I am incredibly blessed to have such a support system that surrounds us. I knew that Scottie would probably not be able to get the time off, my sister just had a baby, my other sister has a family of her own to take care, my mom and dad work as well. So I turned to the next best thing, one of my favorite cousins. My girl Heather! Not only do we get along well but she works at a daycare so she knows how to take care of a kid. It doesn't hurt that Amanda is her sister, I knew she wouldn't pass up a chance to see her! We decided to drive because it just made sense for us, and for Heather's work schedule. The train only went at night, and it doesn't drive directly into Columbus. We would have arrived around 3 am, I think, and would have had to drive another two hours to get into Columbus. Let's not forget having to bring two car seats, along with a stroller and pack n play; that doesn't even include our suitcase. Plane was out of the question simply because of cost. Driving my car was really the best option. It's a hybrid so the gas is awesome, and we could easily bring everything with needed for us and the kids.
Long story short our nine hour drive some how turned into a 14 hour trip. Yes you read that FOURTEEN freakin hours. I have no idea how or why but it happened. We started out with the GPS on my phone, and I'm pretty sure I hit something (either the "road with no tolls" button or didn't pay attention to all of the different routes that were available aka the fastest route) regardless we took a hit. My phone ended up dying pretty quickly so Heather took over the navigation. The plan was to leave as early as possible, drive until lunch. Stop for lunch, let the kids run around and get back on the road. Arrive to Amanda around dinner time and that'd be it.
Besides the kids being absolute angels I made a list of five things that helped to make our trip run a lot smoother.
Here's our main man up from his first nap.
1. A portable DVD player. Ours is a hand me down from my dad and I am beyond thankful for it. It has saved my sanity more than once. And all you perfect parents out there who limit screen time or don't do it at all well kudos to you. I'm keeping the DVD player and singing along with Moana. Pro tip: to save my sanity I try to have Nella pick movies that I actually enjoy listening too. Before Henry she would wear headphones, but now that there's two we keep the headphones out.
These are some of our favorites.
2. Next would be what I like to call the "Fun Bag". I pack a backpack for each kid that has coloring books in it with their markers and a couple of their favorite books. Our favorite coloring books that I don't mind having in the car are the amazing color wonder books. You know with the "magic markers" that don't color on anything else but the "magic paper". It's a game changer. It allows the little guys, like Henry to be able to color just like big sister but without the mess. Also stickers. Give us all the stickers. Penelope is obsessed and will spend a huge chunk of time decorating her coloring pages with stickers.
*Since Ohio, and going on this road trip to Connecticut, I decided to go with just one bag for both the kids. Penelope is such a good helper and really doesn't mind handing things to Henry. I put the "Fun Bag" in front of her and she can just reach in to get what they need. As far as the coloring goes I decided to go with crayons for Henry this time around. As cool as the color wonder books and markers are Henry just likes to take the tops off. Last time we ended up losing half the tops, which leads to dried out markers and they aren't cheap. To avoid the loss of more markers the crayons won, but I did get the jumbo crayons so they're easier for him to hold.
3. Snacks. I mean really let's be honest, are you happy when you're hungry? I know I'm not. I pack as many snacks as I can into a lunch box, place it some where I can get to it and done. I try to pack easy snacks, try to avoid crumbs if I can and nothing that Henry can squeeze (because I'm not trying to get yogurt out of those damn car seat straps). Think fruit snacks, pretzels, teddy grahams, crasins, raisins, cheese sticks, obviously anything your kids love and that they can easily manage themselves. We have the added bonus of Penelope being able to open most snacks on her own, which means she can also give Henry his snacks too.
4. Lovey items. Anything that will help to keep your kids comfortable, maybe help them to fall asleep. One can only hope! For my kids this includes their blankets, and a favorite stuffed animal. I believe this trip Penelope decided on her newest bear Maya, and Henry brought his monkey Blue (no he's not blue). Henry also had his binky. Yes he still has a binky; I've given up on that battle for now.
5. Allowing for rest stops. Let's be real people need to pee. If I as adult need to take bathroom breaks then I know my four year old is going to need to pee and when she needs to go that leaves us time to change Henry's diaper. I keep a backpack full of diapers, wipes and the first aid kit where we can get to it quickly so we can move it right along.
Here's a fun story for you, Penelope needed to pee, like really bad. I kept telling her that if she couldn't wait until we got to a bathroom she would have to pee in the grass. She was not happy. We were literally so close to getting to an actual bathroom but she just could not wait. Literally screaming that she just had to go. We ended up pulling over on the side of the highway; Heather grabbed her as quick as she could out of her seat and Nella let it go. Got it all over herself and Heather. We quickly wiped them both up, changed Nella's clothes and got back on the road. Hey if anything it makes for a good story. We're creating memories people!
My babies.
I have to say we did really well, for being stuck in the car for 14 hours. My kids were amazing. Henry only had one small melt down. For the most part we stuck to the plan, we left a little before 8 in the morning and just drove. Henry fell asleep pretty quickly into the trip and Nella watched a movie. She took a break from the movies to color for awhile. We stopped at a park closest to where we were at the time. It just so happened the park that we chose to stop at was literally under water. Luckily there was a hill the kids could run up and down. We were all able to eat, stretch our legs and get back on the road. Both kids ended up falling asleep for a chunk of the second leg of our trip. We ended up getting to Amanda's a think around 9 o'clock! All in all we were happy to have finally made it to Ohio. It was a short trip but it was so much fun! And let the record show we were able to make it home on the correct route and it only took NINE hours! What are your favorite trips or trick you use to make road trips bearable for you and your kids?
So thankful for them!
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