Going on an Adventure

I am making the trek to Utah everybody. Yes, let's face it, when you are born and raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and you marry someone like you, there is a GInormous chance you have family in Utah. I have my parents-in-law, my paternal Grandparents (both sets of them...don't ask), and LOTS of friends.

I am taking a "vacation" that lasts 1 full week. This is virtually unheard of for me, at the most I am gone 6 days. It is a LONG trip from NYC to SLC, not to mention a time zone change and for me a pretty jarring geographic and culture shock.

It seems this time of year there are a lot of articles in all the parenting magazines about traveling with your kids. I have paid more attention this year as traveling alone with 2 kids becomes increasingly more difficult. There are a few websites that I have taken note of that look inspirational when planning that long plane or car ride.

I have no experience with this site, but it looks like a great idea, and I have taken note of it for the next time I find myself on an exotic resort with my family (hey, you never know). It is Jet Set Babies, and they claim to ship all your baby essentials right to your travel destination. I probably would have used this for my recent Disneyland Vacation, if I had known about it.

I just found this website that I find a little pricey, but inspirational enough for me to come up with my own travel toys. Madallie has a collection of busy crafts, randomness, books and backpacks. I swear, I don't work for this company...it's just a fun website.

As for my past successes on a plane ride...2 really cheap things that have always worked for Pukey (Poopy is a hopeless, lost soul on a plane....the last trip I ended up handing her off to a very nice woman who actually got her to sleep for me). Playdoh Partypack has the perfect size playdoh for traveling, and who cares if it gets messed up? And Animal Planet has a line of animals in a tube. They are inexpensive and smallish, and perfect for playing with on a tray table. Again, if you lose one, it's not a tragedy.

I am also a fan of packing post-it notes, think of how many you can dissasemble and stick to whatever you want...and a new snack or a new pen. The last trip I got Pukey this pen and it was just about the coolest thing she had ever seen.

Growing up, on long car trips, my mom packed surprises for my sister, and every hour or so we would ask to open a new one. It was usually a pad that used that special invisible ink marker...I can't remember what it was....or madlibs, or a new small toy. We loved the anticipation and then getting the small gift.

Any other great ideas? Cough em up.