Our summer travels are trips to see our families. A four hour plane ride to Houston to see my family and a seven hour car ride to visit Lee's family. With each year, as our boys grow, we learn new lessons about what to do and what not to do! Here's what we did right and what we did wrong this year!First, we learned not to plan too much for the day after we travel. We arrived in Houston on Thursday, and on Friday we took the boys to the Houston Children's Museum. It was too much for their tired selves to handle. Our youngest (21 months then) was unhappy most of the adventure, and our oldest (3 1/2) fell asleep while we were eating lunch! Next time we'll give the boys a day to adjust and rest before we get them out and about.
Second, I figured out the best way to pack for the boys! I put all of their outfits together in baggies and labeled them with their names. Since we live out of the suitcases and Nana and Grandad's, I needed a way to keep things organized. Added bonus, no matter who dresses them, the outfit will match! I even picked out specific outfits for our 4th of July family cook-out and labeled those bags so we were sure to save them for the end of the week.
And third, we kept the boys entertained during our traveling. We took a portable DVD player on the plane and also kept busy with snacks, drinks, crayons, stickers, and a new book. We do not take toys with wheels on planes. Lightning or Thomas would inevitably get dropped and roll back under everyone's feet! On the car ride to North Carolina, we borrowed a DVD player that had two screens. I get car sick if I turn around too many times, so I drove most of the time so Lee could pick up any toys (cups, snacks, crayons....) the boys dropped. We planned the trip so they would nap part of the time and that really helped!We don't have any more long trips planned for the summer, but we're already looking forward to seeing our families again around the holidays. We'll remember the lessons we learned this summer to make traveling a little easier!
Great tips. I especially like the tip using the Ziploc bags. Those are awesome and so versatile!
ReplyDeleteI learned about the ziplock bag trick from parents who sent their kids to camp. Never thought about using it for vacation too. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWe do not have a DVD player, but we take our laptop for entertainment anywhere and everywhere. Plus I can transfer the 100s of pictures I usually take while I am gone too.
We have done the ziploc bags for boat trips everything stays dry if you tip.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of keeping your day after traveling low key. We were thinking of going to the Magic Kingdom that day, but maybe we will hit the water park instead. Not a lot of walking and we can float in the lazy river. Thanks for the tips.
Something that worked well with my daughter from about 2 years old on was keeping a bag of fun stuff that we ONLY pulled out for plane rides or the yearly drive to the family reunion. :)
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