Vacationing with Kids-or Why We Take Two Cars

We spent the long Labor Day weekend in Grand Teton National Park, going home via Yellowstone.  First, a little bio: I have four children, ages 14, 13, 8, and 15 months.  The oldest is a daughter, almost 15, and the rest are boys.  We took this trip with some dear friends, Rob and Janet, with whom we often take little excursions, though never for three days.  Somehow I don't think we will be invited to go next year.  We left the baby home with Daddy, which was a blessing from the beginning-otherwise, I think someone would have been tossed out the window.  And it wouldn't have been me.  The trip from here takes about 4 hours, and about half hour into the trip, we had to stop to put Sam in with Rob and Hannah.  Blessed quiet, until we stopped for lunch.  At that point, Eli was picking on Sam for every little detail, from the fact that he was eating his sandwich wrong (can that really be possible?) to telling him that if he didn't start behaving we were going to leave him there to be eaten by the bears to if he touched his foot one more time, he would break it.  Eli is the 13 year old.  Sam retaliated by doing what all little boys do: "Mom, Eli said/did this, looked at me this way/smells funny."  Were I an animal, I think I would have to kill and eat them.  Both.  Hannah removed herself from the situation entirely, which is ALSO a blessing.  When she gets involved, I feel like I need to drink or take large amounts of valium. 

I know we all have those moments; there was a brief second at the mudpots in Yellowstone where I had  the fleeting idea to toss Sam over the side.  Eli saw a bear on the hiking trail at the Tetons (Jenny Lake Trail) and I thought, "If only it had eaten him..." but thankfully, the moments were brief.  I could tell that Janet was getting a little tense on the way home, because in self defense she fell asleep-but I could see her eye twitching even in rest.  Would I trade it?  No-it was a wonderful time, for everyone concerned.  Would I ever even consider going on a family vacation with only one vehicle, without the duct tape? NOT ON YOUR LIFE!