Road Trip!

Best thing we ever bought for a road trip was cardboard.  We have three kids all in car seats, so its pretty tight.  We use cardboard to "partition" them from each other, each with their own video screen in front of them.  They like to color on the cardboard but most importantly they don't mess with each other on our yearly 20 hour drive!!!  It works great!

a game we like to play on our roadtrips is the ABC game. We all start on the letter A and have to look at signs to follow the ABC's. Who ever finds and shout out Z first wins... It is fun and doesn't cost a dime

God Bless
Tabby

Our vacation purchase came out of necessity when we had planned a 2-week road trip to Florida from Colorado and my husband's employer decided he could not leave on the day we planned.  We, therefore purchased airfare for him to use and I planned on driving with the four children ages 1 - 13 by myself.  At the last minute they let him go and we transferred the ticket into the 13-year-old ADHD son's name.  It was a huge blessing because it allowed a porta crib for the 1-year-old in the mini van and we didn't experience the amazing movement and noise and sibling rivalry brought to the mini van by our rambunctious son!!!

I let my kids use Color Wonder ONLY when we're on road trips. I don't worry about messes or melted crayons anymore, and they're excited to have this "novel" toy (since they don't get to play with it any other time). When we had to drive for hours from FL to PA without our DVD player (we had planned to fly home, but weather didn't allow), this kept them occupied for many of those hours - 'til it got dark, anyway.

The best thing I ever bought for a road trip is an inverter.  It takes your cigarette lighter and turns it into an electrical outlet.  I originally bought one in 1999, when my then, 7 year old daughter and I went by ourselves to Williamsburg, VA (about a 13 hour drive from where we live).  I took our 13 in. tv/vcr and she watched movies all the way.  Now there are portable dvd players but, when the battery on it dies, use your electrical plug in, and plug in into the inverter and never miss a beat.  You can also use it for your cell phone plug in, your laptop(just be sure to check the output on your inverter), or any other electrical device.

My kids are now 26 and 28 and both married, but when they were young we took many road trips.   Their favorate car game was "The Alphabet Game", which had many variations.  You take turns with each person in the car, going through the alphabet, and naming:
girl's names
boy's names
Bible names
states
cities
countries
food
activities
etc, etc.

They loved every one of the versions!   We also did the "Alice went to Alaska and took an apple", and on through the B's, C's, etc.

When our youngest was three we bought a portable dvd/tv with wireless headphones and a couple of Tom & Jerry & Scooby Doo movies. Sometimes I would even sit in the back & watch with him.  Now he's nine and still watches on occassion like when we drive to school (30mins away) @ Wichita Friends School.

Good morning!  Earlier this year I choose TRUST as myoneword for 2010 and I am so glad I did.  I see the word everywhere in print, hear it daily and believe that my trust in God has grown thru this.  I have learned to turn to God first when "things" happen.  Today I went to a wellness store to have a blood test and I found a beautiful green stone with the word trust engraved in gold on it.  It fits in the palm of my hand and I was so excited to find it.  I shared with the store clerk about my word and she is going to the website to choose her word.

Thanks again for bringing this to  us!
Lyn Engelhardt
In God we TRUST!

I cracked up this morning when you were talking about road trips and kids...my kids are teens now, so they usually just listen to their I-pods.  But thinking back to my childhood, my big brother invented a game where everytime a car would pass, we'd say "marf," and when there was a truck, we'd say, "vroom."  We also had a word for a motorcycle, which I've forgotten.  I cannot figure out how on earth my mom kept from going crazy listening to 3 kids in the backseat doing that for hours and hours at a time!!! I guess she was just happy that we weren't beating each other up, which was our other favorite road trip activity!

I actually just took a road trip to Louisiana to see my sister who is in college down there. It was the first time I took a road trip by myself. I didn't have a radio so I played Focus on the Family radio dramas with my boom box. If you've never listen to them I highly recommend them. I did stop over night in Memphis. It felt cool driving so far with no one else. On the way back I had my sister with me and my car broke down in Missouri. I thank God it happened when my sister was with me.

