THIS IS HOW WE DO: Road Trips

This past weekend, we took a little road trip to visit family and celebrate Granny's 90th birthday. The kids had a blast and it was sucha memorable event. But first, we had to conquer a 5 hour road trip. Let me tell you... thatis no cake walk. But, with a few tricks up my sleeve and a little experience (we've made this trip many of times), I'd say we got away with minor injuries ;) 

My first takeaway: mini van owners are smart people. The luxury! The space! The headphones & tv screen! heaven. While I'm not a current owner of a minivan ... I'm certainly considering. "Cool mom" points aside, minivans are a force to be reckoned with. 

I'd love to include lots of fun pics with this post, but A.) road trips aren't pretty. the car is a hot mess, the kids are zombies and likely have snacks all over their faces and turning around for the umpteenth time just sounds exhausting. Also, do I really want to remember this by a photo? no. and B.) I hate carseat critics and one of them always comes out of the woodworks no matter what configuration our carseats are in. Too big, too small, forward, backward, belt in the wrong spot, and on it goes. 

1. An iPad ... because what would life be without. If we were really fancy, we'd have a dvd player in the car, but until we're minivan owners, we "get by" with an iPad #firstworldproblems ;). The kids watch shows (mickey, calliou - UGH!, and Daniel Tiger are our favs) and Baylor will play a game occasionally, although he's not too into that part of it. 

2. SNACKS ...  I tend to opt for super easy, finger food snacks. I try to find stuff that is minimally messy, not sticky and easy to hold. Grapes are great (as long as your little one is big enough to chew them easy), as well as cheddar bunnies and these Fruit Ropes (love these guys cause they aren't too sticky, but feel like a fun treat!). 

3. Hand Sanitizer ... because Baylor thinks gas station bathrooms are a totally appropriate place to graze his hands on every surface. This stuff is an easy spray for little hands, and free of all the harsh chemicals that come in the heavy duty stuff. 

4. MagnaDoodle ... tried & true, these guys are. My kids LOVE this toy and it's a great time killer in the car. Both of them play with it and I love that everything is connected in one piece so there's no dropping it. 

5. Window Shades ... because God forbid that shining ray of sun wakes up my angelic sleeping child (jk...my kids hate sleeping in the car... FML). But seriously, my kids act like they're going through an exorcism when the sun shines through their window, so these shades are perfect to fend off the demons. ;) (we live in seattle, where the sun don't shine 10 months out of the year!) Also... if we had a minivan, these are typically built-in. #bonus

6. WIPES. If I could marry wet wipes, I might actually consider. They're great for hands, faces, bums, car surfaces, spills and playing peek-a-boo. Please, don't forget to bring 10 packs of them on every road trip. I promise, you won't regret!!! ;)

As far as sleeping goes...the only suggestion I might offer is Benadryl ;) JK JK. 

good luck!