On The Road Again: 5 Ways to Make Traveling Fun

Traveling with children is always an exciting experience,  but it can also be a stressful time if you aren't armed with necessities of the road! Here are some things we never leave home without when heading on vacation! 

Snack Tubs

Our family of 6, soon to be 7, are spread out over three rows in our SUV and while I'm very thankful for all the leg room this vehicle provides, it makes it very hard to pass items around or get items back to the kids in the 3rd row. In an effort to minimize the amount of times people have to unbuckle, climb over seats, or spill items on people behind them, we now use snack tubs on trips.

Each child has their own tub, customized to their own personal likes with snacks, drinks, and sometimes even special treats just for our time on the road. We don't snack a lot at home, so this is a super special occasion for all of us! 

I have run the gamut on what I have filled them with on different trips. From things like apples, granola bars, bottled water, and cheese sticks to cookies, gummy bears, juice boxes, and mini donuts. :) No matter what is in them, it really makes our trips go more smoothly when each person has their own tub to pull from right next to their seat. 

I personally love these tubs with the latches on both ends as they keeps everything snug and sound even if the tub gets dropped or we make a sharp turn and they slip onto the floor.

Audio Books & Dramas

There is nothing like a quiet vehicle when traveling down the road and nothing grabs my kid's attention more than a fun story on CD. Some of our favorites are:

• Adventures in Odyssey's Truth Chronicles
• Adventures in Odyssey's Bible Eyewitness Set
• Adventures in Odyssey's For God and Country History Set
• Your Story Hour CDs
• Lamplighter Series
• Audio Classics on LibriVox
•  Books on CD:
• Beginner's Bible on CD
• Madeline
• Curious George
• Blueberries for Sal
• If you Give a Mouse a Cookie
• Jonah and the Big Whale

Games

There's nothing like a heated game of I Spy, Twenty Questions, or The Alphabet Game to make time fly by while in the car. We also have Travel Bingo cards and dry erase crayons or markers in the car, that are a family favorite.

The license plate game is always fun and we also have magnetic tic-tac-toe and a fun Melissa and Doug wooden matching game that the kids enjoy.

Reading Material & Activity Books
I know that this may not be an option for all as reading in the car makes some people sick; however, my kids don't have this problem, so we love to bring along books, magazines, circle the words, sticker and coloring books.

My daughter can color for hours and can't get enough of stickers so time just flies when she is in her own little world. One of my boys loves anything WW2 or Nascar, so he will obsessively read a race program or a tank book for hours on end. My rambunctious fellow loves hidden pictures hunts, knock knock jokes, and to read Bible stories so his go to is his Clubhouse Jr Magazine. Invest in what your kids enjoy and you will have a peaceful car trip.

Videos and Movies

This last one is always one I'm on the fence about. I grew up in a time where you kept yourself busy in the car with some of the above items or looked out the window and enjoyed the scenery and happily lived to tell about it, so I hesitantly add this last one. This is one we rarely pull out but on longer trips I have to admit it has been a nice perk.

We have a double screen set of DVD players that attach to our headrests and can reach all the way back to the 3rd row so no one misses out on the fun! It's nice to pop in a Veggie Tale movie, let the zombie stares ensue, and hubs and I get our own quiet date in the front row!

There are many ways to make a car trip more fun, what are your family's favorites?

10 Days of Separation!

Our daddy left 10 days ago to head north to take a load of stuff, to start training and to work 4 shifts at his new job! We've never been separated this long as a couple and the kids have obviously never spent this much time away from daddy. 

Most people aren't aware, but part of my mystery "disease" is memory loss. I'm trying to document more of our daily lives in an effort to remember more in the future. I don't remember most of my wedding, honeymoon, trips we've taken, and even entire years of my life. Someday I probably wont remember being apart, being hugely pregnant, or moving from Sapulpa to Vicksburg, so it will be nice to have some pictures and documentation to show me all the fun and excitement that occurred during this time!

While being apart wasn't our first choice, I've tried to keep us busy doing some fun things and while we've had a blast, I'm not sure how people do this all the time. Our usual schedule entails heading to church, the library, and maybe the pool twice a week and these last 10 days, we've only had ONE day where we didn't leave the house!!

 

We've completed the summer reading program and gotten our awards!! You know this mama loves free stuff and free food is right up our alley!!

Of course free fun while eating free food is a must!!!!

We've made fun mail for our daddy! Shhhhhhh

 The mall play place is always a nice cool option where a 36 week pregnant mama can sit while the littles burn off some energy!!!

On the FOURTH Papa and Nana came over, grilled out with us, bought us tons of fun poppers to explode, and we sat and watched "AMERICAN CELEBRATES AMERICA" fireworks from our yard!!

We even had a do nothing day, where we played outside, watched movies, ran through the sprinkler, and played in our "new to us" playhouse......it was so NICE!!

I hope we never have to spend this much time apart again, but we've had our fun and I'm sure daddy has had a nice break that he deserves for all his hard work!!

Things Are A-changin'!

  After a 8 year adventure, our medical training journey is finally coming to a close! It's been challenging, exciting, stressful, fun, and totally amazing! God has used this time to grow Tom, our marriage, our family, and our faith in Him. It hasn't been perfect, we've made many mistakes, learned new things, and seen God's grace in everything that we've experienced, but it's now time for a new adventure!

This is Tom's last week of residency! He's had his last call night, last moonlighting shift, last teaching service shift, last clinic day, last elective day, last academics, and presented his last journal club.......whew! And that was all from June 22nd to June 28th!

