We got back from our trip earlier tonight. We had a wonderful time in the Twin Cities, and I plan on telling you more about it soon (when I’ve had some sleep).
I did a good job preparing for the trip there, but did not do a great job thinking about the drive home.
When it came to snacks we were good for the drive up to Minnesota, but I totally forgot about snacks for the way home. The kids and I ended up eating cookies from a gas station for a treat. Gas station cookies aren’t very good. Elliot decided to “take it apart” instead of eat it, and now I hope that soaking his shirt in OxiClean will get all of the chocolate out of his shirt.
I let Elliot put diggers in his back pack, which is a great toy for him. I didn’t think about how playing with trucks would keep him from sleeping on the drive. He didn’t sleep on the drive there, yet I didn’t think to take them away until after he slept on the drive home. So he didn’t sleep in the car either way.
On a positive note, at the Children’s Museum yesterday I thought to clip Giraffe to Audrey with her mitten clip. It made the visit much less stressful for me.
I love travelling, and I’m glad I went even if the kids didn’t sleep in the car. I am hoping to go on several trips this summer, and I will eventually remember things like snacks on the way home and not giving the 2-year-old his favorite toys to play with at nap time.
Do you have any travel tips for car trips with kids?
mildlygranola 
When my daughter was small we lived 8 hours from family and made that trip every couple of months. The things that made the trip doable was books, particularly pop up or interactive in some way, kids music that we could sing together if necessary and when the going got rough a shake from McDonalds. We also had a couple of planned sights (a giant Native American statue signaled 1 1/2 hours to go, the big bridge meant 1 more hour) or stops along the way that we could count down to. We made these trips from the time she was 6 weeks old thru age 4. It got easier the more practice we got. Though there were a few trips that involved tears and bribery.
The best piece of parenting advice I ever got was if after a really hard day everyone is alive you did your job. Nothing will ever be perfect and there are still days that I fall into bed thinking well, everyone is still alive.
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[…] kids wanted to bring their animals into the zoo. Now that I’ve discovered the mitten clip trick having the animals with us is less terrifying. I ended up being happy that giraffe came with us […]
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