Busy Mom

Monday, December 07, 2009

Holiday Road Trip $200 Visa Gift Card Contest from Sprint

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Sprint


When my older kids were young, about 1 and 3 years old, we took a road trip to visit my father-in-law for the holidays. Even though the kids were young, we needed to make the 3 hour trip just for the day because he wasn't in the best of health.

The following story is true. It doesn't sound true, but believe you me, it is very, very true.

Things started out normally enough, we left the house and stopped a couple of miles from home to get some cash before we got on the Interstate. What happened next is kind of a blur, but somehow, as we drove away from the ATM, we ended with the car straddling a large curb in the middle of a very empty parking lot. We took the turn too wide or something.

To make matters worse, the curb was alongside a ditch which was alongside a busy street where pretty much everyone in the area was traveling back from church.

As we examined our car teetering on the curb and possibly entering the ditch, it became apparent to me that I needed to get the kids out of their seats. I worked the stroller out of the trunk and pushed the kids around the mall parking lot until the tow truck arrived and my husband simmered down.

After getting the car unstuck, we hit the road.

About an hour or so into the trip, I realized the one year old felt too warm. Way too warm and his ear hurt. We stopped at some exit in the middle of nowhere to try to find some ibuprofen or something and to get something to eat.

We went into the burger place for the older child to go to the bathroom, got some food, came back out and the car was gone. Much panic ensued until we realized we had come out a door opposite the side we entered. Yep, the car was safe and sound right where we left it.

A couple of very noisy hours later (raging ear infection, driving over a mountain) we were getting closer to my father-in-law's house. He and my brothers-in-law lived in a very rural area, and it was hard to remember exactly how to get there, so we called for directions.

My brother-in-law gave us some directions, but as he had a bit of "liquid cheer" on board those directions didn't quite work out and we actually ended up in another state. We called again, and he said he'd meet us at a restaurant and lead us back to the house. We found where the restaurant should have been, but apparently it had burned down.

Meanwhile, note we had been in the car for over four hours with a 3 year old and a screaming toddler with an ear infection after having had our car towed off a curb in an empty parking lot.

Somehow, we met up with my brother-in-law and he led us back to the house. The trip seemed to take forever winding up and down two lane roads deep into the country. When we finally arrived at the house, he told us he had taken the "scenic route" so we could "see the country".

As it was occupied by a bunch of bachelors out in the country, the house wasn't really fit for young kids. OK, I was afraid to put the crawling (and sick) kid on the floor, even. The kids' 12 year old cousin was there, so he took them outside for a little while. Somehow, the one year old (whose medicine had apparently kicked in), got into the dog's wading pool and we discovered that somewhere along the line, we had used the last clean set of clothes we had for him and were close to running out of diapers.

I don't remember exactly what we did about that, but we endured the rest of the day and, to my relief, it was finally time to go home. Night fell, we packed the car, said our goodbyes and got in the car.

The car wouldn't start.

Let me repeat that: the car Would. Not. Start.

My brother-in-law is very mechanically inclined, and I got worried when he couldn't get it going. There was no way in the world we could have spent the night there, so we tried to think of a plan.

The big city was about an hour away and we called a friend willing to host us, and my brother-in-law was going to drive us there and we could figure out the car later. But? He only had a pick up truck and we couldn't all fit into it. At this point, angels intervened or something because the car started after my brother-in-law tried "one more thing".

We couldn't get out of there fast enough.

About an hour into the drive, one of my husband's contact lenses (the ones he needs to, you know...SEE to drive) just fell out of his eye, never to be seen again. The sick kid was getting sicker, the three year old was being a three year old, so we needed to get off the road and regroup.

We decided to go to a McDonald's we knew was just up the road, since it was late on a Sunday night and very close to Christmas, we figured it would be open. When we got there? Not only was it closed, it had gone out of business and was boarded up tight. I mean, really? When was the last time you ran into an abandoned McDonald's?

We eventually regrouped and were in the home stretch of the trip when we rounded a curve on the Interstate and saw...a huge traffic jam.

Somehow, we made it home, the sick kid recovered with his hearing intact (debatable now, though since he is a teenager), and we're still married. But, now? Christmas happens at our house.

THE CONTEST

Enter to win a $200 Visa Gift Card.

To enter, leave me a comment below and tell me your funniest or most memorable holiday road trip - or you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below.

The contest will begin at Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 9 am and will end Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 5:00 pm. Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.

Rules:

* No duplicate comments.
* You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
* You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
* This giveaway is open to US Residents aged 18 and older
* Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
* You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
* Please see the official rules here: Official rules


Don't forget, you have 8 other chances to win! Visit the BlogHer.com special offers page - you've got 9 chances to win a $200 Visa Gift Card!.

Be sure to visit me at Busy Mom Blog!

