Before I had children, there were many things I vowed to both do and never do. Many, many of those vows have been broken.

 One vow though that I have held fast to is the ‘no tv in the car’ rule. I’m not so sure why this one has stuck but it has. I pack a bag for Caroline and one for Katherine full of books, paper, markers and games whenever we hit the road for a long trip.

A few weeks ago, we drove to celebrate Rob’s grandparent’s 70th wedding annivesary. This trip involved more hours spent in the car than those spent celebrating and I felt my resolve weakening. I suggested to Rob that maybe we let the girls use their itouches for the trip. I thought that Rob was going to pass out. He reminded that we are nearly eight years into this and there was no way that we were going to loose that investment over one trip. He reminded me of all the crying we listened to when the girls were really young, all the games of Categories and Find the License Plate Game we have played since. He also reminded me of all the amazing conversations we’ve had in the car and the moments of pure imagination that have sprouted as the girls are forced into boredom.

And thank goodness, he brought me back on board because if I had given in this one time, we wouldn’t have gotten these amazing pictures. Nearly the whole ride back, Caroline read aloud to Katherine. You just can’t beat that.