Tags: Activities for Littles DIY Mom of Boys Traveling with Littles
I’ll never understand those who fear flying. I’ve always loved to fly—the excitement of where you’re going and the “what you’ll do when you get there” feeling. Now I admit that the process is tiresome. I hate having to get to the airport so early, going through security, and then just sitting there waiting to board the plane. But once I’m settled in my seat and I’ve got my tablet, snacks and magazines all safely tucked into the seat pocket in front of me, I’m good to go.
Of course, I refer to my love of flying in the past tense because once I had kids that love flew right out the window! Now when I think of flying with the boys, I’m thrown into a full-blown panic. OR WORSE when I think of flying with Samwise. Because Sam is a medium/large dog, he would have to fly in his crate below decks…I remember when we were living in Virginia and planning a trip back home to California, we briefly thought of bringing Sam with us. But when I started looking into the process I freaked out. Our trip to California would take a detour in Dallas where we would have to switch planes. I imagined Sam not making that second flight and us landing in San Jose having no clue he was still in Dallas…the thought made me sick to my stomach. We ended up leaving Sam behind at his favorite pet hotel and making the journey without our furry baby.
That flight from Virginia to California was Liev’s first plane ride. He was a year old and while he wasn’t a “hard to handle” baby, it was still rough keeping him happy. By the time we landed, we couldn’t get off that plane fast enough (pretty sure the entire plane was happy to see our backsides as well). We did luck out on the way back to Virginia because he slept 90% of the trip (thank you Lord!) SO, when it came time to make the official move back to California, Liev was a little over 18-months and we decided to drive instead of fly. We were actually excited about it. Liev had always done brilliantly in the car and we were excited to take our time and see some sights. We loaded up, hit the road and had a blast driving on the week-long trip back to California.
Fast forward three years and we’re once again planning a trip across country. Liev is now four, Sam is still large/medium, and we have little 18-month-old Silas. We thought briefly about flying because there was a direct flight from Las Vegas to Washington DC, so I wasn’t afraid of losing Sam in a plane transfer. HOWEVER, back in December we took the boys on an hour long Polar Express train ride and Silas DID NOT DO WELL!! He would not sit still and wanted to run up and down the walkway the entire trip. Of course, we wouldn’t let him do that, so he fussed and cried almost the entire time. It was a nightmare. When we were thinking about flying to Virginia, I kept remembering that helpless feeling on the Polar Express and quickly scratched a flight off our list of options. We drove across country…again.
Knowing that Silas is a bit more high-maintenance, I set out planning HARD to make sure we could make the trip as smooth as possible. My plan:
DRIVE NO MORE THAN 8 HOURS IN ONE DAY
(WITH A BIG BREAK IN THE MIDDLE)
I knew the route I wanted to take so it just came down to scheduling out where we’d end up each night and where the halfway point was to each destination. We drove a total of six days. The five “end of day destinations” were Salt Lake City, UT, Denver, CO, Kansas City, MO, Louisville, KY and Charlottesville, VA. Each day was never more than eight hours total—most days were six hours—so it just came down to finding a good halfway point where we could eat lunch, stretch our bones and do something fun. Since we had Sam, I tried to find restaurants with outdoor seating so we could keep him with us throughout lunch. Once lunch was done, we’d head to a predetermined place where the boys could run around a bit. Since it was chilly, I tried to find indoor activities—museums, shopping malls with indoor play areas. They didn’t need a ton of time because as soon as we got back in the car for the second half of the journey they’d pass out. This worked out perfectly. We really only had to worry about keeping them entertained for the first half of the journey.