75 Comments:

  • My most memorable holiday road trip was traveling to Houston for Christmas to meet my mom's boyfriend's family when I was about 12. It was incredibly awkward. First of all there were cultural differences (the family was Filipino), then it was just weird for me to watch them have their Christmas while I was the outsider. After that trip my mother broke up with the guy, because she realized she liked his family more than she liked him!

    mami2jcn at gmail dot com

    By Blogger Mami2jcn, At 3:43 PM, December 08, 2009  

  • I blogged about this:

    http://grand-giveaways.blogspot.com/2009/12/holiday-road-trip-giveaways.html


    mami2jcn at gmail dot com

    By Blogger Mami2jcn, At 3:44 PM, December 08, 2009  

  • Last year on Christmas we all got snowed in at my sister's house. In the morning we made a huge breakfast spread and played games until the snow stopped and we could dig out the cars. It was nice staying an extra day!

    By Blogger megatonk, At 5:11 PM, December 08, 2009  

  • My best holiday road trip story is when we went Christmas shopping, and for some reason, paid no attention to the weather forecast for the day. When we walked out of the mall later that afternoon, it had snowed several inches and counting! The problem was that we were two hours from home and when it snows here in Missouri, that's a big deal. It took us a few hours just to get out of the parking lot, and the 2 hour trip home ended up being 6 hours long. My poor Mom had to drive 30 mph on the snowy highway with my young brother and me in the backseat! Thankfully we made it home safe and sound, but it was scary at the time. Now we can look back and laugh at how clueless we were to the snow forecast that day!

    mdmerenghi@gmail.com

    By Blogger Mindy, At 11:46 PM, December 08, 2009  

  • My most memorable holiday road trip….when I was little we never spent holidays with grandparents. Just couldnt with dad’s job. But one year, we somehow could do it. We were going on road trip and we had to bring all our gifts to open on christmas morning. Dad’s truck was so full he couldn’t see! We had a camper on the back….stuffed!!! My grandparents laughed so hard when they saw us. Memorable though!!

    afrugalfriend@hotmail.com

    By Blogger Debra, At 1:40 AM, December 09, 2009  

  • My most memorable Christmas was the year that my mom and step-dad got married. Between the two of them there were 5 children and thus we had huge extended family Christmas. Any way, on the way to my Grandma and Grandpa’s house my step-dad decided to turn on some Christmas music in the vehicle. Of course the only station he could tune in was one playing newer songs, and so on the 2 1/2 hour trip to their house we heard the “Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer” song about 3 times. Needless to say all 5 of us kids remembered those exact words from that song and only those words. So, when we finally arrived at the grandparents house we were eager to recite some “carols” for them in true Christmas fashion. Our parents were mortified to hear that the first song of our choice was the “Grandma Got Ran Over By A Reindeer” one which we sang over and over again and only that line. Thank goodness Grandma just thought that that was hilarious and laughed it off.

    catrisha{underscore}tittle{at}yahoo{dot}com

    By Blogger Catrisha T, At 10:16 PM, December 09, 2009  

  • We travel every year and stay with my in-laws for about a week after Christmas. Christmas day, we visit 2 or 4 family Christmas parties. One year, we didn't get very far...ok, we didn't get out of the driveway, before we got my wife's car buried in a 3 foot snow drift. It took an hour to dig it out. Needless to say, the rest of the day was quite stressful for me because of the way it started.

    By Blogger matt0701, At 8:17 AM, December 10, 2009  

  • No holiday road trips, but recent trip at http://bit.ly/737lSH
    kc@mominthecity.com

    By Anonymous Kimberly/Mom in the City, At 5:10 PM, December 10, 2009  

  • My most memorable holiday road trip was from Texas to North Carolina with our son when he was just a month old. We never imagined that you would have to take so much stuff for a baby! We had to stop every hour or so because I was breastfeeding and to feed him we had to take him out of the car seat. To top it all off it snowed and we had to drive in a blizzard! What a trip!
    jedoggett@embarqmail.com

    By Blogger Unknown, At 7:23 PM, December 10, 2009  

  • My eventful holiday road trip was a road trip to Disney World, Florida from Louisiana with three small kids. Just know, that we stopped a lot for bathroom time. It was a long 10 hour trip that we settled for flying the next time we take a trip there.

    brownatural @ gmail dot com

    By Blogger Ann, At 3:26 PM, December 11, 2009  

  • Tweeted
    http://twitter.com/unluckymrsmom/status/6579264703

    By Blogger Ann, At 3:26 PM, December 11, 2009  

  • My funniest road trip story was when I was younger my family and I lived in the Midwest and traveled to CT to visit family one summer. The family we were visiting thought it would be funny to leave seafood tucked away under the seat before we left. The whole drive home everyone was blaming everyone for the smell. We searched and searched but they hid it well. Eventually we decided it must just be in the carpet. It was a few days after we got home that it was finally discovered! Funny for them.... :)
    brownfamilyfive at verizon dot net

    By Blogger The Brown family, At 9:20 PM, December 11, 2009  

  • our craziest road trip was when my sister took over a car trip when she and my mom and brother were moving me up to school a week after the New Year and instead of taking us to my college accidentally drove us back home because she everyone was asleep and she was too proud to use GPS. not funny then but hilarious now! :)

    dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com

    By Blogger DG, At 2:39 PM, December 12, 2009  

  • http://twitter.com/DeeGee13/status/6609030989

    tweeted!