Hi Lisa and Eric!  I live in Price, Utah and listen to you on 102.5 out of Grand Junction, Colorado (at least I think that is where the signal comes from)

I have a funny road trip story to share with you.  Four years ago we took the kids to Disneyland which is about 12 or 13 hours by car.  Our son was 3 at the time and had been potty trained for maybe 6 months.  We were going thru Las Vegas about 11 pm (Las Vegas is like 6 hours away from home) and our son told us he had to go potty.  So we took an exit and stopped at a convenience store, I took him in the restroom, but he wouldn't go.  So, back in the car we go, get back on the freeway and again, he said he had to go.  So, we took the next exit, took him into a truck stop this time- by now he really needed to go!!  I sat him on the toilet and he started crying " I want to pee in OUR toilet"!!  Ever try to convince a three year old that our toilet is too far away!!!???  He finally gave in, I was completely frustrated, but I just had to laugh!!  The rest of the vacation was great, once I talked him into going potty away from home!!

Ok... I'm confused... I thought y'all were in California... how is Memphis a stopping point on the way to Shreveport from the Sacramento area????

The thing that really helped when my boys were young is that they loved to look for animals along side of the road.  As a girl when my family traveled, we played a game called roadside poker.  We used animals as points.  Cows and horses were 5 points a piece so you need to count them, a flock of sheep is 100 points, if you see a dog or cat they are 100 points, etc.  If you come along a grave yard, then you lose all your points and have to start over.  We adjusted the system with if we're in the country or in the city.  In the cities, you could use lawn ornaments, etc.

What a delightful discussion!!!!!! Makes me want to go on a road trip to just play these games!!! My husband and I would go about 1.5 hours to pick up our grandaughters for a visit.  We travelled on a busy interstate with lots of semis so we tried to guess what the semis were carrying.  We guessed everythig from feathers to unicorns!!!! The time passed with silliness and laughter!!!!

me and my brother when were going on a road trip we play a punch game, lol, sounds violent but When you see a yellow car or a pt cruiser a smart car or a buggy, you punch the other peson and it keeps them looking for a smart car bcus its a Harder punch, lol, so its like a
Light Punch-Buggy
Soft Punch-Yellow Car
Medium Punch-Pt Cruiser
Hard Punch-Smart car(minni tiny ones)
and its super funn me and my friend from school play it alllll the time and me and my brother play it but the CATCH is you have to point at the car so they can see it so they dont CHEAT;)
lol!!! its super funn ya'll SHOULD try it!!!))

Well having listened to people mention the video games for keeping kids busy on road trips is sad in reality.  A road trip is the perfect time to spend quality time. I think too many people use videos and TVs as babysitters. When I was growing up you knew what was right and wrong and we had the best time naming all the states on license plates, the games you mentioned such as I spy (with my little eye) and all kinds of other things. I think using video is making kids more distant from each other than bringing them togethter. It is like texting - some kids sit in the same room and instead of talking text each other.  Road trips are a blessing to bring you and your kids together without interruptions!

Our favorite thing to do is listen to books on CD. Some that we would highly recommend are Bridge To Terabithia, Walk Two Moons, Paint the Wind, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Bud Not Buddy.

None of us would want to get out of the car. Warning though...tears abound in most.

