134 We Traveled with Kids and Survived to Write About It!

I joke, I joke!  It wasn't bad at all!  I was so super nervous to travel with the youngsters, but we did a couple of things to make it much easier on us and them.  Here are the deets.

As I have mentioned a few times already, I am going to be gosh darn sure to spend a lot of time with my kiddos this summer.  I am privileged enough to work from home and want to make sure that I suck up as much time with them while they are out of school, as physically possible.  So, we have been making sure to do all sorts of fun things with our days, whether we stay home and build train tracks and swim or head off to a day out and about at the beach or a flick at the cinema.  It's been great and is slowly winding down with only a few short weeks remaining before school is back in full swing.

Each year I have had a goal of sweeping the kids away on a little end of summer "funcation".  Last year we only traveled a few hours from home and went to the Wisconsin Dells.  This year, I decided to be brave and take the kids from Wisconsin, all the way out to Montana and back!

It may not look all that far, but drive time came in at over 30 hours there and back, and that didn't include any stops or day trips we made along the way {since it was our goal to see as much as we could while we were away}.  That is a lot of time for three little dudes to spend in the car.

Why Montana?  Why not!?  Well, and because my blog bff, Amanda, lives in Montana and since we typically meet up when she is home in Minnesota, I thought it would be a nice treat to head in her direction for once.

Back to traveling with kids.  It was my main goal to keep these little guys as happy and content as possible during the 8 day road trip.

I am by no means an expert at traveling with kids.  In fact, they are quite use to car rides spanning from three to five hours {we travel with them very frequently to locations closer to home}, but this was our first major family road trip, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Thanks so Pinterest, I found the "Clips for Road Trips" method, which worked wonders for us!

Using some washi tape, I just decorated a few clothespins and popped them up on our visor, one for each boy.  Everyone could easily spot the clothespins from anywhere in the vehicle.   If their clip was present, then that means they were being the awesome kids they are.  It also meant they earned privileges and treats {iPad time, lollipops, etc...}  If they happened to get a little unruly, their clip came down.  They always had the opportunity to re-earn their clip and it was amazing to me how quickly they earned them back if they came down and I loved how proud they were when their clip was up.  It was so visually easy to keep track of behavior and keep them motivated to behave in the car.  They will become permanent fixtures in the vehicle going forward...

Last year, I shared my traveling with kids sanity saver, which is their magical car bag.

Each mini-me has their own tote, and we keep the bag pre-packed with the essentials {wipes, activity books and drawing pads, reading books, crayons, electronics, etc...}.  Anytime we head out the door, they can quickly grab their bag and be ready for hours of car ride entertainment.  This held true for this last trip as well, but thanks to a recent trip to Target, I was able to add a couple of more items to the bag.

The teal plastic tray was found on an end cap in the kitchen/linens section, and was $2.  Best. Purchase. Ever.  They fit little laps wonderfully and it is just so perfect for the car, the kids used it for eating, coloring, drawing, playing, etc... And because I always keep a stash of cleaning wipes in the glove compartment, we could just wipe them up and keep them clean in-between uses.  Fabulous.  Target also sells blank drawing pads for $1 and has all sorts of activity books for $1 in their Dollar Spot.  Thank you Target.  Thank you very much!

While in Montana, I had the opportunity to go to a World Market.  World Market peeps, if you are listening, please come back to Minnesota.  You are missed by many....

Anywho, I found these awesome cards, 52 Fun Things to do in the Car, which were perfect for our car ride home {you can also find them on Amazon}.  They kept us quite entertained with all sorts of simple ideas and activities!

Last but not least, I decided to make some printables.  Weird, I know.

I wanted to create a small activity pack for the kids to stay entertained on the road.  I wanted them to be bright, happy and colorful.  I wanted them to have something to focus on in-between stops and to ensure they were checking out all the lovely sites along the way... The travel pack printables were born!

These will ultimately be sold in my Etsy shop, so grab them now while you can for FREE!

{Click HERE to download the Kid's Travel Pack Printable Set for FREE!}

We had so much fun searching for all of the BINGO items {we played "blackout" BINGO and had to cross of every single item}, playing alphabet eye spy, tracking our trip on the map, spotting really cool license plates and jotting down our favorite memories from the vacation.  It was probably the one thing that kept the kids the most entertained along the way, and most of it was easy enough for our five year old buddy to play along with as well.

So there you have it, a few of our super simple ways to save our sanity with youngsters on our first major road trip.  We decided to make it an annual tradition to travel extremely long and crazy distances with the kids, so I would love to know what other tips and tricks you have for having fun and keeping the clan entertained when you travel.  Spill your travel secrets my friends!
 

P.S.  I totally missed you guys last week while I was gone.  The same way I miss my pets, friends and family.  I couldn't wait to get home and hop back on my blogging train.  It feels so good to be home!