    dreamzz12{at}aol{dot}com

    By Blogger DG, At 2:55 PM, December 12, 2009  

  • My most memorable holiday trip wwas one where my dad had decided to take us ice skating and sledding on the property he owned out in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain. We took two cars--an old minivan with no snow tires, and my dad's new Jeep. The access road is on the side of a mountain, crosses a bridge, and is frozen solid from October-March every year. We got about 50 feet down the road when the van started skidding. We were on a sheet of solid ice, and the van jacknifed. We were skidding sideways down the mountain, and we were right along the edge of an embankment. It was a straight drop down into the creek, with nothing but a few trees to break the fall. All the kids were crying, my mom was panicking and yelling at us to be quiet, and my dad was standing at the top of the road yelling for her to let off the brakes and steer. The car eventually stopped when a tire hit a rock, and my mom had everyone crawl out the front passenger door (she didn't want us below the car, in case it should begin sliding downhill again.)



    We got out and stood on the ice, and my dad hooked the front of the van to his jeep and tried to striaghten it out. He got about halfway there, and the cable broke. The van ended up over the cliff and in the creek! No one was hurt, thank god, but what a day!



    Trying to get down the hill in kiddie snowboats was yet another challenge. I was a chubby kid and not exactly a graceful one; I landed on my bottom every 3 steps! I eventually got frustrated and crawled down the rest of the road on my hands and knees. There are pictures of me crawling aross the ice that I still--more than 15 years later--have not lived down!

    We did end up having a blast snowtubing/sledding down the mountains for a few hours while waiting for a tow truck. We even made a campfire and had hot cocoa (from melted snow!) and toasted marhsmallows. It was one of the best, scariest, and most memorable holidays of my life. Definitely one the grandkids will be hearing about someday!

    By Blogger Amy Lynn W., At 4:14 PM, December 12, 2009  

  • Our most memorable was the year we went to Florida! My dad was in this low rider faze (and yes he cranked the song low rider EVERY time it came on the radio)so we were in this long two door boat of a car low rider it was so ugly! It was me my mom and dad in the front my brother sister and grandma in the back (probally not a very safe 18hr trip). My dad was the kind of guy that wont stop you just keep on going. So my brother started hollering from the back that he was getting car sick and of course they told him he would be fine and next thing we know he was vomiting all over my grandma and sister it was so disgusting and it stunk so bad! My dad finally pulled over and we got it as clean as we could but I had to switch spots with him and sit back where he just vomited and there are no windows just in the front, for the next like 6 hrs of the trip it was awful! But hey we do get to still make fun of him!!
    haydensmommy05@hotmail.com

    By Blogger Haydensmommy05, At 9:50 PM, December 12, 2009  

  • I tweeted
    http://twitter.com/Haydensmommy05/statuses/6618966237
    haydensmommy05@hotmail.com

    By Blogger Haydensmommy05, At 9:52 PM, December 12, 2009  

  • My funniest vacation memory has to be when my husband I were dating. We wound up stranded in a park in a town neither of us had ever been to (we lived in different states and met in the middle state between us). As we were walking back to the hotel (3 miles and 3 miles back to meet the tow truck), we both realized that we wanted to marry the other. Neither of us mentioned that at the time, because it was such a crummy time to realize it (but we did so because we were facing what could have been a pretty crabby and tense moment). When we talked about it later, it became even more hilarious, because we both pretty much realized we could get through crap together, so we wanted to be together for the rest of our lives. *laughs*

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 9:57 PM, December 12, 2009  

  • Wow--I certainly don't have anything that can compare with that story, Busy Mom! That sounds more like a nightmare!

    I think the worst for me was getting the flu one Thanksgiving on the way to my hubby's grandparents' house. It was really embarrassing, but at least we didn't have little kiddos with us yet! joyful.too at gmail dot com

    By Anonymous em-jay, At 10:47 AM, December 13, 2009  

  • We had a crazy 15 hour road trip back from my brother's wedding. Our daughter was two and potty training. She had to stop every two hours to go to the bathrooms. We stopped whenever there were bathrooms and sometimes (especially driving through the expanse of Texas) those places weren't all that clean. We stopped at one especially dingy gas station and on our way out the door, something caught our daughter's eye. It was a big ice cream cone painted on the dingy counter. She walked right over there and before we knew what she was doing, she started licking that filthy store counter. What memories! lascruceshomes@gmail.com

    By Blogger Angela, At 6:08 PM, December 13, 2009  

  • We never had to travel much because our family lives so close. I will never forget the car rides home from church on Christmas Eve though. We always knew that Santa had come while we were at church and we'd have presents waiting for us. My brother and I would crane our necks looking out the window for his sleigh and always swore to each other that we could hear the sleigh bells. I still don't know how my Grandpa managed to get those presents set up while we were on our way home from church but, he always did it!

    robin@lolidots.com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 11:35 PM, December 13, 2009  

