So, why did we go to Kansas again?

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me this.... well, you know the drill.

My mom claimed that I had not even told her I was going to Kansas. But since I have 2 witnesses, I know my mom just forgot. When I got home last night, my mom said, "How was the conference?" Um, what conference? "The conference you went to in Kansas. You know, the reason you went."

Okay, I have no idea where she got that from. To set the story straight, I did not drive 30+ hours round trip in a car to attend a conference.

Most of my blog readers know (and if you don't, you are about to) that I belong to an online parenting forum. I've belonged to this group since Jayce was about 9 months old. I found them while doing a search for the parenting term "Attachment Parenting" which is how I describe my parenting style with my children.

I can't possibly describe how close all the members on the board are. I feel like these moms have been my family for the past 4 years. How is that possible when we only get to see a glimpse of a person while posting with their online personality? I'm not sure, but that's the way it is.

Anyway, my parenting board often has "Gatherings" several times a year. Some of the members live within hours of each other. Others live cross country from each other. Others, still, live all the way up North in another country.

I never thought that I would be able to attend an official Gathering. The past gatherings have been in Canada, St. Louis, Colorado, etc. Way too far to drive with my kids by myself.

However, my good friend Angie (who I met from LLL) lives in South Carolina, too, and I invited her to join my parenting board a few years ago. She fell in love with all these women as well. Awesome! Now I have someone to road trip with!

This is Angie:


And her eldest daughter Maddie:


And her youngest daughter Virginia:


Angie and I together rented a minivan, packed snacks, borrowed a DVD player, and set off to drive to Topeka, KS. It was supposed to take 15 hours or so, but I don't think Google Maps knew we were traveling with 4 children. We drove about 8 hours a day average and stopped over in Kentucky both on the way up and on the way back.

I have to say, I am pretty darn impressed with all four of the kids. All things considering, they did great in the car. Jayce only cried and whined for a bit. Only a little sibling rivalry between Virginia and Maddie. Only a little disagreements between Jaina and Virginia. And us moms got along pretty well, too, despite our different tastes in music :)

More to come....

Comments

  1. What an adventurer you are! I am so glad you had someone else to go with. I knew you were going to meet people from the AP forum. I remembered!!!

    I wish I could have gone to my forum meet ups to meet all the fine women I had encountered with Justin's Birth Club. They were usually too far north or too far out west. They do become a big part of your life.

    I am proud that you actually made a thought into a reality. It's hard to travel with kids, let alone unchartered territory.

    But then, you have always been a brave soul. Traveling to FL by yourself when you were right out of high school (practically) and going to all those Jump Little Children shows.

    I can't wait to see the pictures.

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  2. How wonderful! I can't wait to hear about your trip and all the AP parents you finally got to meet in-person!

    Blessings,
    Kate

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    ReplyDelete
  4. OK, Now I need to find out what "attachment parenting" is! I've never heard of all this stuff.

    And by the way, this sounds like a trip I would LOVE. And something I would do, too :) Road trip, anyone??

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  5. You are a much braver woman than I am! That's a long way!

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