Mama on Wheels - Traveling with Kids

I hate traveling. I really do. It's not a "vacation" for mama. It's torture. The trip there is totally stressful for me and I find that if I'm lucky enough to have someone (an adult) come with me, I make them want to jump out of the van.

I'm supposed to be packing for a Memorial Day trip to my in-laws - I've done this for the past two hours and I'm so annoyed, I just needed a break. I don't have enough time to update this blog (or really enough energy) so I thought it would be a good time to take a break.

My kid are now 7, 5 and 2. Mostly they do pretty well in the car, but I need an arsenal of books, toys, gadgets in the car in order to keep myself from wanting to jump out of the car myself.

Here is a list of things that I'm attempting to pack for them. 99.95% of these are for the older two girls because frankly, the little one just throws whatever I give her on the floor. Mind you... usually I'm traveling alone with my kids but this time, my partner in crime is coming with us so yes, I will actually have another set of hands! Most of the time I'm reaching back from the drivers seat to give my daughter stuff (snacks, water, juice, toys, stuffed animals, and whatever else she has decided to throw at me). It's very frustrating and I'm lucky if I have not gotten in an accident yet.

List O' Crap:

• LeapPads (a must since we don't have iPads for the kids like most normal people I know)
• HEADPHONES!!!!!
• Sticky Mosaic things
• Stickers & Stickerbooks
• Magnetic Play sets
• Water bottle
• Colored Pencils
• Sketchbook
• Flashcards
• Workbooks for school
• Word Searches
• Pen stampers
• BOOGIE BOARD

• WORD WHIZ & MATH WHIZ



• Travel Rainbow Loom (NEW ITEM!!)
• MP3 player 
• Pipecleaners.  Make into jewelry, animals, springs, braid, etc.
• Snacks 
• Boxes of raisins, string cheese, crackers, grapes, apple slices, juice boxes,
• Nuts, M&Ms, dried fruit, granola, goldfish crackers, pretzels, gummy fruit snacks, etc.  
• Marshmallows and Pretzels - good to squish together
• Pepperoni. Seriously, they love it
• Energy bars for mom, maybe a Diet Coke or two!!! I need to have something to eat every 7 minutes or so, need to stay awake!!!
• Random things:
• ziploc bags
• baby wipes
• garbage bags
• paper towel
• first aid kit (one time i let them open everything. kept them busy!!!)
• spill proof cups
• water bottles for the older ones
• cups for putting snacks in!!! easy to pass back

This is what I have so far. Not much I know. I try to avoid anything that can fall on the floor or that has tiny pieces. I know people who actually wrap things up and give them to their kids for good behavior on the way to the destination. I tried that one time but it just caused a fight on what was considered good behavior. I wasted all this time wrapping and I just ended up unwrapping myself and throwing them back there. Good thing I have a good football arm to make it to the back row of the minivan.

Here are some things that I picked up at the local store. Hopefully they will work! There are some things that I have had in my stash and other things are new.

I have made the strategic decision to give up some trunk space and put the middle child in the FAR BACK with the older one. This could make or break the trip. She is 5 and sometimes can blow at any minute. The 7yo is pretty good and is in a high back booster so she can reach things and pick things up. I don't mind that she is in the far back but the 5yo is still in a 5pt harness so she is left to the mercy of the people around her. I pray they get along. I got the MEMORY game so they can play together. I have heard good things but we will see. 

I am a big fan of doing "schoolwork" on vacation. I like to throw in some sort of educational item such as flash cards, workbook, a journal to write down your activities for the older one. Usually it works. We will see. I found a few things for her this year such as a the HOT DOTS pen and some work books and flash cards. I hope she likes it. I then had to get the younger one as well since they will be sitting next to each other. It might keep them busy for about 5 minutes but its 5 minutes that I will gladly take!!!!

As for how we keep everything, I have bins back there. Each one gets their own crate and I pile in the stuff they would like. The older kids have these trays from One Step Ahead: 

They work pretty well. They have a strap to go around their back and it doesn't cause too much screaming... that is until they want them off and they want them off now. 

I'm always asking other mamas what they use for travel. Over the years you figure out what works and what doesn't. I'm constantly changing my stash of stuff. The key is that I don't let them use this stuff when we are at home so they don't really remember they have it all. It stays in a travel bin in the basement. When I bring it out, they are like "wow, hey great stuff mom, thanks!!!"

As for the two year old, I have no frigging clue what I'm going to do. I guess I could give her some post it notes or other things. Stuffed animals, toy phones... really ANYTHING i could find in the house. I picked this up today however after reading the reviews JUST NOW I am not sure I'm going to open it. It looks horrible. It got an average of 3 stars in 84 reviews. People said they would give it zero stars if they could. Wonderful. Well... we will see how desperate I get. 

CRAYOLA MY FIRST DOODLE BOARD

I'm a really big fan of color wonder.... however, she would use those markers as bottle rockets into the front seat. Not gonna play that game. I also have a similar board that takes a water pen, if only I can find it. 

IF YOU READ THIS, please comment on what are your favorite things to take with you on trips for kids with similar ages. Would love to hear from you!!!!

Happy save travels.

:)R