  • 2 years ago, my inlaws payed for our vacation to go to be with the in new york for Christmas. since we are a family of 8, they bought us stand by tickets from a relative that works for the airline.
    well we took 3 days to pack and like always a couple of hours before we had to be at the airport, everyone remembered they were missing important things that were unpacked without me knowing.
    2 hr countdown begins, everyone is screaming to everyone else, looking for things, i cant find my camera that keeps dissapearing out of my purse, and coats are missing. the 9 and 7 yr old girls vote they dont need coats, "hello!!! we are going where there's snow!!!" so 2 hrs later everyone is getting last minute things to put in their carry on bags for the flight entertainment. husb decides its time to check all the fluids in the car. i scream at him and remind him were flying to new york from california, not driving!!! so we make it to the airport late, as always, not to mention that it took us an hour to find a free extended stay parking lot for military, we made it to the desk and we get lectured that since we have stand by tickets we should have been there 2 hours earlier. really!?!?! after all of the bags are weighed we shifted some items around from bag to bag because some bags were over the weight limit and some were way under.
    our bags finally get through that ordeal, time to go through security check point.
    i strongly believe there should be a line for mommys and kids, keep in mind i have a lot of little kids to help take shoes off and coats and empty pockets and open carry on bags for. people behind us complain loudly about how long its taking, mind u im rushing the whole time flippin kids on bottom and pulling out shoes faster than i can throw them. we finally go one by one through the metal detector thingy, then security gets called to the x ray machine. seems our 5 year old thought it was a great idea to bring his metal cap gun with him in case someone tries to steal the airplane while were on it. many many explanations and apologies later, we are allowed to go through. so obviously we missed the flight we wanted so we had to wait for the next one. omg in a packed holiday airport with a bunch of hyper kids!!!!!!!!!!
    part 1 of 2 militaryfamof8@yahoo.com

    By Blogger Unknown, At 5:13 PM, December 14, 2009  

  • part 2 of 2
    we kept making bathroom trips because they clamied to "have" to go, but i know that its because for some unknown reason my kids are fascinated with going in public bathrooms! yuk!!
    people would keep staring from all angles at how many we were, and i would hear the remarks and laughs when i would count"1,2,3,4,5,6" ok were all here lets go!"
    next flight was readt to take in some stand by flyers, we had choices of sending some of us ahead or waiting for another flight or seperating us all throughout the plane. who in their right mind suggests i let a 2 and 4 year old sit together without a parent near by?!??! kids would come up with new snacks constantly, and i would get answers like "that stranger gave it to me" or "a man said it was ok to have candy" or "that guy with the coat called me over and gave it to me" so more crying from me feeling like i failed as a parent because all of my kids were getting food from strangers. i could have lost 1 or 2 or 3 kids that night. i had many older couples smile and pat our kids on the heads, telling us it would be okay, and that they had been through that many years ago. i was just a ball of tears that night. we finally got a whole row for ourselves and we played hand games, patty cake, rock paper sicssors, made up jokes and stories. we had a lot of fun. after a lot of planning, a lot more praying, plenty of crying, from me, not the kids, after 6 hours, we finally all were able to board the plane, as long as daddy took half of the little ones and i took the other half on different ends of the plane. we then sat on the plane for 3 hours because we didnt have clearance to leave since new york was having snow, go figure!
    so me and the kids decided to play phone games by calling daddy and the group, we were playing "guess who" and i spy back and forth with our cells phones.
    finally we got the notice and we were off!

    this was such a hectic and hard time, but it gave us memories for a lifetime, it has been the most adventourus and fun trip we have had, exept for the flight home where we split up into 3 flight,s but thats another one, lol

    militaryfamof8@yahoo.com

    By Blogger Unknown, At 5:13 PM, December 14, 2009  

  • I think my most memorable holiday trip is a toss up between the time my parents, little sister, and me spent Christmas in Paris (cue the Anastasia music in the background right after she exclaims "Can you imagine? Christmas in Paris!") and the time we went to Tahoe, there was a huge spontaneous blizzard, and we were forced to camp down in a small hotel in the middle of nowhere for a week or so.

    I remember I got a gorgeous green taffeta dress in Paris. But then again, I got to miss school because of the snowstorm, and I got bragging rights for being in a blizzard.

    So, like I said, toss up!

    By Blogger Shawna, At 11:51 PM, December 14, 2009  

  • My first holiday trip with my husband (then boyfriend) we went to my timeshare in Florida. I set the whole trip up and when we picked up the rental car he asked me, "ok, which way do I go?". I just about died! I didn't know and I never thought to print off directions. We just decided to "wing-it" and I said if I could find the big bridge I could get us there. There are a lot of big bridges in West Palm Beach but we eventually found it and made it there. He never got iritated with me and we laughed it off. That was my most memerable trip and the day I knew I wanted to marry him!

    By Blogger Robyn, At 2:32 PM, December 15, 2009  

  • We left our relatives house only to have our windshield wipers turn into great big sticks of rock candy from the ice pelting down on us. We stopped at a motel and went ice skating in the parking lot. Oh and my brother got to see a little too much of his grandmother!:) I'll blog about this soon.

