We now are resorting to flying when absolutely necessary - or we find an amazing deal on flights.
Our family has a growing edge in terms of road trips and we are slowly but surely figuring out what makes the most sense and how to make it happen.
Over the next several months we will be travelling to: Wisconsin, eastern South Dakota, Colorado, and western South Dakota.
Our trips will be a combination of full family trips and a couple of times I am going to attempt to make the trips without Marc. I MUCH prefer Marc is along, his sense of direction is exponentially better than mine, he LOVES to drive, and I can easily pass things back to the kiddos while he drives. With all of the kiddos still rear facing it is a little harder to pass things back.
Some things I have learned:
- I pack one of two ways
- On short trips I pack a large utility tote {from 31} for each night. So for our trip to Wisconsin where we will only be gone for two nights I will pack a bag to take into the hotel the first night and a bag to take into the house where we are staying the second night. I also throw in a bag of extra clothes and miscellaneous things just in case - because the tiny humans are unpredictable at best.
- On longer trips I pack a medium utility tote {also from 31} for each person. I will also have a bag of miscellaneous things as well
- Other important things:
- a pop up laundry basket or laundry bag
- I don't like when our dirty and clean laundry mix and keeping it straight in random bags doesn't work for me - makes it easy when I start the dreaded unpacking - dump the laundry in the washer and start putting way the stuff still in bags
- a soft sided cooler with some food for the journey - saves us money so that we don't have to snag all our food from gas stations and fast food restaurants
- milk, fruit, drinks, yogurt, cheese sticks, & soda for tired drivers
- a travel potty
- we have the "my carry potty" which I am not even sure if they make any more but it is wonderful - when Lucy {2.5yrs} has to go potty we don't always have miles of warning - it is usually only a couple minutes, so we can pull off and she can pee in the little potty on the side of the road - I wash it out when we get to our destination
- a box of things to keep the kiddos occupied in the van
- books, little people, movies {we try to not let them watch ridiculous amounts, however, sometimes this mama just needs a bit of time without having to entertain the kiddos}, stuffed animals, etch a sketch, color wonder coloring books & markers, dry erase boards
- I also have our box of toddler busy bags that I created with some friends a few months back
- A small bag of things to do when we get out of the van to stretch
- bubbles - my sweet girl LOOOOOVES bubbles
- a ball to play with if we can't find a good park
- a blanket to sit on so we can eat meals outside and let the kiddos run wild
- a few thank you notes in our car because I like to be able to leave thank you notes when we stay with family
- A bag of stuff for this mama
- a book, my kindle, yarn, crochet hooks, chargers for the tiny human's kindle, phone cords, my camera {I do love my iPhone pics, but sometimes a real camera is nice}
Any road trip tips you'd love to share?
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