Well, it’s been three days and nearly 2,000 miles on the road in our glorious mini-van.
Road tripping with kids can be tough. But, it’s been a great trip- I set out from Laredo with the expectation that I’d have all kinds of blog material from our lengthy journey, but I’m coming up short.
Here are a few things that I think made our trip a little easier….
1) The Leapster Explorer.
Each kid has his or her own Leapster Explorer with educational games featuring Scooby Doo, Dora, Disney Princesses, Woody and Buzz Lightyear and Lightning McQueen.
My tip to you- It’s worth it to buy the case and battery recharging station for each one. The 30 bucks it costs to buy the recharge station will be paid back quickly compared to what you’ll spend on keeping each one in 4 double A batteries. Of course, you could always just use rechargeable double-A batteries! :)
2) A Hygienic Portable Potty System
We have the Potette Plus in our van, but you can use any small training potty. When the kids need to go, just pull over in a safe place and let them do their business. No long detours to worry about when the time hits. We carry a box of small garbage bags. The garbage bags are placed into the receptacle and the waste is contained. Knot it up and throw it away. You’re not transporting open waste in your vehicle. It’s quick and convenient. Sanity-saver.
3) Accessible Healthy Snacks and Drinks
We didn’t want to stop at fast food restaurants and dives the entire road trip. We packed a cooler full of water, juice, milk, deli meat, cheeses, jam, nut butters and fruit. We kept a bag with whole wheat bread, matzoh crackers, nuts and dried fruit, and even some chocolate for when the sweet-tooth hit. It saved us some money and we ate a whole lot better than we would have.
4) Scratch-Art
My sister-in-law gave the kids an awesome travel gift! The Scratch-Art Scratchin’ Hot Deluxe Set. It was a no-mess scratch-off kit with vibrant colors underneath the black layer- it came with stencils and scratch picks. The kids also used coins. This kept them occupied on the trip for hours.
5) Listening To The Kids.
And the last thing that made our trip pretty great? We learned to listen closely to the kids. Sometimes, they wanted to just babble or look at cloud shapes, or count cows and horses. They wanted to count cars, tractors or fields of corn that we passed.
It was a really nice transaction. We made it a point to limit the drop-down television as much as possible. We did turn on shows periodically, of course.
But, our son really forced us to listen to him once on the trip.
It was pouring rain and not in a place we wanted to pull over when he started to hyper-ventilate from needing to relieve himself so badly. We were about half an hour down the road from the lengthy rest stop we left where he refused to go to the bathroom.
My husband said,
“Son. I’m sorry- You’re gonna have to hold it for a bit. There’s nowhere to pull over.”
Our son protested. My husband protested. Our son protested.
My exasperated husband finally told him,
“Tough, Son. You should have gone when we stopped.”
And, what did our three year old son say?
“OK. I’m going to poop in the carseat.”
We pulled over.
Yes- Perhaps, the best tip I can give you about happy road-tripping is to:
Listen To Your Kids.
HOW DO YOU GET THROUGH LONG ROAD TRIPS WITH KIDS?
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For Laredoans: We’ll be away from Laredo for nearly three months but plan to keep the Laredo Community Round-Up and Laredo 2012 Summer Camp Pages updated as information comes in from Media, PR, businesses and readers!
SOOOO glad you all are here!!
So glad we’re here, too! Can’t wait to see you, sister!
We travel with a large cooler, too. It’s so much better for you than eating fast food every meal, and at the end of the trip, there’s no payback for all the greasy food you’ve been eating.
My solution for keeping busy has always been books, books and more books. My son has a GameBoy, and he loves that. But my step-daughter gets wretchedly carsick if she doesn’t anything that takes the moving scenery out of her peripheral vision. So I’m afraid for her, options are limited. Anyone have suggestions of what to do (other than movies–we already do that) for a kid who can’t read or look down for any length of time?
Carie- I have the same problem as your daughter! I CANNOT read in the car! Dramamine helps me but I’m not sure if they make that for kids? You’re so artistic, Carie- Can your daughter draw without getting ill? That’s a tough thing to manage when you have a long road trip!
I hate road trips, especially lengthy ones, so my kids have never been in the car for more than three hours in a row since infancy. But, we do travel with LeapPads, spare rechargeable batteries, the travel potty, toilet-paper, and snacks made out of Real Food (greasy drive through is always just that much worse in the car). I LOVE the scratch art idea, though! We’ve got a traveling weekend coming up to celebrate the Bug’s fourth birthday. I’m going to pick up a set!
Desi- I hope the scratch art works for you! Road trips can be HARD! The real food is so important! The whole wheat bread, almond butter and apples have paid dividends for us! But, it was sooooo nice to hit a grocery store today!
Good luck on your trip! Will catch up on your wonderful blog soon! 
We stash an empty Snapple bottle for “emergencies” but that wouldn’t work for poop, huh. Did he wind up going at the side of the road? I’m both curious and mortified.
Nami- It all worked out! We used that portable potty with throw-away bags! It was all good!
haha! But, he definitely got our attention. Kids are smart. 
Great tips! I was thinking of getting a portable potty for our summer road trip, and I think you have convinced me. There can be long stretches of road with no bathroom or just gross gas station bathrooms which my daughter might refuse to use. I just read on Quirky Momma to stick a disposable diaper in the portable potty to help soak up the pee and make clean up easier on the go.
Thanks, Rebekah- I actually keep bags and that portapotty in our car year round. It makes even simple shopping trips much easier and cleaner!
We are heading out on Wednesday for a long road trip. Thank you for these wonderful tips!
JDaniel4′s Mom- I hope your road trip goes well! The best thing is the portable potty!
Seriously- it’s the best thing ever! 
Good luck and have a safe road trip!
Smart three-year-old!
Fantastic road trip tips, too. Hope you rest of your trip goes well!
Oh, thank you, Maryanne! It’s been great! Kids surprise us when traveling, I think- I expect the worst- and things seem to go better than I expect they will.
Loved the Dad play book reviews!
Nice tips! I really want to do that with the kids…the most we’ve done is about 5-6 hours. I’m sure it’s exasperating at times but so wonderful in terms of spending time together. Those are some of my favorite memories from childhood. A time when we didn’t wear seatbelts and all sat in the trunk of the suburban!
Chrissy- Kids can be real troopers! I think it might be harder on us than anyone else!