    By Blogger Janna, At 1:17 AM, December 16, 2009  

  • Imagine driving what's supposed to be about a 7 hr trip with 4 month old quadruplets....... It turned into a 9 hour drive btwn the MULTIPLE diaper changes, stopping to feed bottles,( 2 babies had bad reflux so you can only imagine the baby puke....) checking on the kids since they were rear facing and i'm a first time mom. It was a crazy trip. But they are great travelers now at 2.5 yrs. We're starting potty training now so i'm SURE we'll have some fun traveling times ahead!

    jennyhasquads (at) yahoodotcom

    By Blogger Unknown, At 10:34 PM, December 16, 2009  

  • On our way to visit family in Texas when I was young, my dad had to drive fast to stay in front of tornadoes. We didn’t stop, we just kept driving to beat them -it worked, luckily, but I won’t ever forget it! It made the normally 16 hour drive go a bit quicker though!

    By Blogger Idaho Jill, At 11:26 AM, December 20, 2009  

  • blogged here: http://contestsandgiveaways.blogspot.com/2009/12/9-chances-to-win-200-visa-gift-card.html

    thanks!

    By Blogger Idaho Jill, At 11:59 AM, December 20, 2009  

  • tweet, thanks! http://twitter.com/idahojill/status/6866383422

    By Blogger Idaho Jill, At 12:05 PM, December 20, 2009  

  • We dont travel a lot for the holidays as our families are close by. One year we were in Florida and went to a Jags/Patriots football game (he's a jag fan, I'm a pats fan). The Pats won and I enjoyed the win for the rest of the day. We flew home early the next morning. Everyone was so friendly traveling on christmas morning!

    wearehappy(at)comcast(dot)net

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 7:25 AM, December 21, 2009  

  • When I graduated from Boot Camp in the USMC I was so ready to get out of Paris Island South Carolina. I was walking on egg shells. No one thought I would actually graduate. I didn't think I would make it either.

    My family greeted me on graduation day with a diet coke and a snickers. It was a feast for someone who spent 3 months without anything slightly edible. Then we were gone. We stopped by Disney World on the way back home to Texas. It was just me, my parents, and Joey. Joey was my younger brother who is now in The Marine Corps.

    I paid for everything seeing how I had three months of paydays saved up. We had a blast. We stopped by the beach.

    We got home for Christmas. We live in a really small town. Most people are born there, grow up there, and end up spending their whole lives there. So when I came home the treated me like a hero. My whole family was there. I didn't feel like a hero but everyone seemed so proud that I made it.

    It was a special Christmas. I was never so happy to see home. It is hard to believe that was 11 years ago. Now it is almost impossible to get everyone back together for the holidays. I will never forget the holiday I came back from boot camp;-)

    chewysmum79@yahoo.com

    Jeanette Huston

    http://mommyblessingsinsmallbundles.blogspot.com/

    By Blogger sweepstakesjeanie@yahoo.com, At 6:39 PM, December 21, 2009  

  • I tweeted this giveaway here

    http://twitter.com/gijeanie/status/6911317696

    Jeanette Huston
    chewysmum79@yahoo.com

    By Blogger sweepstakesjeanie@yahoo.com, At 6:43 PM, December 21, 2009  

  • My friends and I decided to take a road trip from OK to Dallas and since none of us ever drove there before we got a GPS system to guide us. Little did we know that when we stopped to re-fuel a car we also had to enter our destination again. Our GPS didnt reroute for us and a pleasant lady's voice instructed us to "keep going straight". After about an hour of driving straight we suspected something might be wrong. We consulted a map instead of listening to GPS and found out we were going east the whole time - instead of going south. We almost ended up by the Arkansas border and a trip that was supposed to take 5 hours took nearly 8!!! Thanks GPS!

    By Blogger Unknown, At 9:11 PM, December 21, 2009  

  • My most memorable road trip wa when I was about 9 and me and my family drove from Los Angeles to Costa Rica. We drove through all the SOuthwestern states, then we drove all the way down through Mexico and then Central America. It was the most amazing trip I have ever taken. It was fun and fabulous and we learned so much. We also got to see amazing things like Mayan Ruins, rivers, and volcanoes. It will always be something I won't forget.

    By Blogger Carolyn G, At 12:17 AM, December 22, 2009  

  • tweeted http://twitter.com/carogonza/status/6920951543

    By Blogger Carolyn G, At 12:19 AM, December 22, 2009  

  • link to my blog story/entry
    http://tnshadylady.blogspot.com/2009/12/roadtrip-down-memory-lane-i-love-road.html

    By Blogger Deb Anderson, At 11:47 PM, December 22, 2009  

  • tweet
    http://twitter.com/tnshadylady/status/6955746566

    By Blogger Deb Anderson, At 11:48 PM, December 22, 2009  

  • blog link
    http://tnshadylady.blogspot.com/2009/12/busy-mom.html

    By Blogger Deb Anderson, At 11:49 PM, December 22, 2009  

  • We once tried to set out for my parents' house, 300 miles away, in a big snowstorm. With my 1 year old son in the back seat. We figured if we could just make it to northern Virginia, we'd be out of the weather. That was dumb.

