Divorced with children - what does that mean for the summer? If you are me, it doesn't mean much. My kids should spend most of the summer with their Dad, but in reality they spend it with me. The 8 year old spends about a week with his Dad, and the 14 year old spends about a day. Outside of that, summer plans and arrangements are up to me.
This leaves me planning summer activities, including any solo travel for moi. This year, I took a trip to Aruba alone. This meant not only planning my trip, but finding reliable child care for my kids. I have an incredibly busy family, and the youngest children which makes planning a trip like this incredible. I was in planning extreme mode.
To get ready for the trip, I made arrangements for both of my kids. My oldest, the 14 year old, was going to New York with her class for 4 days. She would be flying out the same day I was, so her bags would be pre-packed. She returned from Outdoor School with one day to spare before the New York trip, leaving no time for error in readying her for take off. Electronics recharged, battery back up (in-case); headphone checks; money prep.
Her itinerary had to be distributed in 3 different places so that she would be dropped off in one location, picked up from another, and delivered to my Mom to finish out the school week until I returned from Aruba.
My youngest would be going to my Moms house, where he would be transported daily to and from school and myriad appointments by his older cousin, with the use of my car. His clothes had to be packed for a week . School uniforms, play clothes, night clothes, church clothes plus personal car items, electronics, toys, books and shoes.
This all was delivered a day early to my Moms house along with medicines and itinerary. Itinerary had to be distributed to Big Cousin and Dad.
His Dad had a plan in place to pick him up on the Tuesday of the week I left and bring him back on Thursday evening. In the case that it did not materialize, I had a talk to mentally prepare my son, explaining that his big cousin would most likely pick him daily from Grandma's house and from school. His Dad picked him up the day before I returned from Aruba.
Finally I packed myself - a day early. I use lists for all of our packing because I will forget and leave the most important things. I was thorough - 5 bathing suits and some shorts. Okay, I packed a little more.
It is no wonder I fell asleep on the plane, which is not my intention. I want to be awake and alert in case I need to respond to anything that might go wrong with the flight. I want to live through any mishap. Sleeping people don't make it through a crash. I was just too exhausted to stay awake. Thank God we arrived safely in Aruba.
Traveling with kids is an experience, whether or not your destination is the same. There is so much packing to be done. You can never really just through them in the car, on a plane, or on a boat without prior planning. That is - unless you plan to spend your vacation time perplexed and out of sorts trying to find the stuff you need because of careless planning.
What have your travel experiences been like with or without your children? I am list oriented and a planner by nature, unable to imagine undertaking such a trip without a plan and a contingency plan. What do you do to get ready for a big trip? Being divorced alters the planning stage a little for us - I do share certain parts of my itinerary with my ex spouse as it relates to the children. What are your thoughts on that? I would love to hear from you in the comments!
Note: Legal arrangements are binding - theoretically. You will find that if you are worth your salt as a parent, you end up doing what is best for your kids, and not what is best for the law.
This leaves me planning summer activities, including any solo travel for moi. This year, I took a trip to Aruba alone. This meant not only planning my trip, but finding reliable child care for my kids. I have an incredibly busy family, and the youngest children which makes planning a trip like this incredible. I was in planning extreme mode. 
To get ready for the trip, I made arrangements for both of my kids. My oldest, the 14 year old, was going to New York with her class for 4 days. She would be flying out the same day I was, so her bags would be pre-packed. She returned from Outdoor School with one day to spare before the New York trip, leaving no time for error in readying her for take off. Electronics recharged, battery back up (in-case); headphone checks; money prep.
My youngest would be going to my Moms house, where he would be transported daily to and from school and myriad appointments by his older cousin, with the use of my car. His clothes had to be packed for a week . School uniforms, play clothes, night clothes, church clothes plus personal car items, electronics, toys, books and shoes.
This all was delivered a day early to my Moms house along with medicines and itinerary. Itinerary had to be distributed to Big Cousin and Dad.His Dad had a plan in place to pick him up on the Tuesday of the week I left and bring him back on Thursday evening. In the case that it did not materialize, I had a talk to mentally prepare my son, explaining that his big cousin would most likely pick him daily from Grandma's house and from school. His Dad picked him up the day before I returned from Aruba.
Finally I packed myself - a day early. I use lists for all of our packing because I will forget and leave the most important things. I was thorough - 5 bathing suits and some shorts. Okay, I packed a little more.
Traveling with kids is an experience, whether or not your destination is the same. There is so much packing to be done. You can never really just through them in the car, on a plane, or on a boat without prior planning. That is - unless you plan to spend your vacation time perplexed and out of sorts trying to find the stuff you need because of careless planning.
What have your travel experiences been like with or without your children? I am list oriented and a planner by nature, unable to imagine undertaking such a trip without a plan and a contingency plan. What do you do to get ready for a big trip? Being divorced alters the planning stage a little for us - I do share certain parts of my itinerary with my ex spouse as it relates to the children. What are your thoughts on that? I would love to hear from you in the comments!
Split Summers or Traveling with kids while divorced blackdivorcedandvirtuous.blogspot.com/2012/06/split-…
— Blck Divrcd Virtuous (@BDandV) June 23, 2012
When we went to the beach a couple of weeks ago, I never thought of how much stuff I would needed to pack just for a three day trip. I had a mental list and was just going through it for the kids bags and my own. Hubby did packed his own. I can understand how exhausting it can be trying to make sure you have everything.
ReplyDeleteI think you had a good idea of keeping your ex in the loop making sure that you he had information on where the kids were going to be and such in case anything will happen.
Who ever knew how much coordination it would take for such a short trip! It is amazing.
DeleteI always lay out everyone's clothes to make sure that I have everything before packing. Luckily, my kids don't take daily medication. So, other than clothes and toys, there isn't much we need.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do that as well! Great technique. I pack advil and sinus medications depending on where we are traveling and for how long.
DeleteDon't remember the kids traveling days -- but do remember I always left a signed release so that anyone who was watching them could OK medical treatment for them ~~ just in case. Never can be too sure and when you are on a plane, out of reach, or in another country, it's not all that easy to be accessable.
ReplyDeleteAND now that its hubby and me... we went to Europe for 8 days with ONE bag weighing 38lbs. -- came back with one bag amazingly weighing 38lbs. I plan, but if we forgot something - we just buy it. If it's cold and we didn't figure on that we buy hoodies, whatever it takes to just enjoy the time away!
You have so much discipline to get everything packed for the three of you so early. Kudos to you Momma!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a LOT of work all for a little vacation! lol
ReplyDeleteI enjoy traveling with the kids - though I prefer to bring one at a time. In March, my 7 year old and I visited Chicago and it was amazing. It would have been stressful with all three of them. I know as they get older it might be easier but for now, I try to stick with just one for each trip.
My girlfriend and I have never traveled anywhere without the kids but I am planning a day trip for us this fall.
Whew, I need a nap after reading this! I make lists because I always forget something.
ReplyDeleteWe've traveled internationally with my son since he was 10 months old and packing for a baby is a feat in and of itself! He is now 5 and I'm currently starting to pack for a trip to Punta Cana next week. Like you, I make lists to remind myself of everything I need to bring.
ReplyDeleteMy ex does not see bub often so I am used to arranging everything with or around bub. Thanks for adding things I did not think of!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you were very organized. I do allot of lists!
ReplyDelete