Traveling to southern Illinois with Allie this past weekend was quite a challenge. When we made the trip in April Allie was still small enough that she slept through a lot of it and was OK staying in the car seat. This time though, she was aware of her surroundings and did NOT like being in the car for 7 hours. Niether did we!
We learned that there are different rules of the road when traveling with a baby. This time I'm going to write them down so I can look at this post next time we're preparing to travel. In no particular order:
- No matter what, we will always bring way more stuff than necessary. She's definitely going to need half her toy box, right? This time I made sure to pack less clothing (we brought nearly her whole wardrobe last time), but we still brought way more than necessary.
- We need to learn how to pack the car effectively. Every time we stopped, we had to take a suitcase out of the back seat in order to get Allie out! Its inevitable: We will eventually need to buy that minivan.
- Allie will be happy in the car seat until she throws all her toys out of the car seat. Sometimes that would happen quickly, other times she'd hold on to the toys longer.
- Even if we only stop a few times, the normally 7-hour trip will be 11 hours.
- Instead of throwing extra stuff in random grocery bags, just pack Allie her own suitcase. That didn't really do much for decreasing the clutter in the car, but it was at least a bit more organized.
- The longer the trip, the more overrated sleep becomes. At least sometimes that means more time will be spent sleeping in the car.
- Last but not least, flexibility, flexibility, flexibility! I used to have a hard time with being flexible in planning. If there's one thing Allie has taught me, its to be flexible!
We had a great trip, highlighted by a night at a minor league baseball game, a great afternoon with friends that included a long whiffle ball game, lots of great time with Grandma and Grandpa and a visit with my best friend. We were all happy to be home and sleep in our own beds, but we look forward to the next visit!
Hahaha, so true. Even 1/2 an hour in the car with Alexis means I need to make sure she has a few toys within reach, and then a few more for me to give her when she's thrown all of them on the floor.
ReplyDelete11 hours!!! Oh no! At least you've learned a lot of things for next time... like having Doug's parents come visit you instead.
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