I grew up in the 60's and 70's and my Dad was a Pastor and for our yearly vacation we went camping and those are the best memories my two sisters, brother, and I have.  We were packed into a sedan than sat three in the front and 3 in the back and our dog always came with us.  We rotated seats every time we stopped.  We rarely got to stop at a fast food place as we couldn't afford it.  We girls did lots of reading and would have stacks of books from the library, my brother read the same book year after year, "My side of the mountain", amazing that I remember that.  We played games in the car and had to listen to the same station, but we survived long trips to Mexico when we teens, to Canada from Colo. or Neb where our mother was from and lots of other places that most of the people we knew never went to.  I remember arguing or course and someone telling our Dad to "stop the car and let Mark (our brother) out"!  We still joke about that!  I'm working at home today and have the opportunity to listen to you, I can't tie up a phone line at work by streaming your station so this is a great treat!  Thanks for all you do, I wish you had a station near me so I could listen every day.  
Julie Brown age 51

When my son was small, I made "State Bags".  Each bag had its own goodie.  Depending on how long the state was going to be.We had a PS2 with a screen, so i got a movie, or a game...(cheap/ clearance).  Also a piece of candy, fruit, puzzle books.  Each state had a note card, with state and capital on it to learn.  One card had a Bible verse to memorize. Each bag new and different.  He LOVED them!! get creative. Some places carry 1$ cartoons.  DS games....snacks, drinks.  Even do this with my quilting adult friends going on retreats.  So much fun to see their faces opening the bags.  

We have 6 children so traveling by car is pretty much the only way we travel.  Since the whole family really enjoys reading, we will often bring books along to read aloud in the car (or books on tape).

The funniest part about this is that a few of us read with a bit of enthusiasm and "drama".  More than once my husband has tried to "pause" the "tape" to ask questions to start discussion, or to take a vote on where we will eat lunch! We all get a laugh out of that --  hope you do too!

One of our families favorite game we play in the car is the card game called
Rubber Neckers. To play, family members score points by locating objects on their cards and by engaging passengers in other cards. An example of some of the cards include: Wave with your foot and get another   vehicle to acknowledge you, Get another person in another vehicle to wave back, In our family mom has been known to do these. This game has kept everyone playing and laughing for hours in the car. If you don't have this game this is definately worth investing in.

my mom had bought my kids(11&13) the best thing she could ever buy when she bought them the portable dvd players for christmas !!!! we live 45 minutes away from each other and on christmas day on our way home they started out at the beginning of a movie and before they knew it we were at home !!!!! not only do we watch movies in the van but we have 1 hour of movie time before bedtime and they both grab a movie and their dvd players and go to bed when that hour is up i'll go tell them it's lights out and they are both sound a sleep. i also plyed the shape game where you have to find different shapes example: a small circle and of course il'll be a tire or a big circle and that'll be a 18 wheelers tire and so on.

When I was little, we drove everywhere. My sister and I got to pack our own little suitcases of things we wanted to be with us. Like carry-on bags. I was also apparently excited to see cows. To this day, my family won't let me forget it, pointing out every cow we see like they used to back then... "Cow, Katie, Cow"

A few years back, we went to Yosemite - bout 1.5 hour drive - with my cousin's family, including her 2.5 year-old girl. There were two things that really saved us on that trip with her. #1 at Yosemite, we bought a pinwheel, one of those things where you blow air on it and it spins. That thing entertained her for like a half-hour! THe other thing that helped us, I made her a "magic pillow" (a blanket that folds into a pillow). The pillow part was made from fake fur, and she enjoyed "drawing" on it. Rubbing parts to make it darker or lighter. Something else that entertained her for like a half hour!

About fasting- Sounds weird- But I gave up playing Freecell on the computer.  I was wasting too much time doing that instead of more worthwhile things.  Now I am reading a chapter in the Bible for every day in Lent.  Let's see if I pray Freecell on Easter and get back into it again!

Hi, I read all the stories that been shared are about go on road trip. We plan to go to Indonesia that will have about 20 hours flights with a 15 months baby girl. I've read all the ideas about how to keep the baby happy on a trip (by car or flight).
But I would like to know if there's people who had a long flight with a baby/toddler, and I would love to hear the story so we can have more ideas.

Thank you so much! And thank you for sharing your stories, they really help us to know what to do to entertain our baby.

HAPPY EASTER and GOD BLESS YOU ALL TO BE BLESSINGS TO OTHER PEOPLE!