Road trip with kids!

We just drove for about 35 hours over the course of 10 days! Here are my travel tips (while they are fresh on my mind).

*Tape up sticky notes for each hour of driving left that day. Remove them as the hours decrease.

*Audio books. (The Wild Robot was fun and long!)

*Clipboards with these printed travel games. One favorite was coloring in a state on the US map when they saw that license plate. Two of my kids saw 44 states (including Alaska...they cheered wildly!). The other favorite was a long "find it" list that kept everyone engaged and laughing.

*Use a large rimmed cookie sheet to make sandwiches.

*Use a shopping cart to divy up food.

*The day before we left I packed rectangular lunch containers with salami, cheese, pretzles, and a fruit cup. They nested together nicely when they were empty.

*Freeze pb&j sandwiches and put in baggies. They are great only partially thawed.

*Cover the seat with an old sheet and cut a hole for the seatbelt to buckle. When you have time you can shake it out and replace it to keep the car tidy.

*Baby wipes for each row and a roll of paper towels handy.

*A container of walmart bags to clean out trash at EVERY stop.

*I bought this iPad holder and they watched two movies (one on each of our 8 hour driving days).

*I bought snacks to pull out at times to add the fun factor. Candy necklaces, fruit snacks, applesauce pouches, gum. Things we don't usually get were a fun blessing!

*We had water bottles that we refilled at gas stations.

*We had a cooler full of easy cold lunch items.

*We played music and sang.

*I got gas at Buc-ee's and got a dollar off of each gallon of gas if I bought a car wash. That made The Works wash basically free. The kids thought it was really fun to to through because the foam cleaner was different colors and we rarely go through car washes. AND, we vacuumed out the car!!

*I have this portable cooker and this adapter. You can use it sort of like a crockpot in your car. Here is another cheaper model that comes with the adapter but I have not tried that one.

*Updated to add: We prayed and asked God to give us the fruit of the Spirit and to help us extend and receive forgiveness well.

Memories were made! Fun was had! And we all slept well the night we got home. I hope some of these tips help you on your next road trip!