10 things I learned on a car trip with two small kids

                This is what 15 hours looks like....goldfish crackers all over and feet in my face.

1. Dual DVD players are super NICE!
They weren't plugged in the whole time but when the wining and complaining go to be too much. It saved
me and J.

2.  Bring every pool/water  toy/floaty you can fit in the car. Even if you don't think you'll need it.
We had to buy many things that we didn't think we would need  and left at home but then we did need.


3. The kids liked the pool more than the ocean.
It was a little wavy to say the least so once we showed them the calm, warmer pool. K didn't want to go  back to the beach. We tried to explain to her that we have pools at home but not beaches. She didn't really care.

4.  Be prepared to be a bad recycler.
This was hard for me. I'm normally a great recycler. I recycle everything. But down in Pensacola Beach. I couldn't find any kind of community recycling place and the condo complex definitely didn't care one way or the other. I had to suck it up and say sorry environment for a whole week.

5.  Don't bring too much stuff for yourself ( the mommies and daddies) to do.
We brought all kinds of IPod, IPad, speakers, magazines, books.... you know...thinking we could do something besides watch our kids. Nope. We were busy we the kids whenever they were awake and when they were napping or asleep.... We were napping or asleep. Long gone are the days of reading a magazine on the beach..unless we go somewhere without kids. I know, we were a little delusional.

6. The kids may not sleep at all in the car.
Everyone was saying" Oh, they'll sleep for hours". You are all  F-O-S. They slept for 30 min each on the way there. Yes, you read that right....30minutes....for a 15 hour car drive..... That's nuts.  I know my kids are not normal but come on..... 30 min?! really?

7. Pack less toys and books for them.
I packed 6 books per kid and a small book bag of toys per kid. And they proceeded to read the same two books all week and play/fight over the same four small toys all week. Lesson learned.

8. Not even cute maps help after 15 hours in the car with a 30 minute nap.
 She was doing really well with the map until hour 13 and then it was every five minutes " Are we at the beach now?" But it did work until then.

9. Portable apple sauces, squeezy yogurt tubes and goldfish crackers are a god-send.
 Buy and pack as many as you can into a cooler. They helped avoid many meltdowns and supplemented alot of the meals we stopped to eat when they didn't like anything on the menus.

10. That it should only get easier or at least a different kind of hard.
 They were really great for the amount of time they were in the car.  I had to keep telling myself we were asking a 4 and 2 year old to sit for hours and hours and hours.