Traveling w/ Toddlers

Over Christmas, we took a vacation to Florida (Thanks, mom/dad Eis!).
The last time Darren and I did a long roadtrip Tallie was only about 4 months old.  (AND IT WAS A DISASTER) So, I was more than a little apprehensive about traveling with two kids under 4.  I asked a few moms that had kids of similar ages and had traveled recently for advice.  I cherry-picked what things I thought would work best for us and then put my plan together!  I thought it would be fun to write down all of the preparations that I did, and then talk about how each item helped (or detracted) from the trip. (Sorry for those of you that don't have kids of this age, this post might be a little boring.)

All in all, I will say that I am very glad that I did research on this ahead of time, and I definitely feel prepared for another trip, if we take one anytime soon :)

SNACKS
Small ziplocs in 1 cup and 1/2 cup portions of: 2 types of cereals, Chex Mix creation, crackers, raisins, chocolate teddy grahams.
Juice boxes
Clementines, apple
Gushers and Fruit by the Foot
1 sippy for each girl, filled with water

I used a box that was about 6"X18" for the snacks.  I put it under Tallie's carseat and prayed she wouldn't step on it on the way in/out.  These snacks worked out fine.  My goal had originally been to have healthier snacks, but it was hard to find (cheap) things that would last unrefrigerated for 24+ hours and be fine.  Before the trip home I refilled the snack box with leftover items from vacation.  All in all, the clementines and Teddy Grahams went the best, and Darren finished off the gushers about an hour in :s

DIAPER BAG
1 change for each girl
diapers/wipes, cream

Typical stash.  Worked well.  We left around dinner time both ways, and had the girls dressed in PJs.  At our breakfast stop I changed the girls for the day.  This worked great both times, except in places where there weren't changing tables (Seriously, it should be in the Constitution that all restaurants and gas stations have a changing table.)

TOYS
In a box between the carseats:  6 new, favorite, or not-recently-read books. 2 musical toys for K.  T's LeapPad. Magnetic farm scene. Mr. Potato Head. 2 stuffed animals. purse packed with jewelry, phone, sunglasses. wooden giraffe with movable limbs.

I used a typical mid-sized Luvs box between the girls' carseat for toys.  It was ideal because Tallie could reach anything in it, and could get anything and toss it over in Kaia's direction when she got bored.  The girls didn't actually use the toys as much as I thought they would.  I think part of the reason is that I didn't engage with them and the toys during the trip.  Had they gotten restless I probably would have helped them use the toys more, but as it was, they were content most of the time with the toys they had (or in K's case, with the toys that T threw her direction)  The purse and LeapPad were totally unused.  The musical toys and the books were by far the winners.  When Kaia got fussy I just handed her a lift-the-flap book or her toy guitar and that usually satisfied her for a while.  The toys were also used once we got there.  Mr. Potato Head got more action in FL than anywhere else.  I would probably pack the same toys again with no changes- I had more than enough, but had they gotten fussy it was nice to know there were toys that they hadn't used yet to have access to.

OTHER
Surprise bag full of wrapped dollar-store items for Tallie to unwrap periodically to keep her occupied.
hand-picked CDs
4 blankets: 2 for each window by the girls and 1 for each girl at night
neck pillow (if you followed the trip on FB you know how that neck pillow worked out :D)
downloaded the WAZE app

I was very excited about this 'surprise bag' idea, but like many of the toys, I simply didn't need it.  Tallie never got bored.  But I would do it again, just in case!  The CDs....sigh....the CDs.  Sadly I didn't get to listen to hardly any of my music.  Darren was either reading for school or there were kiddie music on.  The blankets worked well- I closed one side of each blanket into the window so that the lights of cities (Atlanta in particular) didn't bug the girls through the night.  It worked great...except that one blanket got greasy and ripped- good thing they were old blankets!  The neck pillow didn't work....at all.  The WAZE app helped us avoid some traffic jams, though we still got trapped in 2 unavoidable ones- grr!


All in all I realized that I am VERY blessed.  I can't believe that my girls hardly ever got bored or antsy/fussy.  I never had much of a fight getting them back into their carseats after stops, and there was minimal complaining.  Next time I'm sure that I'll do some more research, but I was very happy with the results this time around!