Travel Survival with the Tots

As a mom, I have a love-hate relationship with vacations. 

On one hand I relish the thought of a break from the normal day-to-day routines.

On the other hand I fear the notion of the broken normal day-to-day routines.

The first vacation we took as parents was when Mini-me was six months old. We went to the Bahamas. You could say we were new to this traveling-with-a-child thing.

The week before our trip, I was a neurotic focused, packing soldier. I probably packed over a hundred diapers for a four-day trip and brought every medicine known possible (because any country outside of the U.S. doesn’t have these things, of course). I packed extra sheets for the baby (because there was no way I was going to let her sleep on the hotel’s infant crib sheets), her bulky sponge bathtub, all types of Johnson & Johnson baby products, and like 5-10 outfits per day for her to be changed into, just in case she spat up or soiled herself multiples times. She needed her own suitcase and I would even say, was ready for the apocalypse, should it happen.

During our trip, I also became the nap nazi and made sure she took her naps at the same time, each day and went to bed at her regular bedtime all while her sound machine lulled in the background (because if naps and bedtime routines were missed, ALL would be lost and our beautifully planned Bahamian-paradise vacation would be an utter f-a-i-l-u-r-e).  I am rolling my eyes even now as I type this.

There was a moment on our vacation when I asked myself, how the heck did it come to this?

Fast forward one year and a little bit after My-girl was born, we started planning another vacation, this time on a smaller scale, and in our home state. I rethought my vacation planning strategy and decided that if I was going to keep my sanity, I needed to start my vacation off right by relaxing a little more and thinking more clearly about how to efficiently AND effectively plan and enjoy a vacation with our two littles. After a few road trips and vacations under our belt, I've narrowed our vacation success tips down to this list: 

1) Travel during nap times- Routine mayhem with toddlers is to be expected on a vacation, but it doesn’t always have to start out that way. When possible, BBH and I typically like to plan our road trips around our girls’ naps. We sometimes start driving around nap time or at least plan for their nap to happen during the drive. This has been so helpful and our girls tend to be much happier and refreshed once we get to our destinations and start to catch up with our family.

2) Pack right –We try to keep our packing as light as possible. I honestly struggle with this, but BBH keeps me in check. I tend to stress out and end up over-packing for the kids, until I found this cool idea from All Things Simple. I will definitely be doing this while packing for our next vacation. You put your child’s entire outfit, including underwear and hair accessories in a zip-lock-gallon bag (for each day). When your child is getting ready, they can choose a bag and...bada bing, bada boom! Problem solved. This seems like it would be especially good for the child who wants to choose what they want to wear (I already have one of those on my hands).

Image credit: All Things Simple

3) Well-Equipped Diaper Bag- My LL Bean diaper bag has become my purse and acts as my emergency backup bag for the whole family. I love this diaper bag. It holds so much and is pretty gender-friendly, so BBH doesn't mind carrying it, either.

I pack extra diapers, pull-ups, extra swim diapers, underwear, diaper cream, even more wipes, hand sanitizer, snacks (a couple of fruit snacks or granola bars, more healthy snacks and lunch foods I put in their lunch boxes), extra cash, mints/gum, Advil, thermometer & children's/infant's ibuprofen, one-extra outfit for each daughter, sippy cups, and Kleenex. For some other ideas on diaper packing success, check this post out.

4) Travel totes- Each of my girls have their own travel bag for the car. 

We bought a couple when they went majorly on sale a year or so ago. I usually pack them with their favorite books, special items like their favorite stuffed animal/baby doll, their lunch boxes, crayons, coloring books, small puzzles, lacing cards, Doodle pads, the girls’ leap pad tag with their books, etc. These totes stay in the back seat with them on the floor and we throw their toys and stuff back in their bags when they're done.

Some moms have suggested bringing small Dollar store (like Dollar Tree) toys to give to their kids at the beginning of each new hour as a reward for behaving well in the car. We haven't done this yet, but will be trying it out in the future!

5) Music and Electronics- Our kids love to sing along to music in the car. We have several kids' music cds and it's gotten to the point where they take turns asking for a specific cd to listen to, even if we're going somewhere local, like the grocery store. We also own a Kindlefire and love it. We've found all sorts of read-along books, and fun learning apps that the girls enjoy. We also have a couple of kid movies on it that Mini-me likes to watch.

6) Plenty of Bags- Bring extra plastic bags to wrap up soiled diapers, wet clothes, garbage…anything. Very helpful and I always feel like I need a few more while on road trips.

7) Food – On these road trips, our girls each have their own lunch boxes and we try to pack them with healthier foods like fruits, sandwiches, cheese, personal cereal boxes or their snack cups filled with goldfish crackers. Earlier this year I was at blessed Target and bought a couple of those Fit and Fresh tupperware for keeping fruit and cheese cold. They are awesome. 

We also love these:

Have you seen them before? They are great for toddlers. They are called Munchkin snack "catchers". Thank you, Munchkin. SO helpful and useful with our kids.

Our kids love easy GoGo Squeeze applesauce on our road trips, too! We love anything easy and somewhat mess free!

8) Potty basics- If you have potty-training toddlers like we do and know you’ll be on the road for a while, bring a portable potty, just in case you can’t get to a restroom fast enough. On our next trip, we will be bringing ours and keeping it in the trunk. We always make sure to have extra wipes, toilet paper, plastic garbage bags, underwear or pull-ups/diapers and a towel for accidents. 

Something we also bought when Mini-me started potty training was something called a piddle paddle. 

Such a life saver for ANY time we're in the car and even better during longer trips when it would be even more difficult to clean a car seat. 

9) Expect the unexpected –I've had to learn that tot melt-downs are bound to happen. We can always count on fewer naps. And even if things go somewhat smoothly most days of our vacation and we're able to follow our normal routine, there will a day (or even two) when things do not pan out exactly the way we like. 

But we survive. And we do it all over again. Because it is worth it.

The best lesson I have learned while vacationing with our kids is to savor the moments...

...like the first time we went on vacation to a beach house with Mini-me. It was amazing and so memorable for us as parents. Watching her curl her toes curiously in the sand and laugh while she jumped in the waves still makes me smile whenever I think of it. 

A year later we took both our sweet girls on a similar vacation to enjoy the same beach. We then watched as My-girl made the same wonderful discoveries. As she and I snuggled together while watching the waves dance on the shore, it made me realize more that time with them is precious and fleeting. 

And these are the moments I relish.