Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Help please!

last Christmas

We're planning on taking an 11 hour trip soon and I'm so worried about how it will be with a 15 month old!
We took a 3 1/2 hour trip a little bit ago and she basically cried the whole time.  I had to sit in the back seat with her, but I get car sick when I do that.

Do you have any suggestions to make the trip easier.... anything ....
something you've heard of or done yourself??

13 comments:

  1. Well I am not much help because my kids love long car rides, but on a 10+ hour ride from Seattle, when Brock got cranky we put in a DVD for him. You can use your lap top or buy the kind where the screen attaches to the back of the front seat {so she doesn't have to hold it and play with buttons} so worth the $60. It was a life saver for us! Good luck with the trip!

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  2. I second the DVD thing. That is definitely a life saver! I also have a bag of little treats or dollar store toys that I give my kids every hour or so. It's something new so they're excited about it. I don't know if she likes music, but some good old kids songs could be a good distraction as long as you and Tyler can put up with it. We actually have a little Mp3 player and headphones with music on it for Tanner. That way he's happy and we don't have to listen to the same songs over and over. Good luck!

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  3. obviously my baby is younger and still sleeps a lot, so i'm not much help... but just throwing this out there as an idea, we break up the utah to ca drive and stop at a cheap motel... it helps you stay a little sane and baby gets less restless... and it's only around 30-40 dollars... though i'm assuming your trip is to northern ca and i'm not quite sure if there is a good half way point to stop and stay the night... and the dvd thing, my sis does the norcal to socal drive often and she says the dvd player is a life save with her three little boys...

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  4. No worries. This was a recurring problem with a lot of "parents" who would come in to the vet hospital I worked in. Acepromazine. It sedated nervous animals while traveling. Just let me know and I can probably hook you up. I have connections.

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  5. Eileen!

    . . . can I get in on that too?

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  6. We are old pros with long drives!!

    here is what works for us...

    -the dvd player is a must. worth every penny. We always utilize the redbox on road trips for movies.

    - lots of snacks. goldfish, graham crackers, fruitsnacks...not suckers, you will regret the sticky mess!

    - new toys. go spend 5 bucks at the dollar store and give her something new every hour or two.

    - if you have a small cookie sheet, it's fun to bring magnets to play with. Then you don't have to worry about reaching in back to pick up toys every five seconds :)

    -As far as the hotel thing goes, I haven't had the best experience with that. My kids are all wound up from being in the car all day, then they won't go to sleep (especially since we are all in the same room). We have found it's easiest to just leave really early in the morning...kiddos are always better travelers in the early hours of the day!

    -Take advantage of rest stops along the way. Even if it's cold out, it feels nice to stretch your legs for a bit...and Danika will love to run for a minute!

    Good luck with the drive! let us know how it goes...we are getting all geared up for the 15 hour drive to utah for thanksgiving. I hope I can stay sane with three tiny kids!!

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  7. oops sorry!! I just realized I spelled Danica's name wrong in my above post :)

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  8. well, caleb's longest car ride has only been about half an hour, so i don't know what to tell you. oh, i can tell you this... drive faster! that way, it won't be 11 hours. it'll only be 9 or 10 hours.

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  9. movies! and borrow new toys from friends for the trip. and MORE MOVIES!

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  10. Looks like you get to buy a DVD player for your car Emily =) If you need Veggie Tale movies, we have a ton!

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  11. We just took a long road trip with my girls to Arizona and let me just tell you, it was H-E-double hockey sticks! I agree with all of the above, though. We had to stop every two hours to get out and stretch. I think that this is the hardest age to go on road trips, which is why we'll be staying in Utah for Christmas ;) Good luck!

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  12. When we went to Utah I was lucky and had lots of people to help entertain. But new toys was a BIG help, lots of snacks, and definitely stopping along the way. I don't think movies would do anything for Nick right now if we were to go on a long trip, he'd probably just want to play with the computer ;) But if you think Danica would be into that at this age that would probably be nice. Good luck, we look forward to seeing you again!

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  13. Wow I think I need to get a portable DVD player next time we go on a road trip with our kids...

    We drove to California a little over a year ago but I can't remember the drive. I must have blocked it out.

    I *do* remember driving to CA when Nathan was about 2 and I was still nursing Rylie. I was with my sisters, so almost every time I had to stop and nurse Rylie, one or both of my sisters got out and walked around/played with Nathan for a little bit. He was still pretty whiny at times, but getting out every 3 hours or so helped a lot! I know that makes the trip longer, though.

    Good luck!!

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It's the cool thing to do.