For the Road

Last weekend we made a quick trip west for a small family gathering. With the Rocky Mountains in sight, Greg, Jess, the grands, and I spent not quite 36 hours with cousins, their spouses, and their kids, and our last remaining uncle. 

This trip is just under a 7-hour drive if Greg and I go by ourselves (and that's stopping at a restaurant for a meal on the way). As you can imagine, it takes a bit longer than that with three grands, including one who is pretty much potty-trained, but knows how to use that s"pretty much" when she wants to get out of her car seat. Ahem. 

The kids have books and Kindles and all manner of toys to occupy their attention on the road, of course. They have drinks and snacks and need wipes and drop stuff. The back seat looks like a war zone by the time they climb out of it. Well, this trip was going to be different. I saw this idea somewhere on the World-Wide Web (sorry, didn't note the source) and thought it to be brilliant. I purchased the necessary components months ago. Bradley and I spend part of an afternoon with the Cricut, cutting vinyl names and adhering them to these handy-dandy bathroom caddies:

We also labeled a drink bottle for each child. They fit perfectly in the small compartment of the caddy. Then there's a compartment perfect for snacks, and the long one on the other side works for books, notepads, or their Kindles. 

We used scraps of vinyl and Bradley learned to "weed" our letters (pulling out the centers of letters like "A" and "D", and how to use transfer tape to adhere them to the caddies and bottles. It was a nice afternoon working together. 

I stacked the three caddies together and tucked the water bottles into the long section of the top one. They were placed safely on the kitchen counter so as to be easy to grab the next morning before we walked out the door - and I did think about grabbing them. I thought, "Grab those caddies last thing and take them out when you leave." Of course I didn't grab them, and they sat safely on the kitchen counter until we returned home. Sigh. 

Jess took them home to use in her car. She drives to Lincoln with the kids regularly, and looks forward to getting good use out of them. I hope she shares with me that they work great and the kids enjoy using them. I did take one of the caddies along when I recently took Silas and Layla to Sioux City, and it was a bit big for Layla to hang onto while strapped in her seat. I think if she had someone in the backseat with her, she could get good use of it. It was a good way to keep her small books picked up off the floor of the car, though.

I'm thinking they'd make good Christmas gifts for the younger set of nieces and nephews in the family. I also think I'd like one for holding my needlework, phone, my Kindle, or whatever I take on road trips to keep myself busy. 

Caddies were purchased at Dollar Tree for, well, a dollar. Each. Water bottles were 88¢ each at the mart of Wal. 

Just remember to take them along when you head out of the house to get in the car. They work better that way.