the PArent liFe

Taking Your Children Along for the Ride

By BlaIR JanEs

Looking back, I have a lot of fond memories traveling with my family. We went to the beach, Disney World, and took cross-country trips to places like San Diego, Yellowstone and Yosemite. Those trips and the memories connected to them hold very special places in my heart.

One of the coolest trips I took involved my dad driving out to Texas to pick up a semi-truck for a friend. I know it sounds random, but I was fortunate enough to ride along with him. The cool part is my dad took a two-day turnaround job and made it a trip about us. He called it a “Guys Trip.” I was young (and my sisters were more than jealous) and he made a point to make the trip more about the two of us than about picking up a truck. Along the way we stopped at great hole-in-the-wall places and “landmarks” like the World’s Biggest Frying Pan and Ball of Yarn, etc. I may have elaborated on that, but at the time it didn’t really matter where I was because I was with my dad.

Recently, my daughter was going to be competing in a cheerleading competition in Myrtle Beach over Spring Break. You can imagine how dreadful this trip sounded to an 8-year-old boy. So another dad and I decided that instead of flying with everyone else, we would drive, spend some quality time with our boys and try to make the impact on our sons that our fathers did with us.

We started the trip by checking them out of school early, which everyone knows is like winning the lottery for a kid, and hitting the road. Our first stop was in Charleston, South Carolina, where we spent the night in a resort called Wild Dunes. It was on the beach and they offered a ton of things for the boys to get into. The ride to Charleston was much like the trip I experienced as a child. We made pit stops at roadside hotdog stands, found a Bass Pro

Shop (which may have been more about the dads) and bought tons of candy and large ICEEs, which created the need for several bathroom breaks. We ended our day at what seemed like a truck stop Japanese steakhouse, which you can imagine was...wonderful.

The next morning we arranged for tennis lessons for Connor and Cole. It turned out they overbooked the regular tennis pros so they called in a former pro who was on leave from active duty in the army. He was wonderful and our boys enjoyed those two hours on the court mainly because of him. I have to say, it was a pretty proud and humbling moment to witness him spending his time off with my son.

After the lesson, we went in search of breakfast and then made our way to Patriots Point, home of the USS Laffey, USS Yorktown and USS Clamagore. We spent hours navigating our country’s history and even ended with a private helicopter tour around the bay. By 1 p.m. or so we had experienced all the boys cared to see and decided to go into downtown Charleston. We ate sushi, went to the aquarium, got haircuts, bought trinkets in the straw market and ended that fine day with ice cream.

The next day we had to make our way toward the competition and start Spring Break. The week to come was going to be fun and full of entertainment, but I think our mini guys trip made a mark on our boys because it was just us. We laughed together and created memories that I am certain will last a lifetime. Having now experienced both sides of the “Guys Trip,” I am certain the trip my dad took me on made as much as an impact on him as it did on me.

Life is hectic. It gets busy and we often get lost in the shuffle of trying to juggle everything. Take the time to remove yourself and your children from your everyday environment and experience what you can teach each other. You might find yourself looking back and truly cherishing (and even replicating) those memories you made as a child. 