    We didn't even make it down our driveway! We lived on top of a mountain (still do, but a different mountain) and the driveway was very long and curvy. We slid off the edge of the second curve, had to walk back up to the top of the hill lugging the little one and our suitcases. Sad Christmas, that year. Missed my folks. That was one long trip, huh? Thankfully, we are older and wiser now, and would never attempt such a thing.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 6:57 AM, December 23, 2009  

  • Tweeted: http://twitter.com/Getalonghome/status/6963409821

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 6:58 AM, December 23, 2009  

  • Right now I think my most memorable holiday road trip is from a couple years ago when me, my fiance and one of her sisters decided to take a driving trip to New York City to experience it during the Christmas season. We did a lot of the typical touristy things like ride the Staten Island Ferry, visit Central Park and go to Macy's. Plus we stood for a few hours in the very cold weather at the today Show and were on tv with our OSU Buckeye things displayed. It was definitely a fun trip.

    By Blogger Courtenay, At 2:33 PM, December 23, 2009  

  • Here's my tweet: http://twitter.com/courtenay27/statuses/6975768138
    Thanks!!

    By Blogger Courtenay, At 2:34 PM, December 23, 2009  

  • One of my road trips story- Five years ago on the way to Germany, we ended up spending Christmas Eve at the airport thanks to severe weather. It was a chaos in the airport and totally crazy. The funny part was people (strangers) exchanged gifts on the spot to celebrate the unforgettable holiday.

    By Blogger JC, At 11:59 PM, December 25, 2009  

  • http://twitter.com/tcarolinep/status/7054098677

    By Blogger JC, At 11:59 PM, December 25, 2009  

  • Blogged.http://tcarolinep.blogspot.com/2009/12/giveaway-busy-mom.html

    By Blogger JC, At 12:01 AM, December 26, 2009  

  • A few years ago we went to visit my brother for Chanukah. They live about 5 hours from us. The trip to them was rather uneventful. The trip home, well it was interesting to say the least. The trip took us 7 hours! We started off and almost immediately realized that we had to get gas for the car. So we stopped at the first rest area to tank it up. While there we heard a rumble coming from the back seat. My then 7 month old son filled up his diaper. Oy! I took him out and noticed he was a little wet. Sure, you betcha. . . diaper blow out. I managed to find a place to change him amid screams and protests of new clothing. We get back on the road and my newly potty trained older son proclaims that he needs to GO! So he chants this the entire way to the next stop. We get there and he refuses to go. He gets inside howls about the blowers in the bathroom and comes back out. We start back up...about 10 minutes later my son says he needs to go potty again. This time I take him in and he says he does not have to go, but is hungry. I take him back to the car for snacks. We go back on the road. Suddenly we realize a pattern. Each time my oldest sees restaurant signs on the highway = a request for a potty break. By the time we were almost home my parents called us. Hubby and I were in hysterics. We could not stop laughing because we must have made at least 6 pit stops for potty, eating, nursing and diapers.

    By Blogger Beth @ TheAngelForever, At 4:58 PM, December 26, 2009  

  • I used to live in Hawaii. My Step Brother was a surfer. He wanted to go surfing at Waipio Valley on Christms day, so off we went. To get into the valley, the road is so steep that you must have a 4 wheel drive to make it. Once you get into the valley, the road is basically nothing more than dirt roads throughout. We headed towards the beach, set up camp & were awoken at about 2am with a huge storm moving in. We decided to pack up and get out while we could. However, the dirt road that we followed to the beach was now turning into a river from the heavy rains. We pursued on any way until we got stuck in a large pool of water. We were stuck for awhile and the car was fairly submerged and we were soaked. Eventually a large tour vehicle came by and towed us out. We made it up the steep road and then we made it about 1 mile outside of Kailua and our vehicle completed shut down. I guess all that water from being stuck in the river messed with the electrical system and caused the car to just die. It is amazing that we made it as far as we did. At the time none of this was very funny, but now that I look back it is Hillarous.

    ShawnaMichelle@ymail.com

    By Blogger Shawna, At 2:20 AM, December 27, 2009  

  • Tweeted
    http://twitter.com/ShawnaMichelle2/status/7085371711

    ShawnaMichelle@ymail.com

    By Blogger Shawna, At 2:22 AM, December 27, 2009  

  • My most memorable holiday road trip took place about 20 years ago. I was driving back to college after spending the holidays with my family. About 8 hours into the drive we stopped in at a gas station and I accidentally left my wallet in the bathroom. It had a lot of cash from gifts and the check for next quarter's tuition!! I didn't realize what I'd done until I was back at my apartment 3 hours later. I panicked and called every gas station in the town where we'd stopped. Of course, the wallet was no where to be found. To my amazement, I got a call in the morning from someone saying they'd found my wallet (they used my drivers license to look me up in the phonebook). Even more amazing was that they were just about a mile from my apartment. When I went to pick it up, everything was still in my wallet. To this day I cannot explain how my wallet got back to me! The people that found it sure had good Xmas spirit to track me down and return it. I will never forget it!

