Easter has long been one of my favorite holidays, despite that one year that I got the psychedelic bunny at the mall as evidenced in THIS previously written article. I always enjoyed the excitement surrounding the tradition of dying Easter eggs with my two younger brothers. And contrary to most peoples’ initial reaction – I enjoyed the fact that the Easter Bunny brought me a combination of carob, cheese curds and dried fruit (wish Crispy Green would’ve been around then!) instead of thirty pounds of chocolate and Peeps.
My parents certainly enjoyed a handful of innocent years, teaching us the ropes – not to mix too many colors together or we would get brown – and the infamous line from my mom… “I just want ONE robin blue egg, those are my favorites!”
It was the introduction of the clear crayon, combined with the disappearance of our adolescence that had the wheels coming off the track. Instead of a carton of wonderfully simple primary and secondary colors, we had eggs featuring parts of the human anatomy, as well as a majority of George Carlin’s seven words you can never say on television – feel free to Google that.
But alas, those memories have been archived in the family annals and reminisced about often. And now it’s my turn to create new memories.
We often go to Philadelphia to celebrate the resurrection (remember? Jesus?), as I enjoy going to my childhood church with my wife, kids and mom. This year, however, there’s been a new addition to my wife’s side of the family and I’ve found myself becoming an uncle once again – this time, to a cute lil’ bugger named Jack.
This was our first chance to meet him in the month since birth (thanks, mold!) and gave our kids the opportunity to rendezvous with their cousins in the sweaty sauna of the south – Atlanta.
So we geared up for the almost 600-mile trek (it’s become too expensive to fly with this crew) in the truck. We’ve done this drive a few dozen times over the years and have it down to a finely oiled routine.
I can hoist the Thule up onto the roof and have it secured within seconds. The luggage lives up top and the back of the truck harbors my computer, a stroller, the Easter baskets and of course, we’ve submitted to the unfathomable – a travel toilet. Up front is our mobile office complete with WiFi so we can work, and at least six drinks for the wife and me (water, coffee and a soda x2).
Driving this many miles in a single shot usually takes us anywhere between 9 and 10½ hours. This is all contingent upon whether or not we all have our bowels and bladders synced up and in unison. The toilet is one component that has streamlined the mission.
Another is the ‘road trip box’.
This is a carefully crafted box of little toys and treats that helps keep the kids occupied and distracted from the swaths of single-lane construction and deters us from having to stop at every Chick-Fil-A between here and Georgia.
As you know from our food blog in its infancy, Think Outside the Lunchbox, fresh fruits and veggies are really important to our family. But it has been an ongoing struggle with how to get them to eat healthy-ish in the car while stopping at gas stations and whizzing by fast food establishments every half mile.
The interesting thing about this box is that, because my wife curates it the day before, we need to use components that won’t spoil in the fridge overnight. Enter, Crispy Green. 100% pure fruit – no preservatives, no added sugar, no GMO’s, no gluten… just ONE clean ingredient in flavors like tangerine, apple, Asian pear, banana, cantaloupe, mango and pineapple.
Beyond the obvious health factor, this snack held its’ composure overnight AND helps us avoid any drips, sticky fingers or juicy coating all over the kid’s car seats and boosters. We rounded out the box with easy to eat, shelf-stable products. We usually pack the food with new coloring books, crayons, a new DVD, and a “blind box” toy.
So with the Crispy Green ace up our sleeves, it allowed me to take an extra five minutes to stop at Abbott Farms in Cowpens, South Carolina and procure one of MY favorite snacks – BOILED PEANUTS.
And it put us in pole position to arrive in Atlanta just in time to dye those ‘still innocent’ Easter eggs with all of my nieces and nephews.
And we even had enough time to snag a family photo where at least one person isn’t picking their nose, closing their eyes or honking my wife’s boobs.
One of the best parts about Crispy Green is that they come in one big bag, which contains a 6-pack of individually wrapped snacks – so we had enough to reload the ‘road trip box’ for the trip back North.
In fact, we made it all the way back to Virginia…
…and barely had to stop for any other snack…
We hope everyone had an incredible Easter holiday and got to use your travel toilet wherever you decided to spend the holiday!
EDITOR’S NOTE: This was a sponsored post on behalf of Crispy Green and their #CrispyGreenCrew campaign, however, the adventure up and down the eastern seaboard with three young wildlings was all mine. For more information on Crispy Green, check them out here. You can also follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! You should also ‘hop’ over to their healthy lifestyle website, Smartlifebites.com. The site contains wellness information, nutrition news, healthy recipes and more and is powered by Crispy Green!
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