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- kim nakahodo - Profile | Pictures | Blog
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Easter weekend we are visiting my sister’s family in Clarksville, Tennessee. I love my sister… but I hate the drive.
The trip is over 16 hours round trip. Ugh.
We generally drive because the closest airport to Clarksville is 2 hours away since Clarksville is a military town. When you factor in the 2-hour wait for the plane, the hour flight, the hour waiting for the luggage and car rental, then the 2-hour drive to her house – you don’t gain that much time flying.
There is also the cost… it’s way cheaper to drive.
So our dilemma is simple… how do we keep an 18-month occupied for an 8-hour drive?
We have a portable DVD player and lots of movies. I’m packing some snacks, drinks and his Magnadoodle. This will keep him occupied for the first hour or so…
I’m terrified that we will be listening to a toddler whine, “Open” for 7 hours in the car as he tries to unbuckle his car seat.
Any ideas? Suggestions?
While you are at it... anything you can suggest how to put up with the 4 dogs at my sisters house? Or the Mother-in-Law AND Brother-in-Law that's also living there? Yea... it's why we stay at a hotel when we visit. TMI!
Closest airport is closer than that. Our son moved there recently and we just flew his sister into Nashville. 45minutes. Of course it depends on where in Clarksville you are.My old stomping grounds...:-) We're traveling through there with 5 kids this week...on the way to FL. ugh...I feel your pain...I don't know if he's old enough to do stickers yet, but when my daughter was around 21 months, we flew to CA. I took along a blank notebook and a lot of stickers and let her have it. She had them all over her, too, but it was okay! I've usually also given my kids books (just to look at for his age) and other small toys. Good luck! I feel for you!8 hours - no problem...try 21 hours one-way! On the shorter trips (6-8 hours) our trick was to drive at night. We'd leave just before bedtime so the little ones would fall asleep in the car. Just plan your gas stops, because he'll wake up! Keeping an 18 month old still that long takes too much effort - better to let them sleep through it. Besides, your sister will have fun with him while you sleep the next day! Good luck.Can you leave at bedtime and that way all you have to do is trade off drive/sleep time with your husband?would you consider driving at night when your baby will mostly asleep? We used to do that and it really helped. Good luck!I have traveled several times alone with the twins. It's an 8 hour drive to Dallas, add another 3-4 to Austin. We usually stay overnight in Dallas, before trekking another 4 hours. My kid's limit is 8 hours. Then they start losing it. They usually sleep a few times. I always keep plenty of DVD's handy, a bag full of toys, and their blankets handy. I have learned that stopping often = every 2-3 hours helps. I have also learned to stuff pillows on the floorboard of the back seat so if they drop something, it is within easy reach. Oh and keep a couple of extra outfits handy along with a towel. One super leaky diaper taught me that lesson.We drove with 2 toddlers to PA, straight through (almost 23 hours one way) only stopping at the rest stops. It was all good until the last hour and then I had to squeeze in between the two car seats in the back of the truck to keep the youngest calm. But it was really just having a lot of little toys for them to play with . . . new things that they hadn't played with before (I saved McDonald's toys for the trip). We had one of their favorite CD's to listen to (and haven't listened to it since). But they did surprisingly very well! Just have faith and I am sure he will do fine!Here's what we did on our first road trip to Colorado: 12 hour drive, 12 presents, doled out every hour. Seems like a lot, but they were small like stickers, books, a new DVD, stuffed animal, etc. Put them in wrapping paper or gift bags. We also downloaded a ton of children's music for the ipod and let them listen. (You can control the volume.) Or invest in whatever technology you need to play your ipod through the car stereo for an instant family singalong. Remember to have headphones for the DVD player, you don't want to listen to VeggieTales all the way to Tennessee! ColorWonder markers and fingerpaints from Crayola also are fantastic. And good to have at restaurants too because they only mark on the special paper. A good attitude also helps. Stop telling yourself how much it's going to suck and remind yourself how well behaved your child can be.
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