    By Blogger Molomatic, At 3:37 PM, December 27, 2009  

  • Well, since this happened on Thanksgiving Day 2001, I suppose it would be considered a holiday road trip. We were actually moving from Minnesota to Tennessee for my husband's job change. Unfortunately, we didn't even make it out of our small, rural Minnesota town before having to stop and delay for several hours. The reason? Someone forgot and left the emergency brake "engaged" on our manual transmission pick-up which was being towed by the U-Haul. Had to get two new tires... after finding someone to help us on Thanksgiving day in a town of 3,000. :)
    roseinthemorning [at] gmail [dot] com

    By Blogger Ms. Anita, At 8:34 PM, December 27, 2009  

  • I blogged about this...

    http://anitamartin.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/sprint-joins-blogher/

    roseinthemorning [at] gmail [dot] com

    By Blogger Ms. Anita, At 9:04 PM, December 27, 2009  

  • I tweeted...

    http://twitter.com/HSBSuzanne/status/7110603644

    roseinthemorning [at] gmail [dot] com

    By Blogger Ms. Anita, At 9:37 PM, December 27, 2009  

  • That stinks--better you than me! :)
    Here's my story:

    http://www.halfpastkissintime.com/2009/12/travel-gods-are-trying-to-tell-me.html

    By Blogger Mrs4444, At 12:11 PM, December 28, 2009  

  • I left a link to your contest in my post:

    http://www.halfpastkissintime.com/2009/12/travel-gods-are-trying-to-tell-me.html

    By Blogger Mrs4444, At 12:12 PM, December 28, 2009  

  • For me, it was on a business trip I took that took me and my coworkers to Las Vegas. I'd just bought some new luggage, and I picked it out in a light purple color so that it'd be easily distinguishable from the mass of black luggages on the carousel. We were standing in line at the luggage carousel and I was keeping a watchful eye out for my purple suitcase. Some of my coworkers were making fun of me because it was so bright that they asked how could I possibly miss it? About that time, I saw it pop over the carousel at the other end. Relief! But I didn't see it come around the bend. I kept looking, waiting, watching. No sign. I decided to go toward the other end and as I walked down that way, I saw my luggage being pulled away...by a little girl! Evidently she had the exact same suitcase as me (in the light purple shade!) and thought this was hers. Thankfully I caught up with her and her chaperon to correct the discrepancy but could you imagine--being stuck with a 10 year old's suitcase of clothes?!

    carmensechristjunk at gmail dot com

    By Blogger carmen, At 4:13 PM, December 28, 2009  

  • One of my most memorable road trips would have to be from this year. We headed out of state to visit family and it is a 4 hour drive. Our two small boys had been sick with a stomach bug and after they started to feel better, we got on the road. Once we arrived at my parent’s home, everyone started to get sick. It hit me a day later and I can’t recall ever being that sick. All in all, 16 family members ended up getting sick. What a Christmas to remember. The ride home was uneventful though and the boys slept the entire way, they were so tired!

    snedfam at gmail dot com

    By Blogger tiff snedaker, At 3:22 AM, December 29, 2009  

  • My most memorable holiday road trip was a trip back to college after Christmas break. My mother decided she didn’t want me making the 7 hour trip alone, so she would drive with me and fly back home. It sounded like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately my mom came down with food poisoning about 2 hours into the trip, and I had to drive the entire rest of the way, stopping every 30 minutes so she could vomit or use the bathroom. It took forever, and she was miserable. It has been over 20 years and we still joke about that nightmare road trip. After that she always let me drive by myself, and never offered to come “help” again.

    By Blogger Anne, At 7:36 PM, December 29, 2009  

  • I blogged about the giveaway
    http://lunaj1456.blogspot.com/2009/12/chance-to-win-200-from-sprint.html

    ajolly1456 at gmail dot com

    By Blogger Anne, At 7:36 PM, December 29, 2009  

  • I tweeted
    http://twitter.com/lunaj1456/status/7179519276

    ajolly1456 at gmail dot com

    By Blogger Anne, At 7:38 PM, December 29, 2009  

  • The funniest thing I can think of that ever happened traveling during the holidays is the time my dad decided to move us 600 miles from PA to Virginia. We had an early Christmas at Grandma's & left Christmas Eve day. Crammed into this vehicle with boxes of stuff(and a rocking chair tied to the top, can you say Beverly Hillbillies?) was 6 people, including a newborn and a chihuahua puppy.
    The truly hilarious part was the startled looks on the faces of the holiday travelers when they saw 3 little faces peering at them from the back windows of an AMBULANCE on the interstate on Christmas Eve.