TOYS/BOOKS/MEDIA/ACTIVITIES
When we drove from California to Las Vegas, our cars (we drove both cars when we moved from CA to NV) were packed to the brim with stuff and I remember being so uncomfortable on that drive—I swore I’d never do that again. So, when we started planning this trip, I knew I didn’t want to go crazy and pack the car full of stuff to keep the boys entertained. I decided on a small backpack for each boy and one bin for cars and trains (the flat surface of the bin makes an excellent tray to drive cars or trains on). My dilemma: how do you pack enough stuff to keep kids entertained for 6 days using just a backpack and a bin? I knew I needed a lot of different small things. I wasn’t convinced that they’d be interested in one or two large toys for six days straight…lots of different small things was the way to go. I turned once again to my trust friend, FELT! I upgraded Liev’s felt road and also made a last-minute Mario Kart track for him since he’s completely obsessed with Mario Kart. I put Velcro circles on the four corners of the bin lid so that the play mats would stay while he drove cars around on them. A break-apart train track and some trains were also added to the bin. Other than that, Liev was happy with a few books, his Kindle (loaded with shows) and Mario Kart on his DS.
Silas’ “road trip survival bag” needed a little more thought. We bought a tablet holder to go on the back headrest and loaded up my Kindle with shows for him too, but I knew that wouldn’t keep his attention like it would Liev. He needed more “stuff”. I gave him Liev’s old felt road and loaded it up with cars, a few of Liev’s special toys he doesn’t get to play with very often (Super Wing action figures), and a few books we picked up at the recycled bookstore right before we left. A last-minute project I’m so glad I tackled before we left was a sensory bottle. I took a plastic bottle, filled it with equal parts water and baby oil, added glitter, large glitter stars and blue candy coloring. It works a little like a lava lamp and worked to keep him calm when he started to get restless in his chair. He sat and stared at that bottle for the longest time…I’m not sure what we would’ve done without it.
Now the secret to these road trip survival bags—I discovered a long time ago—is to pack them and keep them away from the kiddos until it’s time to hit the road. I didn’t need to go and buy new toys because they hadn’t seen the stuff I packed for weeks (and they hadn’t seen the felt playmats at all). They were excited to see the toys that were packed and that’s what you want on a road trip with kids.
- KID-FRIENDLY/CAR-FRIENDLY ROAD TRIP SNACKS
What’s a road trip without snacks?! The snacks are usually my favorite part. When we drove from Virginia to California the first time, we loaded up a bin with snacks and beverages. We had chips, jerky, candy, crackers, soda, water, juice boxes, cold brew coffee…and many more fun road trip goodies. We were somewhere in Nebraska I think when I decided to give 18-month-old Liev a squeezable applesauce. His chair was still facing backwards so we could only see him through the mirror on the back headrest and you know how small those things are. He had been too quiet for too long, so I took my seat belt off and turned around in my chair to see what he was doing and discovered that he had squeezed the entire applesauce pouch all over himself and his chair. He had been finger-painting with applesauce for about ten miles or so…awesome! We took the next exit and pulled into a gas station in the middle of NOWHERE. We set to work cleaning Liev, his chair, and the car. A few minutes into the cleaning I stopped to actually look at the gas station we had pulled into. I hadn’t seen one car or person since we pulled in and it suddenly seemed strange. First, I noticed the gas station: pumping stations were burned and the actual building where they usually sell snacks and things had burned to the ground. THEN I noticed the very shady looking motel that was attached to the gas station: windows all smashed, and the front entrance was roped off with “Police Crime Scene” tape!! “HOLY CRAP” was my first thought!! It looked like we’d walked onto the set of an episode of Criminal Minds. I pointed it out to Adrian and we VERY quickly packed everything back up and got back on the road with “pedal to the metal” speed.
Needless-to-say, after the applesauce/crime scene incident of 2016 I decided to skip the squeeze pouches on this trip. I chose kid/car-friendly snacks—snacks that wouldn’t make a huge mess. Goldfish, Teddy Grams, fruit snacks and non-juicy fruit (bananas, pre-peeled/wedged Cutie oranges, etc.). Both boys had water bottles and we had extra water bottles that we could use to fill up their bottles when needed. In addition to water, I packed juice boxes. Liev is big enough to handle a juice box without supervision but Silas got his juice squeezed into sippy cups (we LOVE these handy dandy WOW Cups).
Overall the trip was a success. We had a wonderful time with zero crime scene tape incidents, but I can say with complete confidence that we will NEVER do that again. Driving across country twice is more than enough for a lifetime. If Virginia doesn’t end up being our forever home, we will FLY to our next destination and our fellow passengers are just going to have to DEAL with us.
