On the Road

Beach Pics are coming soon!  I have been working like a mad woman to get our photo book done so that I could take advantage of a sale.  Momma ain't got a money tree.  Anyway, I had pinned a bunch of stuff on pinterest that really kept the kids entertained on our trip.  Especially on the way there while they were antsy to get where we were going.  On the way home they were happy to watch DVDs becasue they were exhausted from a week at the beach.

 

 

This was by far Bailey's favorite thing.  Who knew putting dot stickers on letters would be so much fun?

 

 

You can print them for free here http://totschool.shannons.org/?page_id=2360.  I put them in sheet protectors so we could reuse them which are really cheap right now because of back to school sales. I can see us doing this on a rainy day at home.

 

 

Now I am really cheap so I found a purpose for the already used stickers.  I peeled them off the sheets Bailey had done and put them back on a sticker sheet and let sister have a turn.  It was easy for her to get the stickers off since they had already been peeled by Bailey.  She enjoyed sticking them all of the place! :)

 

 

This was probably Mckenzie's favorite activity.  Bailey caught me making it at home and played with it at home and then was pretty much done with it.  Anyway, you take a old plastic dish and cut or use a drill like I did to put holes in the top.  Then you get little craft poms and have the kids stuff them in the top and repeat.  Mckenzie even liked just putting the balls in the bowl without the top and then back to the plastic baggie.

 

 

I brought cookie sheets for both of them to do activities on that are magnetic.  You can also have kids use them as dry erase boards but dry erase marker does stain material and clothes so I opted to try that when the girls are a bit older.  ANyway, Bailey has a mangnetic puzzle so I brought it along.

 

 

I brought along sisters magnetic pieces from the fridge.  They kept her entertained for a while.

 

 

Having someone else drive made all this possible!  HA!  I am not going to lie.  I was busy in the car helping them with all these activities.  So, if you are looking to sit back and read a book then this is not your cup of tea.  I get bored and restless in the car just as much as the kids so this was perfect for me.

 

 

Colorful pipe cleaners were a hit.  I had brought them to make letters out of but they both just sort of did their own thing with them.

 

 

Sister playing with her "stick"

 

 

I brought along our magnetic letters and numbers and also made some little counting cards out of index cards for a little on the road learning.  Bailey loves to count things so this workd out perfectly!

 

 

Sister enjoyed some sound books.

 

 

Going back to the basics of coloring.

 

 

Sister liked it too. I just brought along crayons in a zip lock and carried them in my purse so wouldn't have a melted crayon mess.

 

 

Paint swatches and clothespins were probaby Bailey's least favorite thing.  She did play with them a few times but it took her a while to get the coordination down and it was had for me to help her.  I think we will break them out at home and when I can better help her then she will probably enjoy it more.

 

 

I read about having presents along the way to help in the fussy times in the trip.  I will say that they did help but I might need to do a better job of picking out presents next time.  The 2 biggest hits were little magnetic write on boards I got at Dollar Tree and fruit snacks!  I think my kids would have been happy to get wrapped up snacks!  I don't usually buy fruit snacks because the girls want to eat the whole box so getting them as a present once in a while worked out great!

 

 

Mckenzie didn't really get the idea of presents and would just scream. Open! Open! Ha! By the way, she is still rear facing and it did not seem to bother her one bit on the trip.  So, keeping your child rear facing until at least their 2nd birthday is totally possible! :)

 

 

We had a 13 hour trip one way so we broke up the trip into 2 days both ways.  Stopping for the night to swim and get out energy was for sure a plus.  If Mckenzie was a little older I could have even seen us possibly driving back in one day since the girls were tired and more conent to sit back and Veg.  So, there you have it.  Hope it helps someone out there and now I can remember what in the world we did! :)