Summer Road Trip {traveling with kids}

Traveling for 20-plus hours with three young kids is no joke.  We split up the trip over the course of three days.  Leading up to the trip, my mom and I put together a pretty decent collection of car ideas/activities to help everyone stay happy.  I thought I'd share the ideas here, as much for my memory as for those of you who might find yourself traveling with little ones in the future.

Each of the kids had their own backpack with an assortment of activities, coloring materials, and reading material.  They could access their own bag at any time.  Then we had a bunch of new things that we sorted into brown bags and labeled for each of the days we would be driving.  In each brown bag was either three of the same thing for each of the kids (stickers, a sucker/treat, a new audio book on CD, sticky hands, etc.) or three different things for each specific kid that we'd found and were age/gender appropriate.  The kids quickly learned to look forward to the brown bags!  

Packed up and ready to roll!

When the kids got in the car, they saw our first surprise: a "path" to track our travels.  We had a card for the main cities we would pass through or stop at, including the ones where we would stay the night starred.  I laminated a small white van and it "traveled" along the twine with a small clothespin.  This was a great visual for the kids to know how much further we were going to travel each day.

Cookie sheets; $1 at the dollar store:

Each of the kids had their own sheet and they came in handy for all kinds of things; hard surface for writing, table for eating lunch, Rooke used his for legos, Bridgette played with magnets, and we were especially grateful to have them for catching (yes, catching) vomit.  

window stickers; Target dollar bins:

Bridgette couldn't reach the windows to play with these, but they worked well on the cookie trays.  The older two could use them on the windows, but didn't choose to play with them as much.

Post-It notes:

We used the post-its to let the kids know when things would happen.  There was usually one or two post-its up on the dashboard where everyone could see what was coming next: a brown bag, a video, lunch break, stopping for gas, iPad time, Mom outloud reading, quiet time, at our destination . . . for the most part, the post-its did their job of helping set expectations for the kids about how our time in the car would be spent and what they could look forward to in the day.

The Driving Machine

My dad came up with this little poem that we wrote on tags and tied a dollar bill onto each tag.  We left them at our different stops along the trip (at a restaurant after eating, in the pump at the gas station, etc.).  

Books!

Books are always a must for us with any travel time.  I had been collecting books (and keeping them hidden!) from thrift stores and garage sales in preparation for the trip.

Travel Tickets:

This was our currency of reward for the trip.  Travel tickets could not be asked for, but were given for any number of things, including good behavior, kindness, showing gratefulness. . .  And they could also be taken away as a consequence for bad choices.  The kids could trade their tickets in:

3 tickets = your choice of treat from the treat bag

5 tickets = 15 minutes on the iPad  

One of the kids' favorite brown bag activities: fruit loops and pipe cleaners . . . they made patterns, and then ate them!

Laminated 5x7 photos with wipe-off markers - another brown bag favorite!

We used these multiple times each day and everyone had fun giggling at each other!

No long trip is without some video time!  Our van doesn't have a built-in DVD player, but we found these dual-players at a garage sale and the headphones were one of my best purchases for all of our summer trips.

Gak with cookie cutters:

My mom found a recipe for making gak.  She made three different colors that we kept in three ziplock baggies.  They loved having her sit with the kids to play with it for a while!

Eye Spy (click for instructions)

My mom and I were most excited about this car activity.  It wasn't the kids' favorite thing, but was definitely fun and worked better if we did it with them.  We made two finding cards (photos laminated), one was a little easier than the other.  The kids could cross off the items with a wipe-off marker once they found it.  Tip: don't assume that the teeny tiny random toy bits you find buried in the bottom of a drawer or hiding in the sofa cushions will not suddenly become a cherished item once they are discovered to be sealed up inside the plastic pouch.  

Suction-cup baskets:

I bought one for each of the kids.  Bridgette could just barely reach hers, but they were perfect for the older two to keep markers and other small things from falling between the seat cracks or on the floor and out of reach.  

Letting off some steam in the hotel room before heading to the pool!

Big Daddy and Kaye K made the trip much more fun!

Ryan gave each of the kids $2 to spend on a treat for the trip.  They got to choose when to spend it and what they wanted.  Being the smart kids they are, each of them got their own blizzard! =)

Mad Libs is always a fun group game

I printed and laminated the license plate game to play collectively as we traveled.

This is a fun book for readers that has a lot of fact and travel information about each state.

Yay for road trips!

Summer Road Trip {the Blackberry House}

After our time at Eagle Crest, my sister and I stuck together a bit longer.  We went with our parents to the house where they'll be staying for some of their time in the states.  The home is set amidst beautifully forested land, and the wild blackberries that were growing all around the property were perfectly ripe when we were there!  We made blackberry cobbler twice, blackberry baked oatmeal, and ate plenty of them on our morning oatmeal.  So we dubbed this home the "Blackberry House".  

Rooke lost his third tooth!  He was going to forego the tooth fairy's prize because he was not willing to give up his tooth.  

Auntie Auby suggested he write a note, telling him it's always worked for Evelynn, and he was thrilled to find not only his tooth, but a note reply and $1 the next morning! =)

One afternoon, we headed to a nearby park.  The playground was meh, so we headed towards a big hill, knowing the river was just on the other side.  We had no idea to expect one of the best play times enjoyed during our entire vacation!  Sometimes the spontaneous surprises are the ones that satisfy the most.  The water was shallow and warm, the sand was soft, and the only other person we saw was a man fishing down the way who didn't seem to be bothered by our noise or by the slow shedding of children's clothing being discarded on the shore!

There was another beach nearby that we wanted to check out the next day, but hesitated to take the risk knowing how great our first beach discovery had ended up.  Turns out the second day was just as perfect as the first!  Our six little ducks in a row . . .

We went to one of the Mt. Saint Helens visitor centers.  Our crew didn't last long inside the center, but enjoyed the trail walk outside.  We could barely see the mountain that day, but it was still a beautiful walk.  And the playground area in the state park on the other side of the highway was wonderful.

Aubyn and I took Rooke, Gretchen, and Evelynn for an adventure day in Portland.  We started at a trampoline gym!  I was impressed that after signing in, Rooke took off and went straight to the foam pit.  His first jump was a front flip into the pit!  We went to Ikea for an ice cream treat and a few other things Aubyn and I "needed", then we met everyone else at Konnor and Tana's for dinner.

An adventurous trek where I experienced my first-ever bee sting.  

Our second round of blackberry cobbler!

Big Daddy snuggles

These two could not get enough of this game!

The mornings were always chilly.

And then it came time to say goodbye.  The McTaggarts went on their way and we left the next morning for the long drive back home.  What a wonderful month spent with family!

Living in the same house with family for almost three weeks was not without tension or frustration, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.  I loved the opportunity to get to know my nieces and nephews better, and to watch my kids become better friends with their cousins.  I enjoyed learning from and laughing with my siblings.  And receiving the generosity, service, and love shown from my parents the entire time.  I'm grateful for my family and the memories we'll have from our time together this summer.