I took my first trip with all 7 kiddos in our Class C. We wanted to go farther, and for a longer time, but current events are keeping us close to the sticks and bricks house this year.
We left NJ and stayed in the Greenbelt, MD area, boondocking at Walmarts and showering/dumping/filling at Greenbelt Park. We found some nice parks in that area where we hiked and played basketball and football and caught critters along the lake. We traveled around Washington, DC and Baltimore, mostly. We saw Arlington Cemetery, with the changing of the guard (although one little piss-ant missed that) and the Natural History Museum in Washington, DC. We had been to DC before so we only hit those two places, which we hadn't seen before. Tuesdays are free at that museum. Normally there's a fee. I parked at a meter but got a ticket for not moving after 2 hours. They were there 2 hours and 15 minutes after I had parked! They don't miss a thing, do they? I don't mind the $25 parking ticket. The parking garage would've cost as much and we were parked just outside the museum, so very little walking was involved. In Baltimore, we visited the Edgar Allen Poe House (the piss-ant almost missed this, too, but he sucked it up and muddled through it) and Fort McHenry, where we watched reenactors and helped change and fold the flag, and we rode the water taxi around the harbor. We also went to "Top of the World" (or whatever it's called). We spent a few hot days at Six Flags America and one day at the Jersey Shore.
I'd say most of us had fun most of the time. We enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit, Rich learned about the platypus, Arthur learned about otters, or was it sea lions?, which he says he's never heard of before. The littles liked everything. A few of the older boys got pretty crabby, at times. The piss-ant ran away 3 times in one day in DC. At the sticks and bricks house, we define running away as 'leaving the property without permission.' Well, it's pretty easy to 'leave the property' in an RV so we need to define an area around the RV but he went so far there was no mistaking it classified as running away. He was pretty hot and tired, add a little PTSD and voilà ... you get a runner. In our family, the consequence for running away is that everyone else gets to go out for ice cream. We tried, but the place we passed was sold out. Go figure. I had absolutely no intention of walking anywhere else in search of ice cream. My feet were screaming with pain. Believe it or not, though, that consequence works really well. I put it in place when my adult daughter, who was a constant runner, caused so much stress in the family I decided to reward those who didn't run. It has kept many a runner on my property.
I got pretty crabby myself, at times. Mine was a predictable crabbiness: every morning, when kiddos are unfocused and slow moving, and every night, when kiddos are unfocused and slow moving. lol. Their toy clutter on the floor is my biggest beef, as I don't appreciate stepping on it all on the way to the bathroom in the back. Me yelling about their toy clutter is probably their biggest beef. Ha, I tossed some toys out of the RV one night and threw away one of our basketballs ... seriously, how many basketballs do we really need for 4 boys? I'd think one is enough. Two, tops. One boy said he sat up until after midnight making sure no one was going to steal the toys sitting at the curb outside the RV! lol. I told him to put them away next time and he won't have to worry about that.
I still have to pull out the entertainment section of the RV to add another bench bed with storage underneath, as one kiddo doesn't have a bed and two of us don't have a cubby to store our clothes. The added storage space will help with the toy clutter issue. I have a few other toy storage ideas, too. Once that issue is resolved, I think the oldest boys will feel better about things. I had to fix a few things in the RV while we traveled, but nothing major. They really are not designed for long-term travel with a half dozen kiddos.
Since my kiddos are adopted, some from very hard places, they can have some pretty big attitudes. Plus, we have now entered the realm of teenagerdom. BIG attitudes. One has sensory issues and just doesn't like being surrounded by noise ... even tho he makes a fair bit of noise himself. Another has a little fit every time he doesn't get what he perceives he deserves, which happens pretty darn often. Another must win every argument or discussion. No. Matter. What. Still another is on the go constantly. And I mean constantly. I've never seen anything like it. Yet another is as slow as molasses, so I feel as though I'm being pulled in both directions, forward and backward, at the same time. Even with all that, I had a good time.
I was a bit crabby being back in the sticks and bricks house again. I admit, we did come home a little earlier than planned due to a few attitudes that just made each activity less fun for all, which was one reason I was crabby. Plus, we cleaned the house real good before we left and told my oldest son it had better look just as good when we return. Alas, the dogs went nuts when they were home alone while he was at work and they completely destroyed the place: garbage everywhere, curtains ripped or pulled off the walls, one even broke a bedroom window with his face and left blood all over the nearest bed, curtains, etc. My son attempted to clean it but ...
We are back to our sticks and bricks routine. The piss-ant, feeling badly about his part of the big attitude on the trip, decided today he'd be extra helpful to make up for any misery he may have caused the last few days of our trip. They really are very sweet, loving kiddos most of the time. We finally got up on time today, after two days of sleeping until almost noon, to get the two youngest boys off to summer school only to have one sent home with lice! ugh. I have never had lice in all my parenting years. I have no idea where he would've picked up lice on this trip but, since he shares a bunk, two of them had it. The two with long hair. So, now their beautiful locks are gone and I spent the day cleaning the house like I've never cleaned before. Tomorrow I'll tackle the RV. I'm not looking forward to it. Maybe the piss-ant will still be in his extra helpful mode. ;-)
