Road Trip with Kids: Tips to Make Life Easier
Spring break is here! For many that means more time in the car and on the road with kids. My family (husband, 9 year old, and 5 year old) recently returned from a 15 day, 15 state, 5,000 mile, 7 National Parks road-trip. Yes, we survived 15 days in the car together (thanks to Jesus, wine, and podcasts)!
Lucky for you, I now have a lot of tips to make life easier on trips!
Tips that made life easier on our 15 day road trip:
1) Car Trash Can: may seem silly, but it was a great item to have! A designated trash can helped keep car trash to a minimum for sure!
2) Car Backseat Organizers: These held the kids’ tablets (they both got their first for their birthdays for this road trip), coloring books, crayons, snacks, etc.
3) Water Wow coloring books– must have! I bought my kids 4 new ones for this trip and they loved them! We love that they’re reusable, dry quickly, and only require water to color.
4) So many snacks- I overbought snacks (oops). But with traveling to parts of the country we haven’t been to before, we quickly learned in some more desolate parts there weren’t as many grocery choices. It was nice not to worry if we’d be able to find my kid’s favorite Z-bars or Skinny Pop popcorn.
5) LCD Writing Tablets– My son’s favorite car activity! He loves drawing and this cheap tool makes it even more fun for him. 
6) Kid’s binoculars- my kids loved using these in the National Parks, but they also used them in the car to spot different things on the road and to play “Eye Spy”.
7) Headphones! I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to hear an episode of Bluey blaring from the back seat while my husband’s Notre Dame podcast is also blasting from the front. Hello sensory overload. No thank you! Headphones to the rescue!
8) A First Aid Kit– so many band aids were needed!!!
9) Packing Cubes- I swear by these! I used them for both of my kids and myself. Traveling for 15 days meant preparing for hot and cold weather (and everything in between). We swam in Moab, Utah and two days later we had on coats and hats in the Grand Tetons! 
10) Kids Dramamine– thankfully we didn’t need this on our trip, but I think it’s better to be safe and have it on hand!
11) Make sure to add time in for rest breaks. We stopped at two different Dinosaur museums, as I have a 5 year old who is Dino obsessed! And the kids had so much fun seeing dinosaurs and taking a break from being in the car. It was fun making memories!
