Wednesday and road trip advice

[agm04]

Hump day!

i may have mentioned the other day that i'm taking DD to my parents' house on sunday.  it's a 4 hour drive without stops.  until now, we've always flown (bc lap child and an easy 45 min flight), but this time i need my car and don't want to pay for a ticket for her, so we're driving.  here's my plan in way more detail than anyone cares about:

- swim lessons at 9:30 am, we'll be dry and dressed by 10:15, and i plan to have the car packed.  there's a playground at the rec center, so i was thinking i'd let her play and burn off some energy for 20 mins or so.
- leave by 10:45, give her fun things to do and/or listen to an audio book.  ipad if she starts looking like she wants to fall asleep.
- stop for lunch around 12.  (i'm packing lunches, so we just need a good spot to stop.  hopefully a park or something.)
- back in the car by 12:45, no ipad.  she usually naps from around 1-3:15, so i'm hoping she'll fall asleep for at least an hour.
- if she's happy when she wakes up, we'll drive a little more.  if not, we'll stop for a fun snack (ice cream or donuts)
- tough out the rest of the trip

for entertainment, i have:  new color wonder books, new melissa and doug water wow books, new magnetic doodle pad, ipad with disney movies/MMCH/sofia the first.  what am i forgetting?  will we survive?

[kartish]

That sounds like a solid plan agm04. Has she been on any longer car trips before?

ETA, hit post too soon.

We took a 4 hour trip with V, but it was last fall. The only thing we did that I think would still be relevant was take lots of snacks he loved and then when we did stop, to make sure it was somewhere we could walk around and where we could stay for a bit, not just a gas station.

But at the end of the trip he was still upset and wanted out, so we just touched it out for the last half hour or so.

[agm04]

kartish thanks! i think the longest drive she's been on is about 2.5 hours, but the last time we did that was last July, and of course she's changed a lot since then. Snacks, definitely! I'm expecting the end to be a little rough. I'm considering getting one of those lap trays so maybe she won't drop as much stuff, but idk if she'll leave it on.

[dreemkin]

That sounds good to me agm04. The lap tray or maybe a bin with toys within arms reach sounds good! Yes to lots of fun snacks. We're going on a three hour ride this weekend. Hopefully A will behave. I think since she's forward facing now, she'll be okay.

April showers...and all that. It's pouring. Ran an errand this morning and staying in for the rest of the day until swim class. H is taking them both so I can get my workout in since I didn't yesterday (with him getting home late). I have slipped a little in my weight struggle from being OOT/eating out over the weekend. Hoping to get back on track. I took my first appetite suppressant pill today. Per my nurses suggestion I took half so as to not have undesirable side effects. I feel okay so I think I'm good to go! Hopefully this helps get my metabolism going a bit too. I'm getting nowhere lately and I'm frustrated 😔

[seamonster]

That sounds like a good plan. We try to aim for driving during nap as well. Hopefully she gets an extra good nap.

Edited because my autocorrect is insane

[aggiebug]

Snacks snacks snacks and a few new interesting lap toys and you are good to go. I got S a magna doodle for this road trip and she really liked it.

Also you going to Dallas? I might have some suggestions for stops if needed.

[aggiebug]

Hiya ladies I am in Savannah so I have been out of touch. The drive down went surprisingly well. S was a champ and well C slept this first half so I only had a half day of screaming from him.

We are enjoying time with the family and will head home on Saturday. I doubt I will get the 6am start to the trip so I am afraid it won't go so well!

[agm04]

aggiebug LT for enjoying family and the drive down going well, not the screaming and fear of the drive back. hope you have fun! yes, we are going to dallas, and i'll happily take recs for stopping places! i've made the drive many times, but usually by myself, so no stops.

[lilyelayne]

Solid plan agm04. Does she have music she likes? A playlist of that can be helpful, because Old McDonald is way less annoying to listen to than a screaming toddler. G also likes audiobooks. And we do lots of super simple I spy. I spy a tree. I spy a car. I spy a mirror. Etc.

Sometimes if he's overtired & fighting it, I can roll the windows down a bit for white noise and he goes to sleep.

If she falls asleep early I'd roll with it and just keep driving. Stop and eat when she wakes up. Have some snacks handy for you just in case this happens.

[agm04]

lilyelayne good advice, thanks! She likes music and asks for it regularly, but is generally happy with whatever is on the radio. I'll look for some audio books for sure. And good idea for white noise in a pinch! I usually plug in my phone and turn on the white noise baby app that I still have on my phone. It's been a while since we needed to try that though!

[lilyelayne]

agm04 I don't think a white noise app would work with G at this point. Also I can still hear my music a bit if I just open the back windows :-)

[seamonster]

Since DS's daycare plays classical music during naptime, I put the radio on to classical station when we're driving during nap time.

[aggiebug]

agm04 sorry it's been a little hectic so I hadn't stopped with suggestions. If you go 45 my first thought was the Sam Houston statue for lunch and Corsicana for a treat. Not a lot on 45 after Corsicana. If you plan on going 35 bless you. Lol.