Top traveling tips with toddlers...

Our family seems to do a lot of traveling.  It isn't "vacation" traveling per se, but visits back to WI to visit family and weekend conferences in ND. 

That means the majority of our trips are either 4.5 or 13+ hours long.  Our kids are champs at long travel.  A quick jaunt into town to pick up milk or diapers or go to church is 30 minutes.  A trip to the "big" town of Bismarck is 2 hours if we want to shop at Target or a real mall.  And we really don't make that type of trip very often maybe once every 3 months or so.  I confess that I bought some things back in November that still haven't been returned because I haven't made it back there yet.  Well that, and the fact that I don't like to shop anyway.

This past weekend we made a trip to Fargo for a 3 day conference.  As I packed quickly Thursday morning (we left at noon) I thought, "it is only a 4.5 hour trip.  I'm not packing a ton of stuff since we aren't making a REAL trip of 13+ hours."

Ok.  I got cocky.

We were only 10 minutes into the trip when I realized I didn't even pack ONE book.  Or a coloring book.  Or flashcards.  Or their write and wipe alphabet books.

I had my church stash of notebooks and 4 crayons in my purse.  3 dolls.  And movies.

I'm blaming this all on pregnancy brain.

So, here is my list of tips (written down so I may look back at them for our next trip):

1.  Books/coloring books/magazines.  I try to slowly "steal" away books the week before we travel.  That way the girls think they got something "new."  Magazines can be thrown when they get ripped.  We bring the farm magazines.  The hubby gets to read them and then they are handed back to the girls.  They love looking for pictures of cows and tractors.

2.  Hit the rest areas/rest stops/way sides (whatever you call them in your neck of the woods).  My girls love picking out new things to read.  There is usually some sort of activity book for kids and Medora, ND has a great coloring book for kids.

3.  Our top favorite snacks for trips include:  Twizzlers, Pringles, suckers (it keeps them occupied when I just need a little peace from all the chattering/crying), cut up sausage and cheese, applesauce-to-go (think juice pouch with a twist-on cover), and bananas. 

4.  A soft sided cooler allows you to squish it in up front wherever it fits.  On long trips we usually have a larger cooler in back with a half gallon of milk and additional cheese/sausage.  We also need that big cooler to haul all the cheese we buy from our favorite cheese plant in WI.

5.  Headphones.  For the driver.  The suburban we got back in August has a DVD player in it.  That means we do watch some movies on the road.  That also means the adults can go crazy listening to kid movies.  I try to put one earbud in so I can still hear what is going on around me.

6.  Multiples of everything.  With 3 yr old twins and a 2 yr old they always want the same thing at the same time.  Yes, at home we work on sharing and taking turns, but when confined in a vehicle I try to reduce the fighting and stress on mom.

7.  Reclosable sandwich bags.  Great for dividing up crayons, french fries and pretty much anything else you don't want making a mess on the floor. 

8.  Wet wipes.  Nuff said.

9.  We try to minimize stops at gas stations.  We'll only stop for gas.  Adult snacks and pop are bought from walmart before we depart. 

10.  The little potty.  You never know when or where you will be when an emergeny, "I have to go NOW" is yelled from the back.  I don't think we will ever not travel with it.  Let me be honest here for a minute.  I've used it just as much as the girls.  Especially, when traveling with the kids myself or during pregnancy.  Two funny stories.  I once made it from WI back to ND without using a real toilet.  After the Packer game last December we were stuck in the parking lot in traffic when this pregnant lady really had to go.  Luckily, we still had the little potty in the Burb.  Just keeping it real.

11.  Again rest areas.  I know some people avoid them.  And I guess it just depends on where they are, but for us we use them all the time in ND and in other states in the midwest.  Usually, there are very few people and that means the girls can run around for a few minutes and be LOUD.  During the summer when Lil was 6 months and the twins were 2 I made the trip to WI myself.  Instead of trying to take the girls into a restaurant to eat we had a picnic at a rest area.  The girls could run, eat and I didn't have to worry about anyone around us.