Travel with Tots 5 July 2009

Our vacation/move was excellent! I found camping with JumbleSon even more relaxing than when we went solo for 6 months.  I think, in part, because we didn’t mess with ice & coolers, cooking food over a fire, or planning to cram as many sights as possible into each stop.  And, of course, there were more opportunities to stop in “civilization” than the Australian outback!  This included wonderful visits with dear friends (with toys – this was a very important point for JumbleSon who asked of every destination, “will there be toys there?”).

Besides just being very lucky to have a 2 1/2 year old who travels like a rock star, we found the following things helped make our days run more smoothly.

TRAVEL TREATS

I believe it was Lotus who suggested here that I bring wrapped gifts to share along the way.  Thank you!  It was a big hit!  Especially since he’d just watched all of his things be packed up and put in to storage.  I averaged a gift every other day. Most were small new treats, but some were his old toys that I thought he might like to use along the way (like his hand-made binoculars for explorations).  I tried to make the treat fit either our destination (beach toy for our first day at the ocean, snake from Mamaroots on a desert hiking day, etc.) or need for extended entertainment (car time).  Each gift was wrapped in tissue paper to add to the excitement.

STICKER MAPPING

With JumbleSpouse’s amazing GoogleMaps help, we put together a 3 ring binder made of plastic sleeves containing maps for each leg of our journey.  The day we left each new destination, we reviewed where we’d been, then found a sticker (pre-printed by me – thank you GoogleImages & Friends who sent photos) that matched what we’d seen.  We would then look ahead on the map of the day to preview where we were heading.  Periodically, we got out the full U.S. map and got a bird’s eye view.  While JumbleSon really got in to this, the down side is that he now asks daily where we are going next! 

GLOVE COMPARTMENT GAMES

I kept a few things in the glove compartment to pull out when he started fussing.  Just before we left, I got a travel sized magna doodle (or what ever they’re called) – the kind that uses a stylus to create pictures, then slide a lever over the image to erase it.  I also had an electronic toy (gifted by Molly’s Mama) that plays music and teaches the alphabet (VTech Alphabet Apple Tree).  And, although JumbleSon was highly unimpressed, I’d also made him an I-spy game out of a jar, rice, and bits & bobs that I’d found around the house as we were packing up.  For the most part, these would only come out during travel.  Of course, there were moments (after hours upon hours in the wild) when he felt that he needed “walls”…

BREAK IT UP

On average, we spent no more than 4 1/2 hours driving per travel day.  This worked really well, especially since someone woke at dawn just about every camping morning.  So we could arrive at our destination by early afternoon.  We also spent the night with friends (or, in the one case of severe thunderstorms, a hotel) every 3 days or so.  By the end of week one on the road, JumbleSon was really jonesin’ for home (this lasted about 2 days, then he fully recovered and never looked back ).  Even though it wasn’t ours, it still filled a void (contrary to our attempts to convince him otherwise,  our 2-door celica and 4-person tent does not a home make).  It was a total treat to sleep in a bed and spend time with friends who took us to awesome local sights we would have never seen (like the Bay Area Discovery Museum – thank you so very much, Marina!)

THE SECRET WEAPON

I’m sure it is different for every family, but for us it was all about JumbleSon’s favorite music CDs (at the moment it’s Wheeeeeee), audio stories (I think we all have Stone Soup memorized now), and our tiny, portable DVD player with old, commercial-free episodes of Blue’s Clues.  All audio/video came to us from the one and only Angeliki – still taking care of us.  Even from afar. Thank you, dear friend.  Thank you!

So, how about you?  Feeling inspired to take a road trip this summer?  I look forward to reciprocating all the kindness friends gave us on the road (either directly to them, or indirectly to other weary travelers).  If your wanderings take you to the Pacific Northwest, please do let me know.