I'm not here

I'm on the road today with my kids, on the way to my husband's sister's wedding in beautiful tornado-filled Southern California. Wish me luck. I'm testing out the "schedule posts" feature - so you see, I'm not really here.

The kids are great car travelers. We take long car trips a lot, and I'm such a mean mom that we don't even have one of those dvd players for the car. I just firmly believe that we were not put on the planet to be entertained by electronics 24/7 (says the woman with the laptop addiction).

So we'll have about 6 hours of travel time today plus breaks. I'm all ready with a cache of special treats for the car. But I don't just hand these out when they whine - that would be too simple, and would reward whining. No, I've created little coupon books that they each get at the start of the trip. Every hour they get to trade in a coupon for a prize. I used to spell out exactly what the coupons were for, but this time I disguised my treats. Here's the list of what the coupons say and what they really are.:

"Cosmic" - Starburst candy pack
"Measuring Tool" - Fruit by the foot
"Slimy/Crumbly" - cheese and cracker pack
"Wild Animals" - animal crackers
"Not Candy" - Some sour horrible candy stuff. I argue with my kids all the time that candy, by definition has to be sweet.
"Fine Literature" - I have American Girl quiz books for the girls and a Nintendo magazine for Jungle Boy. Completely mindless. They'll love them.
"Stupid kiddy toy" - New Tomagotchis. The ones they have are a few generations old. They'll love these. I know, electronics, but not mind numbing, brain sucking electronics. Plus, they're interactive, so the kids will play with each other.

If this is like past car trips, the kids will be watching the dashboard clock, and the minute it hits a new hour, the coupons will fly up to the front seat for me. It's fun.

Wish me luck!