishes of others in our family. In other words, he chose wisely. One of his requests was that we spend Fall Break on an RV trip to visit the largest car museum in the United States: The Gilmore Car Musem. That may sound familiar because we drove out to visit it in February of this year. Alex, Matthew and I were on board with it. Bobby's energy level has been unpredictable, so he stayed home, and Robert stayed home because that is honestly where he loves to be more than anywhere else: at home with no siblings.

The RV part of the trip was great! We rented one through Outdoorsy, which is sort of like AirBnB or VRBO for motor homes. The owners showed us how to use it and we were on our way! That was hands-down the best camping I've ever experienced. Glamping. There was a real kitchen and fridge, real beds, a furnace, a clean and private bathroom, and a hard shell around us to protect us from the elements. There was a lot of rain our first night. The wind rocked the RV back and forth. Thankfully, the two younger boys slept through it all. Unfortunately, the dramatic shift in air pressure triggered a migraine for Alex. Not a fun night for either of us.

One AMAZING thing about the RV trip was having a kitchen and bathroom with us at all times. My kids don't have adventurous pallets. We really do best with familiar foods in familiar forms at consistent times. And with Matthew being vegetarian, the only thing he eats at restaurants these days is cheese pizza, mac and cheese, or grilled cheese. He's pretty bored of all that. So, having a kitchen was perfect. There was a moment at Niagara Falls when one kid really had to use the bathroom and the other kid was starving. We were pretty much ready to leave anyway. We hopped back into the RV and I whipped up a batch of bean nachos before we left the parking lot. 

There are a few things about this trip that I hope never to repeat:

• No more working vacations: all three kids were missing school to come on this trip. Yeah, I didn't plan that properly. Initially, I thought all schools were on Fall Break that week, but it turns out Alex's online college courses and the boys' school did NOT take a Fall Break that week. So, everyone had work to do. If this had been last year with both little boys in elementary school at Yankee Ridge, we would have had 3 worksheets and a couple of coloring pages for each of them. Easy peasy! No such luck this time. James had a genealogy poster project (in French!), Matthew had chapters to read and questions to answer, James had prime factorization and LCM and GCF, Matthew had equivalent fractions and long division and so much 2 digit multiplication. Through Google Classroom, James was able to do almost all of the classwork the same day his classmates did it, then the homework on top of that. We spent hours and hours on school work that the boys just didn't want to do and just didn't have the attention span for. Schoolwork at school and homework at home from now on. No more working vacations. Ugh.
• No more solo driving the RV. I was alone in the front seat while the kids slept, snacked, listened to stories, read, and snuggled in blankets. Alex spent 90% of the vacation in the back bedroom. If we had been in the van, Alex would have sat up front with me and helped with the boys' needs. 
• I'd rather not drive the RV through town. It wasn't too unwieldy, but a smaller car would have been nice for the outings. 
• The longest we stayed in one campsite was 2 nights. That's a lot of packing and unpacking, hooking and unhooking. I'll stay longer at campsites next time.
• I won't give up the master bedroom to any of the kids next time, either. I hoped Alex would be a happier, more helpful co-pilot if he had a place to call his own. It turns out I also need a place to call my own! And if I'm going to do all the driving, meal prep, planning, navigating, and paying, I'm going to be sleeping in a bigger, softer bed with a bedroom door. 

Now for a few photos:

The RV! Each kid is pointing roughly to where they slept in the van.

Horseshoe Falls, Niagara City, Ontario, Canada

Matthew demonstrating how loud the falls were. We were in the tunnels behind the falls and this was one of the openings.

Gilmore Car Museum. James is too cool to smile. Matthew's all about the laughs.

Here, we're waiting at a food truck for the best poutine in town (according to the reviews). Poutine is a dish most popular in Quebec, but found all over Canada. It's a plate of hot French fries with cheese curds sprinkled on top and melting together, then topped with a generous scoop of mushroom or beef gravy. Alex and I thought it was spectacular. The little boys opted for plain hand cut fries, which were also sensational.

More waiting. Good food takes time, man.

Alex chilling in the RV's master bedroom.

This is the view of the RV interior from the Master Bedroom. Matthew is up in the loft playing video games after his homework was done. James is at the kitchen table still working. You can't see much of him because he's hiding from the camera.

Here, he cooperated with a photo. The loft curtains are drawn so Matthew's video games are less of a distraction. 

Prime factorization.

James' family tree in French.

Matthew meets The Fonz at the Gilmore Car Museum. He and James have a friend named Alfonso who goes by "Fonzy."

Three of us in a ferris wheel ride at the Air Zoo Museum near Kalamazoo, MI. Matthew was initially terrified at the notion, but we gently coaxed him on. He had a great time! I love Prozac. It makes the world so much more accessible to Matthew. 

Alex and I tried out the Paratrooper Ride at the Air Zoo. The bench bounces up and down, giving you that crazy stomach feeling. Matthew took the picture. James didn't feel up to the rides today. Traveling can make him nauseous sometimes.