Vacation!

The boys and I are leaving tomorrow morning for a week-long vacation at the beach. I cannot wait. It's going to be a great set-up - we are renting a house on the beach with its own swimming pool, along with my dad and step-mom, my sister and her family (cannot wait to see big pregnant Jenny), my brother and his wife, and my cool cousin Angie and her daughters. Vickie is All Geared Up about this trip and has reportedly been buying buckets and shovels for the kids, making t-shirts for them all to wear, and baking cookies shaped like shells and sailboats. It's going to be the best of all worlds- we can have family time, in which Steve, Jack, and I chase waves together. We can have extended family time, in which Angie declares that it's "Wine o' clock" and we all get tipsy playing Trivial Pursuit. Or take Devin, Caitlin, and Elizabeth to play mini-golf or to see Superman. And we can have Steve-Betsy time, in which we hand Jack off to one of his eager grandparents and go for a walk on the beach.

The one thing I am not looking forward to is the drive. It will take about 7 hours to get from Stately Wasser Manor to Topsail Island. Jack never got the memo that babies love the car and sleep the entire time. Steve and I are arming ourselves to try to make the ride as enjoyable as possible for Jack, which in turn will make it enjoyable for us. In my bag of tricks are the following:
• Plans to make frequent stops to let Jack run around and stretch his legs. I will keep my eyes peeled for, say, a McDonald's with a playland
• All kinds of snacks, served in the new, Cubproof Snack Traps
• Roary, lifesaver that he is
• Magnadoodle
• Picture books for us to read together (I briefly entertained the thought that I might be able to sit in the front seat with my husband like a normal adult, but that is clearly a fantasy)
• Puppets (Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Fancy Mouse)
• DVD player

That's right, people. I am a Bad Mommy and fully intend to rot my son's brain by piling on the DVDs, and anybody who has a problem with that can suck it. I have packed approximately one billion hours worth of kid programming, including Elmo's World, Sesame Street, three Muppet movies, and the first seasons of both Fraggle Rock and The Muppet Show. And this way, we can answer the eternal question: Is there a limit to how much Elmo Jack is willing to watch in one sitting?

I am guessing not.