Rules Were Made to be Broken

I'm back from up North. It was an amazing, exhausting trip. I am pretty pleased with myself. I planned the entire trip, including the itinerary and places to stay. I enjoyed showing everyone what I find so beautiful and fascinating about Israel and I am mulling over taking a course to be a tour guide here in Israel, which is, as I understand it, a pretty rigorous course. I'll have to look into it some more.

Eight of us went on this trip. Mazi managed to used some "protectzia" to snag us a fairly good deal on a mini-van. Of course, it was a mini, mini-van, which sat 7 comfortably, 8 not-so-comfortably and 8-with-luggage--well that was almost impossible, but we managed to shtup it all in.

The eight included Isaac, myself, Mazi and five young ladies (her two nieces and my three girls) aged 11,12,13, 14 and [just about] 15. (Poor Isaac was really outnumbered, but thankfully he's used to it. He insisted on doing all the driving--and always got the best seat in the car). Before we embarked on our journey, we had fun creating a list of rules. This was a true collaborative efforts amongst the females:

1. No asking if we're there yet
2. No saying you have to pee
3. No being annoying
4. No passing gas
5. No saying the word, "mommy" (Guess who contributed that rule)
6. No saying "I'm hungry"
7. No space-hogging
8. No complaining you have to pee 5 minutes after the bathroom stop ["but I didn't need to go then!"]
9. ABSOLUTELY No whining
10. No losing things and then realizing that you lost it after we left the area
11. If crocs are dusty, Mommy must wash them [Orli can't stand it when her crocs get dirty]
12. No singing if you're over the age of 15 [this rule was created for me...my kids are mortified when I sing]

Did instituting these rules work?

Read the title....

More on our trip in posts to come, including pictures....