    By Blogger Aimee, At 9:24 PM, December 29, 2009  

  • tweet
    http://twitter.com/pixie13sweeps/status/7182691982

    By Blogger Aimee, At 9:25 PM, December 29, 2009  

  • Most memorable and funny road trip was when my cat Wookiee was a kitten. He was about 3 weeks old and still being bottle fed, so we had to take him to FL when we went on vacation from WV. We stopped at rest stops to feed him and people would just surround the car and watch and ask questions. He was just a brown ball of fluff and some people did not know what he was. Their reactions were SO funny!
    Angie
    one 4 earth at aol dot com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 8:22 AM, December 30, 2009  

  • I tweeted this giveaway here:
    http://twitter.com/FotoMacro/status/7195481432
    Angie
    one 4 earth at aol dot com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 8:22 AM, December 30, 2009  

  • LOL funniest memory would be my honeymoon...we were at a waterpark and my wife lost her top...like lost it...gone...she had to run out of the pool and wrap a towel around her and go to one of the park's shops to get a new top!!! LOL
    Scott
    nynekats at aol dot com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 8:23 AM, December 30, 2009  

  • tweeted http://twitter.com/RePurrPussed/status/7195434823
    Scott
    nynekats at aol dot com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 8:23 AM, December 30, 2009  

  • Probably the craziest was when our car caught fire outside of Grass Valley, California, in the middle of August. OMG the heat. When we got a tow to the service station, it was like out of a horror movie…a dozen old men on a coffee date stared at us without speaking the entire time we were there. I kept thinking we were done for lol I’m sure it’s a lovely town, but I’m not going back.

    email- gmail.com / homeschooldyear @

    By Blogger Eryn, At 3:59 PM, December 30, 2009  

  • I remember that once my extended family went with us to kings dominion. There were children in the care and we stopped almost every 10 minutes because they had to pee. we were so annoyed. shopgurl101@gmail.com

    By Blogger Unknown, At 10:40 PM, December 30, 2009  

  • blogged blogged: http://sweetqt.wordpress.com/2009/12/31/sprint-giveaways/

    shopgurl101@gmail.com

    By Blogger Unknown, At 10:41 PM, December 30, 2009  

  • http://twitter.com/shopgurl/status/7222207402 shopgurl101@gmail.com

    By Blogger Unknown, At 10:42 PM, December 30, 2009  

  • My most memorable holiday road trip was when we drove to San Antonio Sea World on Independence Day. It was my baby's first long trip in a car, but to my delight, he didn't give me any hard time at all. At my husband's request, I started telling stories to keep him awake while driving. Funnily but not surprisingly, my baby fell fast asleep while hearing my stories:)

    By Blogger icefairy, At 4:08 AM, December 31, 2009  

  • I have a crazy road trip story! My friend had just found out that his father was getting married the next day to a woman he had met a few weeks ago online (but never in person!). The first time the couple would see each other was at their wedding! My friend wanted desperately to try to get to his father and talk him out of what he thought was a bad idea so we drove all night to try to "stop the wedding", like they do in movies! Our trip was ridiculous, exhilarating, but serious at the same time. We got there too late though! (The woman later ran off with all of the husband's money and it wasn't her first time doing this to someone!)

    By Blogger Lydia A., At 5:29 AM, December 31, 2009  

  • tweet: http://twitter.com/princessla66/status/7231533257

    By Blogger Lydia A., At 5:48 AM, December 31, 2009  

  • Think they'll let you out to pee if you're stuck in the holiday traffic line at the US Canada border for hours and hours? Think again. And then plan your pregnancies accordingly.

    kathleenpoling (@) gmail (dot) com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 3:08 PM, December 31, 2009  

  • My most eventful holiday roadtrip began December 26, 2006. We drove from our home in North Platte, 4 hrs east to Omaha where we were to catch a flight to Burbank, CA the next day. All was great until Christmas Eve when I had both ears hurting. I knew I had an ear infection, but all of the doctor offices were closed. I suffered through and made it to the doctor on the 26th, barely in time to get out of town at a decent hour. So anyway, the drive down was fine. The next day we get up, head to the airport and board the plane. This was the first time I had ever flown. Yeah. Sick as a dog! Turns out, I’m not a great flyer! We had a layover in Las Vegas and as soon as we get into the airport, I lost my balance and fell on my hands and knees. Then, I got up and made it (in record time) to the restroom…which I got to know real well. Everyone in our party wanted to eat…that was just about the last thing I wanted to do and my husband coaxed me into eating. Then, on to Burbank. As it turns out, the Santa Ana winds were vicious, we had an extremely rough flight…and I cried the entire time. It was horrible. We did finally make it to Burbank, and on to our destination of Disneyland…and the entire trip I had motion-sickness. Car, plane, bus. Uggghh. It sucked.

    It wasn’t until we got home that I realized why I was so sick. I was pregnant. After suffering from infertility for 6 years, we were finally adding another little one to our family. While being sick like that was bad…it ended up being a blessing. My daughter Paige is now a 2 year old who lights up my life!

    seeryusfam@msn.com

    By Blogger Sky, At 4:19 PM, December 31, 2009  

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