road trip sanity

or how i kept mine. :) there have been oodles of posts around the blogosphere this summer on traveling with kids. some of these ideas came from various sources, the specifics of which i can't really say. just good advice i read that stuck with me (i always link to specific projects when applicable).
first up, i made a lap desk for each child. i kept them hidden until we left so they were a novel and exciting part of our departure. i used this tutorial. matt made the tops from some scraps at work. i stuffed them with wool batting. they were so quick and easy to whip up. well worth the effort!

i also made a folder for each of them with drawing paper, cardstock, stickers, and some other art supplies that were new to them (or old ones that were forgotten). this alone kept them busy for HOURS! sienna worked on cards for all the loved ones she would be seeing.
some other things that saved us:

*books on cd checked out from the library. sienna had been asking for *little house in the big woods* for some time now. i found a copy at our local branch and she listened to the whole thing through at least twice.


*music, also checked out from the library. jasper's favorite was this billy jonas. i may not be able to hear that one again for a while. ;)

*library books. i chose paperback books that looked like they had already seen a few road trips. i am very particular about books my kids read so i chose carefully. i included some picture books with lots of nature photos. i was excited to find *mary wore a red dress* and *stone soup* as those have been recent circle and story time favorites (thanks gigi!).

*i printed out some travel bingo cards. you can find lots of these available on the web for free. we didn't play bingo so much as they just looked for all the things on the cards. good short term distraction. worked particularly well when we were in towns on smaller roads and off the highway.

*beeswax modeling. we have a little basket with a lid that holds our beeswax. i have found that beeswax works well in the car as you can heat it up on the dash and it is nice and malleable for the littles. make sure all the pieces go back in the basket when you are finished! just sayin'.

*valerian super calm. yep, drug 'em. i hope to never travel with my children without this elixir! really helps them come to their happy place when they are feeling restless. i give it to them a little while before bedtime. we are also big fans of *calms forte for kids*.

*healthy snacks. i was not as on top of it as i had planned to be since my allergies were in overdrive the day we left, preventing me from preparing our cooler of goodies. so, we relied on the dried goods that i had already packed (thank goodness!). a staple for us these days is nut butter on corn thins. this makes a nice alternative to a pb & j and gluten-free mommy can eat them too.

still being used at home today!

*i limit my kids sugar intake while traveling (um, i do this all the time, but still). sure, we eat fresh and dried fruit, but that is the extent of it. any other treats that may be with us are packed away and they don't have juice. i find that keeping still while strapped to a hard plastic seat is hard enough without the added intensity of a sugar rush. ;)

*stopping at national parks along the way. we took the opportunity to soak up some nature when we could. let the kids run and breathe some fresh air and the next leg of the trip goes much smoother.

*this book is really helpful. i had seen it and didn't want to spend the money on it. a couple of days later i found an edition that is a few years old for 10 cents at the thrift store so i picked it up. since my copy was outdated, i looked ahead and researched the places in our path before we left to make sure they were still there. i found it helpful and will buy the current edition the next time we are planning a trip.
*keeping the kids comfortable. each of them had a small blanket and a little pillow. i arranged things on the floor boards in front of them so that their lap desks could be flipped over and they could rest their feet on the cushions. nobody wants to have dangling legs for countless hours! i have found that they both really appreciate this and it greatly helps their comfort level.

my mom pointed out how different it is to travel with kids these days. when i was little, we didn't have car seats (gasp!) so we were free to lie down and move about to a certain extent. i remember how fun it was to make a pallet in the floorboards. good times.

another tip i read that i took to heart was packing a separate bag for the hotel stop. we split our trip into two days so we stopped and spent the night. we tried to take advantage of the time the kids were sleeping to get some miles behind us so it was late when we pulled into our resting place. we had two sleeping kids to carry up to our room and i was so grateful that i had one bag to grab with our pjs, the next days clothes, and our toiletries all together. simplify! i love it. we also bring granola and a box of rice milk with us for hotel room breakfasts.

overall, i think they did great. there were only a couple of times when they really got antsy. mostly sienna would tire of her seat belt. the adults might have had a harder time, especially daddy. funny (not really) that the instant he would grumble they would start complaining. how quickly we forget that they are all about the modeling. my method was to distract. talk about random things, look for interesting things outside the window, and just be silly!

what about you? any favorite tricks for road travel that you'd like to share?