A Few of my Favorite Tips for Traveling with kids

We just got back from our lil family vacation to the beach.  We went to Destin and it was just beautiful.  I really hate to think what it will be like when the oil will hit these gorgeous white beaches.

We only travel a few times a year in the car with the kids (usually to visit our families).  They aren't the hardiest of travelers.  We learned the very hard way that our oldest gets car sick very easily.  And Kalla gets a bit uncomfortable too back in the third row.  So we always have to start off with some Dramamine (of which is either a swallowing or chewing pill...both of which Z can't stand, but is getting more tolerant as he gets older).  

But to keep from the never ending 'when do we get there??' I keep a few tricks up my sleeve.  And yes we watch a few videos here and there which is a giant help.  

But this time around I gave them all a little notebook to keep.  Then every half hour if there was NOT any fighting, whining, complaining, crying or 'when are we there's' they got a sticker.  And believe it or not, just marking the half hour seems to make the trip go quick.  But of course there are rewards.  This time was for every 5 stickers they received a silly band.

I brought a couple of packages of silly bandz.  When they received one, they played with them, wore them and stuck them on the windows.  lol  Not sure if this fad has reached your area or not, but those who have know all about them if you have kids in elementary school.  They hit hard here in northern AL last year.

Now this method of marking the 30 mins and rewards works really well for my four.  Z even says it helps it go faster.  Another way I've done this before was I made key chains for the kids using a key ring and plastic string and various pony beads.  I tied a long string to the key ring and added their names and tied a knot to hold it on.  Every 30 mins I gave them a fun pony bead to add if they earned it.  For every 5 beads I let them have a dum dum sucker.  That one I used on a 11 hour trip and it worked like magic!  ;)

Something else I like to do to make road trips special is I make a special trail mix snack.  Simply just some dry snacks mixed together in their own little bowls.  This time I used pretzel goldfish, cheerios, unsalted cashews, mini marshmallows and M&Ms.

As far as actually being on vacation away from all their precious toys and not wanting to pack any of them I just brought a few things for them all to share that all would enjoy.

This moon sand really saved us during down times (when the little kids were napping) and impatient mornings...they wake at 6am every morning so by 7am they wanted to go swimming!  So during those times we played moon sand and blew bubbles off the balcony.  :)

But then I was scolded when they ran out of white paper quickly with the small stash we brought for the car.  So one of the grocery trips we picked up a ream of copy paper and they were happy as clams making all kinds of fun beach scenes.

Anyway, thought I would share some things that worked for us.  Anybody else have some road trips lined up this summer??  For us the rest of the summer will be people coming to us, so that was it for us for a while!

And........you know I have a share just a few of the 265 pics I took in 3 days...lol  :)

Traveling with the kids

It's never easy on little ones to get in the car for hours on end strapped to a seat. I know lots of traveling is going on this time of year, including my family. We are headed to the Smokies in 2 days! Not a bad drive at a little over 4 hours. To go to Grandma's it's an 11 hour drive! We only do that drive every other year if that.

Anyway, I've been preparing for our trip and thought I'd share some things I've learned along the way and this link to some good traveling tips too. Course we have given into the DVD player in the car. Very helpful.

Other things I have done in the past on the really long trips are as follows:

*One big hit was a bead chain. I used the big plastic pony beads you can get at the craft store or Walmart. I gave my kids each a new bead every 30mins they didn't complain or cry. Then they got to put it on a string. Every 5 beads they won a dumdum. With this, we made an 11 trip with not a single kid crying (baby doesn't count) and my kids do NOT sleep in the car....maybe an hour at best.
*Aluminum/tin foil. Great for making non messy sculptures.
*Shoe box. Draw a little race track in the bottom and include a matchbox car. For older kids (non young toddler types) include magnets and draw a maze on the bottom and let them use a magnet under the box to push a magnet in the box around the maze.
*Special snack mixes. Goldfish, cheerios, nuts, sunflower kernals, mini marshmallows, M&Ms and pretzels. I get those cute animal cups in the paper plate section of the grocery store that have the flaps that cover the opening. Those are easy for little hands to eat out of then close up when done for minimal spillage.
*Stickers, crayons and spiral notebooks. Self explanatory.
*For girls, magnet paper doll sets. Boys, low volume hand held video games (Target has some cute ones....race car, baseball, basketball... in their seasonal/stocking stuffer section.)

Another problem with traveling with small kids is you usually are going to a place that has no toys, so it's just more stuff you need to bring. I let my kids pack a small tote bag of stuff. Easy to bring things are small mats with train tracks or roads and bring along some trains or cars. I'm making this playmat for our trip.

I think that's all I have for now and I've got a TON of stuff to finish/pack. This will be my last post til next week when we get back. Lots of blog action/reading to catch up on then too! Thanks to the sweet ladies in my blog group who gave me awards!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Summer days are fading away

Well, I had good intentions to start this blog, and then never saved time to post anything! So I now am going to try to commit to posting regularly. :) Just to warn there will be lots of pictures as I like taking them and I like looking at pictures...I'm a very visual type person. ;)

So....where to begin. Maybe I'll go backwards and share what we've/I've been up to this summer. We traveled a good bit. We flew to TX in the spring and then drove up to IA to visit grandma and grandpa...the flight with the 4 kids (5yr, 3yr, 23mo and 3mo old) went pretty bad....long story. The 11hour drive went very well...I was very prepared and creative. ;) One thing that went over well with the 2 oldest, Zachary and Kalla was a little trick I stole/modified from his music class. I took a key ring and attached a plastic string made for stringing beads and put there names in beads on each one. Then I brought a collection of plastic chunky beads of different shapes and colors (the bears and airplanes were the most popular...especially the pink (Kalla's fav color of course) and red--Zachary's current fav. Every 30 mins if they had been nice and not whined, complained or cried I gave them one of their choice. Then every 5 beads they got a treat...usually a dumdum. It worked like a charm and made the long trip not seem so long (that the the dvd player!).

Anyway, the rest of the summer has been filled with swimming, going to Early Works,

driving the jeep,

bouncing in their new bouncy (thanks grandma :)

and birthdays. It was SO hot this summer, we mostly stayed indoors! We did squeeze in a few walks early in the morning...here the kids are ready to go for one not long ago.

Micah turned 2 and had an Elmo party in June.

Kalla turned 4 and had a princess (of course!) party in July.

Now it's the BIG boy's turn. Zachary is turning 6 this Saturday. First Kindergarten this year and now 6 years old. He has requested a Build a Bear party. So of course I obliged in planning one. This is going to be my easiest party yet (those who know me well, know I am a big party thrower). We are meeting in the food court and having pizza and a cookie cake. I am bringing a few supplies and bowl of fresh fruit.

I made little treat bags for all the guests...trail mix of dried banana slices, raisins, craisins, pretzel goldfish, oatmeal teddy grahams and a few chocolate chips.

Now I've noticed there are no pics of baby Maressa in this post. Mostly because she is sleeping or I am holding her while taking pics of every body else. So here is a really cute one I took the other day while playing with my camera.

She looks just like her daddy

And is a clone of her big sister at this age. Maybe another time I'll put up some comparison pics. But for now I've got a wiggly baby in my lap that needs a diaper change!

';,. --Maressa says hi!

Look for posts soon with my latest projects, yummy fall recipes and handy tips! I've got a good bit to share! :)