Notes about the road trip

I don't want to take for granted that while there are times my two little kiddies feel like they are sextuplets because they can be so darn demanding they have been angels in my travel ventures without Mike.

I've come a long way in travelling alone with kids too. The first time I travelled alone with them was on a plane trip to Arizona. That of course was the experimental adventure and ended with me taking my son off the plane in a diaper and shirt and having milk puke (of the smelliest kind) on my shirt. Ewww.

I'm writing but I am not quite sure how to organize my thoughts. I don't want this to seem like a list of tips- because not everything works for every kid. BUT, the stuff that helps us have successful relatively stress free travels are:

A travel potty. This is VERY necessary. Emma's bladder is the size of a penny and if I had to stop to take her to the bathroom every 25 minutes in a gross 7-11 it would be awful. Not to mention that I'd have to take Andrew in and he isn't the easiest to contain in a stall while helping a 3 year old pee without touching anything. The potty we have rocks because it folds up to nothin and fits in the door pocket of the car so it's always there.

Food- when you're on a road trip or on a plane eating is an activity, not a necessary action for fueling the body. Big difference.
We never stop/get out to eat. We drive through and eat in the car- it's a nice 25 minutes. On the front seat next to me I have 2 plastic shoe boxes- one is filled with little nick knack toys to pass to the back seat, the other is filled with food/drinks.
My kids love the Gerber freeze dried fruits but they're too expensive to buy on a regular basis (in my opinion) so we only have them on trips. I put them into small, tiny little Tupperware containers and into the shoe box. I also have in the food box:
-Tupperware of favorite cereal (Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, Honey Comb are our favorites)
-travel size bottle of apple juice, water bottle (for cup refills)
-Ziploc bag of 2 small bagels
-bag of M&M's (just in case it all gets hairy. I hand them only 2 at a time)
-2 small empty bowls. We use these when we stop for dinner (on a road trip it is usually some sort of chicken nuggety thing and fries) put a couple nuggets and some fries in the little bowls and pass them back.

In the seat back pockets I stock loads of books. This is where being cheap and buying the paperback books comes in handy. I can fit about 10 in each of the seat back pockets. I can reach back and hand them each a book at a time and when we stop I pick up all the books off the floor and switch them to the other seat pocket- so they each read about 20 books. I also usually take some of the books I know I want to bring on a trip and hide them about a week before we travel so they are a little more interested in them when I hand them to the kids to read.

In the other shoe box on the front seat- little toys. A couple of cars, or planes, a pony or two, animal, small baby doll, etc. My kids each have a dumb little toy they call their magic wands- lights, sounds, blah, blah. I don't like them but they love them so they go in the box. There is also a little photo album of pics of the family and people our kids know/love and especially pictures of themselves- boy do they love those. I usually print 10-12 new pics of them right before a trip. It's less than $2 and it entertains both of them over and over again. Just fill that plastic shoe box up with fun. On a plane trip I take a tiny pack (or two) of play-doh, post it notes and a pen, stickers, and a mini coloring book or blank notebook with a couple of markers.

I think it's important to find the line between hydration and 12 diaper changes on a trip. I give my kids one cup of juice then they can't have any more until they've eaten and drank 1 cup of just water- they usually never make it to the next cup of juice. Let's face it- 12 oz of water just isn't as fun as 12 oz of watered down apple juice.

In between my kids seat I have a box (I have the cloth fold able box kind but anything that fits between the seats would work- unless there's a 3rd kid there).
The box holds a light blanket for each of them to keep them comfy if they sleep, extra clothes for each of them and a few stuffed animals for each of them. Stuffed animals go on top so the kids can pull them out and put them back ad lib.

I made Andrew travel in his sisters pull ups (Disney Princesses and all) so that I don't have to lay him down to change his diaper. (This obviously wouldn't work for any gross situation, but he would never poop sitting in his car seat). He stands in his seat for the change. In his door pocket are the pull ups, wipes.

Ipod, Ipod, Ipod. Or, mixed CD. My kids watched 90 minutes of DVD's on both 6+ hour car trip and listened to music the majority of the time. Every kid is different but our kids love:
Raffi
Little Einsteins Musical Missions
Primary songs
The Annie soundtrack (hence the love of hard knock life)
The Sound of Music soundtrack
Broadway kids- This Land is Your Land is their fave!
Wonder Pets, Backyardigans, and Little People they also like but they tend to make me crazy after about 15 minutes so I limit the listening of these.
When it's sleeping time their favorite soft music- it's magic I think.

What works for you??