How to do a Road Trip with small Children

I am proud to say that

WE SURVIVED 26 HOURS OF ROAD TRIP WITH TWO SMALL CHILDREN!

(that tops our 20+hours to AZ last year!)

Here's a few ideas of what we did.

{thanks for the help, people!}

1. make "busy bags"

put an activity in a brown bag and when kids get restless, I'd say "brown bag time!" and boy, were they ever excited! ie. stickers and a small note pad, suckers, small puzzles, little plastic bug toys, lego pieces in zip lock bag, bubbles we could crank up the AC and blast through the car, "no make mess magic marker" coloring packets I got at Walmart, etc.

2. Check out AUDIO READ ALONGS WITH CD included from the library.

I'd hold up the book so both the boys could see if and we'd listen to the CD. They loved it!

3. Check out silly children song CDs from the Library.

we LOVED "NO!" by They might be giants.

The kids were begging to hear them over and over again and Ronny and I didn't mind singing along and laughing with this CD! We love TMBG!

4. DVD time.

We took our laptop and hooked it up. This works great. We checked out a lot of educational DVDs from the library too, so they're not just watching brainless things.

5. Teaching time.

Ronny took a lot of time (whether he knew it or not) finding things out the window and pointing things out to the kids, explaining things. ie. we saw huge trucks carrying wings to a windmill. He explained what the pieces were as we drove past the trucks, and then whenever we saw windmill farms, he'd take the time to point out what they were and how they worked.

6. Educational CDs

We checked out "learning Japanese with songs" cds from the library as well and the kids (and ronny) had "japanese" time.

7. don't forget Snack time! Have both healthy and unhealthy snacks! :)

8. When stopping to eat, choose a place where the kids can run around.

We had a lot of picnics--didn't spend much on eating out, so we chose grassy open fields and most even had sprinklers so we played and had the kids run around before we got back in the car.

9. Listen to your kids.

This is a great time to ask your children what's on their mind. What have they been thinking about, what's their favorite things as of late...etc. They will love the closeness they will feel as you have nothing else to do but to listen! :)

10. Enjoy the time you have together!

It can be REALLY fun, I promise!

Things to do to cut cost while traveling:

so we traveled 26+ hours, drove two days.

Here's what we had to pay for while on the road.

GAS, FOOD AND LODGING

Obviously, if you have people you know along the way that you could stop and stay at, GREAT! but if you don't, here's a few things you can do to save a bit.

FOOD

1. pack your meals.

Breakfast: choose hotels that provide breakfasts.

1. the first morning we left, I had chopped up fruits (rasperries, mangos, bananas, strawberries, apples, etc) in a throwaway tupperware (I keep those butter, Sour cream, and any store containers) and had yogurt and cereal to pour over them. Give them a spoon and when you're done, you can throw everything away!

3.Take a water heater and packets of oatmeal with plastic bowls and bananas or other fruits.

4. how about pastries?

Lunch:

1. we took a packet of ham, cheese and a loaf of bread with chips and chopped fruits and homemade candied nuts and had picnics. One time, we found a random LDS temple so we stopped there and ate at the grounds.

2, Buy delicious breads to spice your sandwiches up, and I promise it will still be cheaper than eating out!

Dinner:

you can either have another sandwich.

We also had 28cent cup a noodles and used our water heater in the hotel to boil water and eat with sandwiches.

or use their microwave to heat up canned goods.

I also took my rice cooker and cooked some rice and had instant packets of soup. We had plans to stop in somewhere and get a plate of fried chicken or entrees from panda express, but we didn't.

This is a much healthier and CHEAPER alternative to eating out!

Snacks:

slice apples and bag them. (don't forget to salt/lemon juice them so they don't brown)

string cheese/cubed cheese from home

yogurt

granola

homemade candied nuts

fruit snacks

ritz/crackers with spreadable cheese

craisins/raisins/dried fruit

cookies

criossant with nutella

etc

and don't forget to pack your cooler (freeze if you can and that can be your ice) full of water bottles and juices. Gas stations will charge you an arm and a leg for them!

LODGING:

since we don't like to make reservations because we like to drive drive and keep driving and never know when we decide "that's it for today," we use the "walk in and bargain" method.

Ask if the hotel has spare rooms.

ask them what their regular rate is.

ask them what their best offer to you is.

ask them; "is that your best?"

if you don't like that offer, tell them you have $$$ in cash.

They usually will budge :)

Although we weren't completely satisfied with the price, (actually, it was less than what we had budgeted for so I don't know why I'm still complaining) we had a decent room that normally costs $99 (fridge and microwave and two king beds) for $62.

Not bad.

In the end, we always feel like we MISS the time spent together and the kids are soon asking "can we do another road trip please!?" actually, I find myself asking the same thing too....

Enjoy the time you're STUCK together! :)

Can we say NEVER ENDING!? :)

Kai being silly as always

Jaiden's a MESS!!!!

(don't forget the WIPES!)

We had a pet lizard for Kai in the car---this is Kai's pet climbing him while picnicking for lunch)