in a little over a month my men and i will embark on the longest road trip three out of four of us have been on. we are headed to see my sweet friend and her adorable family in texas. it's over seven hundred miles from here to there.
jeff and i took roman to nashville when he was a little over a year and he did wonderfully. we made it there in a little over thirteen hours, if i remember right. now that we have a three year old
and a one and a half year old {who is not one for long car trips} i think it's going to require a little more planning and creativity this time around.
to be quite honest, i'm
freaking out a little worried with how viggo will handle his time confined in the car. of course we plan on activities for them, but....what. i've been all over pinterest trying to gather ideas, but what it comes down to is viggo is not a good traveler. not even a little. he gets super antsy and simply
refuses to sleep in his car seat. for example: several months back i had to, last minute, take the boys to spirit lake for my great uncle's funeral. we left around 8:30am and my hope was that viggo would nap for some of the three + hour drive up there. he fell asleep for ten minutes. TEN MINUTES. didn't nap at all during the day and when we left to come home he slept for less than an hour. i cannot go through this all the way to texas. the flexible side of me thinks he'll just need to figure it out and let sleep happen. but the controlling side of me feels the need to find some sort of solution for this could-be-stressful time in the car.
I've also briefly entertained the thought driving at night, but again, that controlling side just doesn't know how that would go.
this is where you come in!
if you are experienced in traveling long distances with small children with one of those kids not liking travel much, i am begging you for your advice, tips and tricks.
2 comments:
When I flew with Elana to Florida, I had wrapped little presents for her that I would give to her sporadically. One was a new outfit for the baby she brought, another was a Wheels on the Bus popup book, another was a small bag of jelly beans. It kept her excited and in a good mood, and each present gave her about half an hour of fun.
When we used to travel as a family (five kids!) we used to play I Spy, trade seats, run like crazy at rest stops, play magnet games (you can make your own!).
If your vehicle has a tape deck, I have tons of really great kids tapes, old skool style.
i completely feel for you. we drove up to south dakota last summer when penelope was about 16 months old, and neither one of our kids is a car-sleeper. she slept A TOTAL of twenty minutes each way - it was a 13 hour drive. she screamed for about half of it.
my best advice would be, in addition to taking things to keep the kids entertained, take stuff to keep yourself occupied and entertained in case it really does turn out to be a worst-case-scenario. and earplugs and ibuprofen. magazines, books, guilty pleasure music, whatever helps you not lose your marbles.
good luck to you! post a quick blog or facebook update before you leave so i can remember to be praying for you!
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