Well, in an effort to get myself organized for our upcoming two week road trip for my brother's wedding, I am going to compile a list of all my favorite tips and tricks for making LONG (as in 20 hour plus) road trips with children. We have made our fair of these trip, with 2 month olds on up to Barbara's current age (10) and we have truly come to love them as a family! There have been a couple times where a friend lent us their car movie player, but honestly, I feel it works a lot better DVD free. There are the annoying technical difficulties that always spring up with those things, and inevitable whining to watch "just one more" show , sometimes instead of falling asleep! Overtired, overTVed kids all stuck with you in a small vehicle= not fun. So here's what's worked for us.
SNACKS- little small snacky items that take a long time to eat one by one. :) Lots of fruit, trail mixy things, goldfish, cereal, etc. Of course DRINKS too, but not too many or juices that make you even more thirsty because you are already going to be stopping a lot, you don't need any more bathroom breaks!
Depending on the age of the kids (and if there are any potty-trainers, or mom is pregnant!) plan to stop at least every 2-3 hours. Stop at a wayside rest area with a bit of grass- play a game of tag or bring a small ball/frisbee to play with at the rest stops while switching off to go to the bathroom. Get some energy out and get everyones' legs moving again.
On several trips I have grabbed random little toys from around the house, a few new things from the dollar store, those little tiny activity books from the Learning Shop, and wrapped them up in some old wrapping paper, (keep things small/flatish to save space) Then every set amount of time (every 2 hours?) in between rest stop times, let them open one thing.
A simple trick up my sleeve I pulled out that Robbie and the kids STILL talk about how fun it was, is that I brought along a ziploc with a blob of homemade playdoh. We took turns creating things for a 3D game of "pictionary" where people had to guess what it was. Their favorite was when I sculpted a playdoh toilet. Go figure- toilet humor always gets a laugh. :P
BOOKS on CD/tape: Chronicles of Narnia, the Lemony Snicket series- these are great fun and when else do you have THAT MUCH TIME to listen all at once! When the kids were really little, Robbie and I would listen to our own books on CD while they slept. i think those days may be over. :)
Pack your own sandwich fixings and snacks for at least the whole first day, bring a medium soft sided cooler to keep handy and stop at grocery stores. Stopping for fast food for the whole family adds up SOOOO fast, so avoid it until there;s really no other option, because you will have to be eating out some of the time if you want to not go crazy. :) Just not every meal! Stay at hotels that offer continental breakfast and load up.
Clean out the trash out of the car frequently- I think I grab a bag of junk almost every rest stop.
Each kid gets a small bag/backpack of things to do/play. Notebook and pen/markers, word games books, babybug books (dont take up much space) for the little guys, some paperbacks for the big guys,
Magnetic play sets!!! These are so great, but be warned, make your own or get cheap dollar store ones because you will be finding the little pieces around in your car crevices under seats for months (years?) to come.
Travel games- we do hangman on a wipeoff board, Spot the license plate for every state, etc.
Pack your clothes by destination/stops- for example- instead of everyone getting their own suitcase, one suitcase or tub for all the "drive down" clothes- when you stop at a hotel, you only bring in that bag. Then another for "at the destination"- for us that's the wedding, and I will have each outfit by day with accessories, probably in those huge ziplocs- make sure you can account for shoes/jewelry/socks, etc for each day. Then we are staying at a place with washers so I will just wash the "drive down" clothes and pack those back up for the "drive back" - Everyone will wear the same shoes for the drives. Things not needed go up top in a carrier.
pillow and blankies for sleeping in the car. A towel, thing of baby wipes.
Travel Tray tables for each kid- mine are from onestepahead, but I luckedo out on finding them at a rummage for $1 each! They can eat on these, do coloring or play their magnetic sets or play with matchbox cars on these and they can be stored flat along the side of the seats when not in use.
Switch up the seating if needs be- sometimes separating certain siblings, or having mom or dad in back with a younger one really helps. Hangover nursing (where you hang your boob over the baby's mouth in the car seat) is a handy skill to learn as well, if you just don't want to stop to nurse or baby is a little fussy! Use a nursing cover or make sure the windows are tinted or it's at night! haha.
A rosary together can really calm things down! You'll need some prayers along the way!
Hmmm, what am I forgetting? Well, one LONG road trip back from Kansas, disaster struck- Robbie woke up nauseous and threw up! So I drove the first leg, only to have to stop a few hours later to run in a Walmart and throw up myself! What to do in emergency situations like this? Well, both parents being sick with the flu at the same time is a bad state of affairs, but imagine the state of affairs if four children strapped into carseats were to be throwing up at the same time? Mass chaos! Since none of the kids were sick (yet) the obvious choice was to KEEP GOING and just push through! I would highly recommend "STARBUCKS DOUBLE SHOT"- the caffeine and B vitamins in that sucker somehow got me through a 5 hour leg until Robbie was feeling better enough to take over and get us the rest of the way. The final hour from Madison to Milwaukee was spent with Sammy crying and crying, but we were both too sick and spent to do much about it. There may be trips like that. Thankfully, they are the exception!!!
But just keep the mindset that well, pretty much anything can happen and you will be able to laugh about it later! Another trip, on the way to Nashville, our car window decided to fall down into the door and not be able to roll up, just as it was starting to rain and VERY cold! And it was too late to get into a mechanic and we were an hour from our destination in Nasville. Having a resourceful husband is very handy in these times- he wedged it up with paper towels somehow and although we did spend part of the trip in freezing wind, he figured out how to get into a mechanic and get it rigged up for the long trip back. hahahahaha!
Well I should really get some work done now, I think this helped me remember some of the things I need to prepare! I may have to come back and update to refer to this!
Happy Trails!
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