Vacations With Kids

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0sharesI love to travel. If I won the lottery tomorrow, my bags would be packed. We would be out. I have serious ants in my pants.
We don't travel as often as I would really like to, but when we do, I try to make the most of it. Because my family is 750 miles away, my kiddo's have spent plenty of time in the mini-van cruising the highways. And honestly? They are very good at it!

I occasionally hear "Are we there yet?" especially through the LONG state of PA (we drive about 350 miles in PA). And if we happen to be going somewhere other than MI and the excitement levelis up, we hear a lot of "Where are we mom?". But for the most part they settle into their car seats and watch a movie.
Oh yes, I have a dvd player. I won't lie. It was one of the requirements of having a mini-van. I insisted. I have heard the arguments - "Oh in my day we didn't have DVD players in the car. We had to use our imaginations". Well, in your day you weren't strapped into a 5 point harness EVER either (I remember laying in the back of the wagon or making forts on the floor of the car). As for imagination? I'm pretty sure my kids will survive a road trip with little use. I promise to make them use their imaginations as soon as we get there.
My other famous trick of the trade is..I pack snacks and lots of them. I mean way more than we will ever need, but here you go, have a good time back there snacks. I really do try and start the days driving with everyone having some "real" foodand filling their tummies. In my house that means a banana most likely. And maybe a bagel. I pack snacks that they love and always get and snacks that are treats. I'm no dummy. I don't give them so much sugar that they can't sit still (that would be a real challenge on a 12 plus hour car trip) but I do give them a few treats that they wouldn't normally have.
I want my vacation (where ever it might be) to be a fun time. I want my kids to remember it that way too! I want them to have the same sort of adventurous spirit in regards to travel that I do. Best part is, I think they might. At least once a week I get asked when I pick them up from school if we can go to California that day. It would only take a few days in the car mom. One day I'm going to have to call my husband and say we're on our way to pick you up, we are goingto go to Cali;)