How to go on a roadtrip, by AJ and Zack

We recently made our 7000th trip to Chicago, for a follow up appointment for the STX209 drug trial the boys are participating in.  We have a good routine in place now to assure success for these road trips, but Zack and AJ would like to throw in a few suggestions of their own.

1.   Immediately after your seat belt is buckled, start asking "Hotel?" before your dad even backs the car out of the driveway.  Say it at least a dozen times an hour.  (Saying "Hotel?" is the Fragile X way of saying "Are we there yet?")

2.   Eat enough Doritos and drink enough cran-apple juice to vomit a bright, staining red across the car.

3.   (Zack's contribution) if you poop in your pants, pull it out and rub it all around the back of the car, your clothes and hair, and the iPad.  Work fast to get as much done as possible before someone looks back at you and screams bloody murder.

4.   If possible, hold off on numbers 2 and 3 until you've reached a stretch of highway where there are very few gas stations.

5.   When you get to the hotel, don't wait in the lobby for your dad to complete the check in process; you've been here before, you know your way around.  Let mom chase you to the elevators (she needs to get her blood flowing from that long drive, she'll thank you for it) and push buttons.  Any buttons you can find.  All buttons will take you someplace fun.

6.   The moment you enter your hotel room, begin running around, bouncing on the beds, and stripping off all your clothes to get ready to go swimming.  Even if dad hasn't brought the suitcase up from the car yet, you can be prepared by getting naked right away.

7.   Less than 10 minutes after getting in the pool, get out, grab a towel to drag behind you, and start for the exit.  Don't worry, someone is bound to follow you.  Shout out "Bye swimming!"

8.   Before bedtime, grind up as many chips and cereal on the beds as you can.  Spread the food around and then roll on it. 

9.   If you can't fall asleep and you get frustrated and overtired, throw all the pillows and blankets on the floor and kick them around, while screaming.  Nobody else wants to rest, either, they won't mind.

10. If you wake up in the hotel room and it's dark and no one else is up, a good way to entertain yourself is to sing.  Preferrably something by Yo Gabba Gabba, with a bunch of repetitive yelling.  If you get bored with that, recite all the lines to the Dora episode where Benny turns into a big potato.  That's mom's favorite one, so she will love waking up to it.

That's all they have for now, I'm sure they will add to the list in the future.