This was me with my Mom and two kids in June. My husband had his own work trip planned and was unable to attend. My Mom graciously flew up to visit and drove with us to help me out. My Dad even drove back with us after the wedding and stayed through Father's Day. We were able to stay with an Aunt and Uncle of mine for one night on the way down and one night on the way back home which was an added bonus. It is so nice to see family and to have family able and willing to host when we pass through.
My two year old son loves to play with his toy vehicles - I mean he will play instead of eat and he will drive each around, laying on the ground to drive them for hours if I let him. So in the van he had a couple vehicles and he drove them around in his lap and was oh so content for much of the trip. I was pleasantly surprised about that. He started the trip with those simple toys and he enjoyed looking out the window or playing with them for much of the ride.
My daughter did have a couple screaming sessions throughout the trip, but we were able to find a place to stop and feed or change or just give her a break from the car seat before continuing on. Mostly she was content to sit and nap as needed.
We had a couple of books with CDs to play the stories and I also had a special sticker book just for the trip. My son only watched one or two Daniel Tiger episodes and a few YouTube kids song videos throughout the whole trip which I consider a win. I like to point him to books before screen time. My favorite idea that went well was having a paper car travel from state to state print outs as we traveled. Check out the picture on this post to see what I mean.
My least favorite part was discovering that my daughter must have some level of motion sickness. On the long days, two of the days going to Texas and one going home she threw up near the end of the day each time. It was quite unpleasant and I was thankful that I just happened to be in the back with her on those occasions to help clean her up. Needless to say, the bucket car seat that had previously been her brothers and that she was almost grown out of has been tossed post trip.
Here are a few quick tips to consider when traveling with kids (or at all) on a road trip:
1) Keep everything you think you might need within your reach, this helps if there are two adults because obviously as a lone adult, only driver this is not going to work. Only pack the clothes and items you do not need until you get to your destination in the back of our vehicle.
2) With kids, plan to take longer, so if possible leave an extra day in advance and take your time, enjoy the trip.
3) Have lots of activities available: toys, books, kid's favorite show, etc.
4) Do something unique like the car/map idea I did to help your child(ren) visualize where they are, where they are going and to have an idea of "are we there yet?"
The wedding was beautiful, all of the days we were there my kids loved playing with cousins and we all stayed up much later than usual. Travel has its ups and downs, but I love that we have the freedom to go when the occasion arises and that overall we all love to travel.
Singing off...On the road again...
Gina
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