High Maintenance Mom

We took a day trip today and I was once again reminded how more organization might make travel easier. We decided to go on the trip this morning at 8 AM. Little Grab was very needy as he has not eaten much for the past few days and has been waking up early (5:30 instead of 7). My plan was to go to an outlet mall and build activities for the kids around my shopping experience (it's almost embarrassing to admit it). In order for the car trip to be successful, I had a list of items I needed to complete -- find activity for the kids, pack food, pack toys, pack extra clothes. Although these items may not look complicated, they were close to impossible to do with a screaming child in my arms. So below is the start of a list of items for day trips...

Food - If I pack good food, I'm less likely to eat junk all day and the kids can have a vegetable other than ketchup. We never end up eating everything I bring but our kids aren't restaurant-friendly so I like to be prepared.

• Four to five bottled waters
• A juice box for everyone who would drink one
• Enough milk for a full day
• Fruit - things that won't get mushed like apples are ideal, occasionally I'll pack fruit in containers to protect it
• Carrots (I feel healthier if I munch on carrots in the car, it balances the junk food I end up buying). Other cut up vegetables also work but may require more work. Baby carrots can be bought in snack packs.
• Bagels, raisin bread, or other bread product.
• Cereal bars
• Cheese sticks
• Animal cookies

Food stops - we almost always buy something at a fast food restaurant while using the bathroom. We also almost always forget something or are out late enough to want dinner so we try to stop at a supermarket. Today I bought french bread, sliced turkey (oven roasted), apples, bananas, milk (I underestimated) and a bag of lettuce. I made turkey sandwiches in the car.

Toys - I try to keep travel toys in the closet for the kids. I have a small backpack for each child and can grab them at the last minute. The trick is to restock them before you put them away, which I hadn't done the last time.

• My three year-old's backpack includes three washable markers, a notepad, a truck, a Dora coloring book w/crayons, and stickers.
• Our one year-old's backpack includes a car, person, animal and board book in his. He also had a few toys in the car already.
• One extra book per child

Extra clothes - I keep a plastic bag in the car with diaper materials (my stealth diaper bag) so I try to check it before we leave. Then I throw in an extra change of clothes for both kids. B has been out of diapers for a while but this was his first long car trip and I wasn't sure what would happen. Little Grab is, of course, a master a mushing food into his clothes. Ideally, I would have brought jackets for both kids, but I forgot.

• Pants/shorts, shirt, jacket for each child
• Hats
• Sunscreen
• Diapers/underwear
• Shoes/socks (I'm not suggesting extra shoes, I'm just reminding myself that both our kids now need shoes)

Once I had packed everything into a large backpack and cooler, I was ready to search the web for something to do near the outlet mall. I found a cute park, but no address (I thought it was weird but decided to move on), and a railroad museum. We went to the railroad museum where I learned that a 40 minute train ride is neat for a three year-old but absolute torture for a one year-old who wants to walk -- and also for anyone else unlucky enough to be on the train. Once we got off the train, we let Little Grab explore on his own. We also tried to let him run around a bit at the outlet mall. B wanted to play with the inflatable Jelly Belly and Little Grab kept trying to get out into the parking lot so neither child got a lot of exercise. If we had more time, we were going to go to a park but we didn't. In the future, I might have to stick with the shopping centers that include playgrounds.