Like Carrie said on her blog, there may be "tough times ahead" during our summer travels. I told Adam that if I can just make it through the drive to California, I'll live happily ever after. How could I forget that not only do we have to make it to our destination, we also have to make it back? The car trip is something to be survived.
I'd like this next trip to be different, though. Any ideas on how to make car trips better with kids? Please share, even if they seem obvious or simple (simple is good). One idea I have this time is to plan some "pre-beach house destinations" to help break the trip up, and to help get the vacation started before we actually make it to the beach house. After we've driven 2 0r 3 hours, we'll plan to stop at a certain park where the kids can run free and lose some energy.
More ideas?
I remember when our family drove to New Mexico for Philmont Scout Camp that we went to the library before and checked out tons of Where's Waldo books and activity books to do in the car. Your kids might be too young for that though?
ReplyDeleteA dvd player always keeps Rob quiet on long trips...
Sam and dad put a cigarette lighter in the car door, and dad bought a normal outlet adapter just to keep me quiet... nintendo games all the way to the beach house. And designing. Working on things on a new photoshop knockoff I got. Pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteBut I'll probably driving a lot of the ways, so that'll be impossible.
Emily might be into Where's Waldo. We'll check it out and see.
ReplyDeleteThe DVD player is 100% reliable. What is it about electronics that is so mesmorizing?
We've found some pretty good things that work well for our kids on trips, and maybe some will be useful to you. . .
ReplyDelete- Novel snacks (fun healthy things that they don't normally get.) But here's the catch: Bring them out one at a time or the kids will chose one novel snack over the other, making the other one suddenly non-novel.) Also, keep the stash out of sight so you can use it when the kids need something, and they won't get tired of your options too early.
-Library books are great. Board books, just anything new to them. It's also good to keep the size down so they can manage a book well on their laps. I found that me reading books to them from the front seat was especially effective (practically like a movie.)
-We like books or stories on CD or tape. They have some fun ones in the children's section at the library, but you might have to look a minute to find ones that would be interesting enough for littler ears.
- Put them in comfy clothes for traveling (not jeans.)
-Remember that crayons sound like a fun car activity, but they are actually just a nightmare when they melt. Found that one out the hard way. Maybe a magnadoodle pad instead.
-Lots of toys that make high pitched singing or sporadic and loud nois. . .no wait. Scratch that.
-If you don't have one of those window blinds, have a small blanket or something handy that you can roll up in the window to block the sun from torching them. That can save a lot of grief sometimes.
-Fun little hands on activities (maybe just for Emily) like those cardboard pictures with holes that you can lace a shoelace through to outline it. (I bet you could make something like that too, but I know Walmart has them in their crayon isle.)
-Singing songs that they know (or any fun songs really, like primary songs, action songs, counting songs, whatever songs) can cover a lot of miles too.
-Same with the "I Spy" game. We've gotten some pretty good laughs out of that one.
So that's all I can think of right now. (And you're thinking, "All??? It's a stinking book!")
That was a good read. I'm glad you included some detail, and I'm really glad you commented.
ReplyDeleteNovel snacks--Great idea. I'll wrap them up. A couple friends have suggested wrapping the toys/treats.
Comfy clothes--I'll follow that one for me as well.
No crayons--Sounds like they're as "dangerous" as markers. Maybe one little colored pencil...?
Window blinds--They never seem to cover the right spot, we'll also bring a little blankey, perhaps sunglasses for Emi.
An additional idea from me--Put a towel under the car seats to catch the crumbs. Then we'll wash and use the towels at the beach house.
It goes without saying that we'll totally miss you. But we'll plan another get together be it here, there, or maybe even Pocatello. Love you all.