Come Saturday morning, a medium moving truck, driven by my sweet Bunny, will make it's way from our home in Sapulpa, OK to Vicksburg, MI. Our new rental home, (that we started renting back in May) the "Yellow Farm" will be waiting to house him for the 19 days he will be there training and working his first shifts as an attending at the Bronson Vicksburg Outpatient Center Emergency Room. I'm just so proud of him! Who knew 9 years ago that this would be route our adventure as newly weds would take us.

I'm just giddy about not only getting settled in our new place, but I'm also ECSTATIC about his new schedule. When we first were planning on specializing, an OB/Gyn residency is what we decided on.......now four years later, I'm so thankful that God nipped that decision in the bud and allowed us to change to Family Medicine. Because of this detour, it opened a fabulous door to work in an ER setting which allowed our faith, family, and friends to take their rightful priority! The road we picked would have led to long clinic days and late call nights; but God's path has now allowed Tom to work eight 24 hour shifts a month and then have about 22 days home with us......no, it hasn't sunk in fully yet!

The kiddos and I will be hanging out here at the Sapulpa house, missing our daddy terribly for those nineteen days but we already have some really fun things planned, so hopefully the time will fly by! In the last 10 years since we met, the longest we've even been apart was the 7 days I traveled with mom and the kiddos to find a place to rent in Kalamazoo a few months back. Just let me say, I'm not a fan!!

Anyway, I'm just praying that little "Bertrum" stays put and waits for daddy to get home before he makes his appearance! Then once he arrives, we'll all be off to start our new journey in the "frozen tundra"!!!

Ballerina Birthday Bash!

Our sweet baby girl turned 2 this past week and we held a ballerina themed party for her!! My monster truck driving gal loved it. She loved being dressed up and even twirled and danced in her tutu!!

 We had a girly brunch with Papa and Nana and enjoyed some delicious pink cupcakes with glitter on them!!! I love glitter!

 Paige loved the ballerina toppers I made for her cupcakes and I love that they were super cheap and really simple to make! I definitely see another ballerina party in our future!

 Of course Daddy loved seeing his little lady all pinkafied!!!

 Paige caught on really quickly, she knew right away to blow out the candle and did it in one breath. She couldn't wait to bite into her cupcakes!

 "Can I eat it now?"

 Cheese anyone?

 She wasn't quite sure about opening presents, but in no time she figured out that you pull the paper off, people cheer, and you get something fun to play with! 

 Thanks for the cool shades Papa and Nana!!

 Our little domestic diva got right to work after she opened everything!

 Ironing, taking care of her baby, cooking a delicious meal!! This little mama is knows how to run her little house!

 Cookies are done!

Paige proves that one can be fashionable even when working around the home! I really should get a tutu to clean in! 

It has been such a blessing to have this pink princess in our lives. We are so thankful that God sent this little girly our way! She softens our family, brings joy to our lives, and always has a sweet thing to say! She always checks on you if your hurt, says thank you and sorry for the cutest things, and loves to go pee-pee on the potty like a big girl! 

Happy 2nd Birthday Princess Pumpernickel!!!

Umizoomi, Umizoomi!!

 Last Friday night, we headed to the Bartlesville Kiddie Park (AKA the Fair) to celebrate our little man turning 4!! We totally surprised  everyone and they had a huge blast!

 Our Woogy didn't know what theme he was having for his birthday either, so when we unveiled his Team Umizoomi cake, he was super excited!!!

 Papa and Nana got our little bug lover his own bug explorer kit!!

 Complete with bug habitat,

 explorer hat, 

 bug vacuum, net, and vest!!!

 Woogy also got a water squirter (which he said was the perfect size just for Paigey!)

 and some "Umi-goggles!

 None of our family had been to this park before, so we weren't quite sure what to expect......but it was perfect for all our littles! They loved ALL the rides and we stayed until the park closed!!

 Paige LOVED the little cars!!

 I was just waiting for someone to fall in!

 The rockets were a favorite and were ridden numerous times!!

 All three kiddos enjoyed the ship, I wasn't sure if Paige and Morgan would like it, but they were all smiles!

 Paige did not like the ferris wheel!

 Yeeehaw!!!

 Paige had to be dragged off the swings multiple times that night! She was adorable saying "more" and signing it. She didn't understand that you had to get back in line to go again and really just wanted to keep going around and around.

 The Train was so much fun! 

 The birthday boy was giddy!!!

 And even Nana and Papa joined in on the fun!!

 Yeah ecstatic!!

 Back to the cars!!

 The big boys really enjoyed the roller coaster, I wasn't for sure if Grant would like it, but they really thought it was so much fun!!

 Since we got home so late the night of the party, Woogy didn't get to play with any of his presents. But first thing Saturday morning, our little explorer was geared up and ready to go first thing!!! 

 After catching numerous bugs, beetles, and butterflies, it was time to cool off and play with his new slip n' slide!!!

 Everyone thought it was such a blast! Not to mention this momma loved that it ran all the energy off the kiddos and they crashed at bedtime!!!

 

Our sweet Woogy is getting to be such a big guy! He has such a soft, caring heart, always thinks of others first, and has the most creative, imaginative ideas. He is such a tease, can play the best tricks, tells the best jokes and has the most infectious laugh. We are so blessed to have such a fuzzy little sweety that always keeps us on our toes and gives the best cuddles!! We love you Woogy, Happy Birthday!