Mommiedom

My kids travel really well and our actually seasoned road trippers because with the cost of flying we can all get in the car, visit extra places and still some in way under than 4 airline tickets. Plus we go for extended periods so it is nice to be able to haul more stuff and have our own vehicle. 

So with all this traveling, I have found some wonderful things each and every time to make it so much easier on everyone including me because honestly if Mom is happy than everyone else is happy as well and if Mom isn't happy well we all know what that can be like ;).

Here are some of favorite tips for traveling:

1.  Have a dedicated box of entertainment like crayons, makers and things to color. My kids LOVE all that kind of stuff. 

2. Have each kid have their own car bag/backpack. These are things they want to come with and give comfort. My kids are both so different. My daughter packs it to the brim while my son just takes the basics like his favorite stuffed animals and a few books. 

3. Tablets, computers and DVD players. Honestly the tablets make it easy to be all in one. My kids didn't even bring any movies this time for the drive. They played games, and read mostly on their devices. 

4. Snacks, lots of snacks. I hate stopping and buying snacks at the gas station because every time is like 10 bucks for nothing. So we went to the dollar store and for 20 bucks got twenty different kinds of snacks. Everyone was happy to have their favs right there in a bag. My kids loved it and we will always be doing this but sunflower seeds are off the list now forever- need I say more.

5. Pack lunches because I am all about going as far as we can and stopping for greasy food isn't something I like to do for multiple days. Between the snacks and packed lunch we were good (this also includes drinks). 

6. Hard surfaces for kids. I have gotten all sorts of ones for the kids like the trays, and binders but the best yet was the $1 cookie sheet from the dollar store. It has so many uses like drawing space, lego building (yes my son for hours and hours on our trip built legos) and it is magnetic so that works as well. Best idea yet for that.

I love the Kindle for exactly that and they are a reasonably priced one to.
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7.  Charging station and enough cables for phones, tablets and computers. I created a cute pouch to store my stuff in for easy access so when a cable is needed, it was there. I also made sure to get stuff back. So far we are only missing a set of headphones (of course mine that I borrowed to someone). I will find them I am sure at some point unless they fell out somewhere which has happened. 

8. Charged phones for GPS and finding things. Without a good phone with GPS, we would be lost. I love just typing the stuff in to find plus it is a great way to update people about progress. My hubs like to use a find me app to help track our driving progress. Though it is is creepy to get texts from them welcoming us to the states as we hit them. 

9. Patience and lots of it. Things happen that are out of your control. You may turn the wrong way (I tend to do that more than I like to admit). I got turned around one time that costs us like thirty minutes. I was in tears but everyone else was laughing on our adventure. So just relax and enjoy the ride. 

10. Have comfy clothes to wear. Leggings and yoga pants are a must. Nothing with buttons or zippers because they can jab plus it is so much faster to go potty. Also wear layers because outside might be hot but with the air con, we get cold. I wear a sweater most of the time. 

11. Have pillows and blankets because without a doubt you will doze off at some point (just not while driving). I also include in my stash a eye mask to help it get dark. I also like the neck roll as well for trips. It actually gets fought over when I am not using it. 

12. Have fun with the trip. The drive can be ling and boring so find ways to change it up. Sometimes we have long family talks about the weirdest things while on our trips and other times we go for hours not talking at all. 

Every year the kids and I head up to visit my parents up in Wisconsin. Weather is so much nicer there in July than Texas (think our fall weather). Low humidity and bright blue skies with highs of like 80 most days. So we hope in the car and travel up and we have now decided it is fun to stop on the way up to see America. This year we decided (okay I was ganged up honestly) to go see Branson.

The hubby had been there like 30 years ago and I have never been. I have always wanted to see it and it was about a hour really out of our way. So we headed out on Monday to start the ten hour drive to Branson. We got into Branson about 5ish because we made sandwiches in the car and stopped only a short time for potty and gas breaks.

Branson is really a gem in the middle of the Ozark's.  It is a hilly and green area with pockets of fun scattered through the area. Everything close by but traffic is busy with really only one main drag (on the our second day, we figured out side roads were much better).

Our first day night there was just dinner and listening to the never ending firework display by our motel. The next morning, we woke up to rain and though well we will make the best of it but it cleared for most of the day.

The first thing we did was something we stumbled upon, the Celebrity Car Museum. My hubby loves this kind of stuff and it was a fun museum though not cheap (though not much is cheap there).  We looked at all the fun cars around. We saw it only because Ecto-1 was sitting out front and one of the kids screamed GHOSTBUSTERS!

Parade Day!