Road Trip Survival Guide with Toddlers

Over the weekend M and I took the twins on their first road trip to San Luis Obispo (our college town!). When we were in college and made the trek we would go late at night to avoid LA and Santa Barbara traffic and could get there in about 4 hours.

Enter toddler twins.

The trip back home took us about 6.5 hours and for whatever reason was much more painful than the trip up. Lots of whining and dear goodness if someone dropped their sippy cup or blankie ONE more time we were going to lose it. You have cup holders in your car seats for crying out loud!

Here are some of the things that DID help us keep our sanity...

1. Pit stops
While the twins aren't potty trained yet (dreading this) and didn't need to use the restroom they DID need to get out and run around a couple times and use this opportunity to poop in their diapers (oh the joy).

2. DVD Player
This one doesn't really need explaining.

3. Snacks
I usually encourage healthy snack options when we are home but on a road trip I bust out all the naughty exciting food. And keeping it bite-size helps (Gold fish, Lucky Charms, suckers).

4. Stickers
Just make sure you bring a little notebook or something for them to put them on. Unless you're cool with stickers on your windows (I'm NOT).

5. Doller Bin Toys
Squishy balls, activity kits etc are good choices.

6. Good Old Fashioned Singing
This one is painful for me but kept the twins happy for an HOUR. I sang Old McDonald (they chose the animals), the wheels on the bus, five little ducks, and every other preschool song I knew. They loved the attention and interacting with me.

I hope this helps bring some sanity to your next road trip and share your road trip tips below!!!