I Just Want You to Know_ Letters to My Kids on Love, Faith, and Family - Kate Gosselin [13]
That Sunday, Jon and I secured the kids in their car seats and looped the drawstrings through their buckles. Each got a juice cup, and for the next hour they happily ate their breakfast. This was a logistical breakthrough! From then on, we were never late to church. It may seem like a small victory to some, but to us it was huge. It gave us the confidence we needed to attempt other kinds of travel. Our dry cereal solution convinced us that with enough forethought and preparation we could successfully navigate the outside world.
Oh, how wrong we were. No matter how hard Jon and I worked to master logistics for different situations, it turned out there were some things that even we couldn’t plan for.
For Memorial Day 2006, Jon and I wanted to do something special with the kids. We had mastered our weekly visit to church; it was time to take another step. Finances were still an issue. Whatever we did had to be free because we didn’t have extra money. We decided on the zoo, but not just any zoo. We wanted to go to the National Zoo in Washington, DC. In typical Gosselin style, we didn’t step out of our comfort zone—we plunged.
This would be our first road trip in the Big Blue Bus and we had a couple of things to deal with first. The first was the lack of rear air-conditioning—a $4,000 option we couldn’t afford. We bought clip-on fans and did whatever we could to make it cool enough to drive, but on really hot afternoons it wasn’t safe for the kids.
Second, while we had unlimited options for customizing a van like ours, we couldn’t afford any of them. To make the bus work for us, we learned to customize it ourselves. For example, the bus didn’t have a front console so I found a cooler with a pop-up tray and cup holders. That made it easier to store and serve the juice I always brought with us. Juice boxes were expensive so I used juice from bottles and diluted it.
I found plastic drawers that fit under the van seats and stocked them with essentials like diapers and wipes. But I also included other supplies like disposable bibs, trash bags, Band-Aids, paper towels, blankets, and an extra outfit for each kid. Whatever we could possibly need, it was there and neatly organized. For a while, I even put in a pack of swimmies in case we ended up at a friend’s house to swim.
We customized that van in ways that it was never meant to be customized, but I wanted to make sure we always had what we needed. I took great pride in restocking the bus. Because the van was so well supplied, even if I forgot something, chances were that I could make do with what I had. And having what we needed was the difference between a miserable trip and a wonderful trip. It’s also why a long car ride didn’t scare me. We were prepared.
Jon even researched the zoo’s terrain. When he learned there were hills, we decided to take our six-seat stroller with big wheels instead of our two three-seat strollers with very small wheels. Since the kids sat two-by-two with each row higher than the one before it, this would give each child an unobstructed view of the animals.
On the big day, I packed breakfast, lunch, and extra snacks. When traveling, food does wonders for our kids! Jon loaded the van and checked the weather. It was supposed to be overcast with no precipitation.
“It’s not supposed to rain, right?” I asked.
“Nope, it’s not supposed to rain,” said Jon as he removed the front wheel of the stroller so he could fit it into the back of the bus.
The last thing we packed before leaving was the comfort bag. Each child used a different stuffed animal or blanket to help them fall asleep. Alexis had her pink blankie. Leah and Aaden had their chewies