Traveling with Little Kids

Michael is from Illinois and I am from Idaho. So, no matter where we live we will have family far away. Because of that, we have been taking long road, and air, trips ever since we were first married. I don't even know how many times S has been in the car for a 20+ hour trip.

That being said, I have had people ask me what kinds of things I take to entertain my little kids. They aren't really old enough for finding license plates from every state, or other games like that, that can entertain older kids. So I decide to come up with a list of things that seem to keep my crazy family from becoming not completely crazy when we travel together.

• LeapPads - I know that you may or may not own these for your kids so this may or may not apply. But, LeapPads have saved us on trips! They have educational games and my kids can play them for hours. I bought our LeapPads with road trips in mind. They don't get to play them for hours at home, but in the car, as long as they are happy, I don't care!
• Crayons and a notebook - This will cost you $0.50 at Walmart. You can't get better than that. Fifty cents for some quiet in the car. I got a set for each of my 3 kids that color. No fighting because Z won't share the blue crayon with S or because W ripped a page out of Z's notebook.
• FOOD - And plenty of it! For our upcoming trip, I made "trail mix" bags for my kids. I let each of the big kids pick a treat from the $0.99 candy section at Walmart, then filled in the rest with animal crackers (Aldi's has the best if you live in the east, just FYI), yogurt raisins, teddy grahams, etc... I don't know about your kids, but my kids LOVE TO EAT!!! I think they would just eat all day if I would let them. Traveling amplifies this. So, to avoid whining, I bring food. This time we are traveling on an airplane, but usually when we travel in the car I have a cooler full of fruits and veggies that are easy to eat on the go (grapes, clementines, carrots, cut up cucumbers and broccoli, etc...).
• Backpacks - Since we are traveling by air this time, each of my bigger kids gets their own back pack to carry their own stuff. We started packing these bags early and they have been carrying them around the house, knowing not to take anything out. They are so excited! Plus, I let them each pick a few toys to play with on the plane. Z wasn't so happy when I told him a full size soccer ball was not a toy he could take. So he settled for some cars. S is taking a baby, and some polly pocket sized people. W doesn't really have anything since he is sharing daddy's carry on. In all reality, I hope W will sleep!
• DVD Player - I know, not the greatest or most profound item. But it works, so why knock it.
• Headphones - These are great for the car and for the airplane. Obviously, the kids don't get to play on their LeapPad and watch a show on the airplane without headphones, but even in the car it is nice to have them. Especially when the babies are sleeping! Its amazing how much quieter it makes the ride, plus you can listen to a book on CD or music over the car speakers and the kids don't complain about only being able to hear your stuff!
• Books - Sometimes they like them, sometimes they just throw them. But a couple of books is usually not a bad thing.
• Mix CDs - Although we are flying, we do have 4 drives to the airport and to our destination after the flight. Mix CDs with kid and "mommy and daddy music" has really been a hit in our family. I try to put lots of variety on our CDs. I think we have over a dozen mix CDs. Every time a song comes on the kids don't know, they ask who's music it is. They've even learned to like some "mommy and daddy music!" And when we get sick of the CDs, we just take turn picking songs ourselves. True, we do sing "Twinkle, Twinkle" way more often than some of us would like, but if it makes kids happy, then why not!?!

I hope that gives you a few ideas for your next, long trip. As we travel, I try to ration everything so they don't get it all at once and bored. Other than that, there really is not rhyme or reason to it. Just bring things they like and that are travel sized and you should be set! There probably will be a little weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, especially with little kids, but at least you can minimize it if you are prepared. At least, that's what I keep telling myself as our next long trip nears!

Vacations

My family got home last night from a weekend in Illinois with family. I've always thought, especially since having kids, I need to plan at least one day to recover from "vacation." This is why:

Take 4 kids, 2 adults and put them in a car for 9 hours (not the longest road trip we've taken, but still significant).

Add movies, toys, food, potty breaks, singing, yelling, stinky diapers, crying, laughing, sleeping, and every other thing that goes in to that 9 hours on the road and you will be exhausted.

That is what we call "Day 1" of our vacation.

Then we get to try to get kids to sleep in a place that is not their house in things that are not their beds. (Even if it is Grandma and Grandpa's house, sleeping it hard when you aren't home).

Then "Day 2" begins.

At least with this day you don't have to been crammed in the car the entire time. But you do have to get in to go see the sights, go out to eat, see other family, etc... Fortunately, the kids find "left overs" crushed in the car seat and cup holder from the day before (at least, you hope that is when they were left) so they are happily chewing for the first few minutes of the ride. Then they realize they are strapped down once again. Chaos ensues, until they fall asleep that is. Sleep usually happens about 5 minutes before the next destination is reached.

After being out and about for a while, the kids are tired and so are you. So, back to "home base," also known as The Grandparents' House.

15 kids run around having the time of their lives.

Water plus dirt equals mud, in case you didn't know.

Bug bites.

Scrapes and bruises, or "fun marks" as we call them.

Frizzy hair.

Black socks (Note to self: Don't buy Z any more white socks; they don't stay that color for long).

Yelling.

Crying.

Laughing.

Allergies.

Playing.

Fighting.

Hugging.

Eating (every good vacation has pleanty of good food too)!

Messes.

Laundry.

Games.

Bugs.

Memories made.

Minimal sleep.

Start all over.

Repeat until vacation is over.

Time to drive home.

This time, on top of the fun 9 hours ahead, you add exhausted kids, and parents, who haven't slept well in days.

Put this all together and what do you get? A vacation! And the reason why I need a day to recover from my vacation.

So why do we do this to ourselves? Because it is so much fun!!! Despite S's legs being covered in welts from bug bites, Z's socks being black from playing outside without shoes, W's soaked clothes from playing in the pool without a swim suit, and Baby B's diaper rash from eating new foods and not getting changed right away, we really did have a blast!

Cousins are some of the best friends our kids will ever have. Siblings are best friends that we will have longer than any other friend. Parents and grandparents are the people we have loved since birth. So there may be a lot of crying over silly things like fireworks and dogs (yes, both S and Z were terrified of both), but there is also a lot of laughing over memories made and recalled. There may be yelling over who gets to pick the next movie during the drives (W and Z will get over the fact that their big sister didn't want to watch Strawberry Shortcake with them), but the destination is well worth the ringing ear drums. So, we will keep calling this chaotic event a vacation. And we will keep repeating it. Hopefully, when we are old and have grandchildren of our own, they will take vacations just like ours! And the chaos will just keep repeating itself.