Drive The East Coast: part3

Today we really rocked it! No joke, 1300 miles we have covered in thus far with a toddler and a dog, not mention add in time for traffic and eventually downpour rain from Hurricane Erica that turned into a tropical storm in Orlando, FL- go team!! Keiki was definitely a solid traveler by the end of today because she sat in her car seat like a champion and Doodles finally seemed to realize that we were not leaving her behind but instead taking her on this family adventure. Good snacks and Gatorade (and yes, Monster drink caffeination rocks our world by this point!) were key for us on this adventure.

Finally Florida!

We have finally crossed over to the Florida state boarder today at 3pm!  We had not planned on making it this far but the tropical storm inspired us to treck further, and despite minimal visibility and flooding, we have arrived safely in Orlando.

Florence, SC

Sunday, August 30: This evening we met Brian's Dad & Mia for dinner at the Mellow Mushroom in Florence, South Carolina. We drove 360 miles south from Virginia to SC and they drove up from Myrtle Beach.  They brought their dog also so it was also great for the dogs to have a play date too!

Washington D.C.

Coasting into Washington D.C. with minimal traffic was a good sign for us to take a break from driving. We were even able to find road meter parking one block away from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave to walk over to see the White House.

It was over 90*F out and was close to dinner time so we decided to only walk around for about an hour. We were able to bring Keiki & Doodles to see the George Washington statue, The White House, and the Treasury building. And while driving past, we saw the Washington Monument, the Capital (currently under construction), and many grand flying American flags too!!

Cornfield Plane Crash

While visiting family in Pennsylvania, we took a short walk over to one of the local corn fields. It was a great short adventure to see a recent small plane crash (not to worry, the pilot and passenger both walked away from the crash!) I'm not sure what was more fun: walking through the corn path or seeing the plane!

Lititz, PA

Saturday August 29: Today we visited Brian's Aunt Karen & Uncle Rick near Lancaster, PA which is best known for being Amish Country

Clinton, NJ

Friday August 28 (Thursday night to Saturday early morning): We visited my parents in Clinton, New Jersey. My brother and his fiancé came over to help us pre-celebrate Keiki's 2nd birthday complete with vanilla & chocolate ice cream!

East Coast Drive (Part 2): What to Pack for Bringing a Toddler

So what has worked for us and what has not? The car-top carrier has been so helpful to create space in the car! I would highly recommend using it to families going on road trips. We were smart packers believe it or not and even though this is a month&ha half vacation, we tried really hard to ONLY pack a duffel bag for each one of us and a back pack for the dog because we are renting a house with laundry ability. This freed us up to only need to pack 7days (or less!) of clothes in one bag and call it a day. But we found we had a lot of extra things we needed once we arrived in Florida so I dedicated one medium sized suitcase for all of our extra things (think diapers and bathing suits!) that was stored in the car-top carrier since it wouldn't be needed until our second week.

The car-top also gave space for us to bring our favorite adventure tool with a toddler: her carrier pack! Keiki hates strollers and we typically go hiking in places where it's unsafe for her to climb or be a slow walker, or as we call it, using her "slow toes!" The Osprey Pack has been our best purchase to allow us all to go on bigger adventures together as a family and not leave anyone behind.

Ok, let's talk toys! Most parents worry about toys or entertainment for tiny tots. I am grateful that I did not overpack a boat load of books and small toys because we have not needed them so far. My advice at this point is to leave most of them at home. All we have used have been books that prompt sing-along tunes (like Old McDonald had a Farm & Wheels on the Bus), some healthy snacks from the cooler, and the WaterWow magic color with water books (my favorite are made by Melissa&Doug because it can be colored and the dry to color again).

What does your family use for car entertainment? What works for you and what doesn't? Suggestions welcome!

Drive the East Coast: part 1

Our family has been on the road officially for three day now and we have only traveled about 400miles. I feel like we started off our exciting "trip" by hosting my cousins family from Maryland on Sunday Aug 23, and then after squeezing packing& errands on Monday, we saw friends an hour further up north in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Aug25, a day prior to our epic family travel event! Even though Sunday wasn't the official start date for our trip, it definitely felt like we squeezed in our last hugs with friends for a while!

Wednesday morning, my husband and I finished packing our long-term storage in out car-top carrier, and put our short-term duffle bags in the back of the car. I only choose a very select few toys for our little Keiki like books and coloring books and placed them in a basket in front of her feet. Also made sure we had extra water, travel dog bowl, leash, &spotty bags for the dog too. Our goal was to get on the road by 9am so we aimed for a half hour prior to get out the door... Only to finally leave at 9:45! It finally got to a point where we said that if we didn't pack it then we either didn't need it or could buy it, ha!

With us packed into our car along with our daughter and dog, we were finally off!!  We started our trip from Massachusetts and after two stops in Connecticut to see family on Thursday, we are now waking up at my parents home in New Jersey. Lucky for us all the driving has been broken down into such small sections and having great visits (that are a bonus entertainment for a toddler and a dog to run around!) I don't actually think we feel like we are on an east coast driving trip yet. In fact it's been so easy that I think we are getting spoiled and fear having a big wake-up call for when we have longer spurts of driving, but we will conquer that hurdle when we get there.

Branford, CT

Thursday morning, August 27: Today's visit was with Brian's Aunt Barbara

Ledyard, CT

Our first stop was pretty close to home to visit Brian's Mom and Doug in Ledyard, CT. We pre-celebrated Keiki's 2nd birthday while visiting too!

Car-top Carrier

I was asked today, "So how does one pack for a one month vacation?" In my head it seemed easy to just answer that I was planning on packing two (maybe three) bags for our family of two adults, one toddler and a medium sized dog.  Then I opened the trunk of my GMC and chuckled at how it would never work! Even if I could find a way to pack a month of family stuff into two bags (which we all know is completely impossible!) there was no way I would be able to squeeze the bags, a pack-n-play, and anything else we would need into our SUV! Ha!

We started to look into those car-top carriers and my goodness those things can get expensive! Since we didn't want to spend $500 on a special one, we started to look into used ones but those still were reselling for more then we expected on Craigslist and online community yard sales. We thought maybe we could borrow or rent one from friends but that would be asking too much to take it for 1.5months at the peak travel season/end of summer. So we started to look harder and sure enough Kmart and Sears came through! For $130 we were able to use coupon codes and online coupons (and what I like to call my husbands magical & savvy way to making things cheaper) and sure enough we were able to get a great hard car-top carrier to make our lives easier! I'll let you know if it works well by the time we drive down the East coast, but right now we are happy with the amount of room it provides and seems sturdy enough for our needs too!

Toddler Car Traveling

It's hit me recently that we are going to actually be traveling with our toddler, like for a LONG period of time!  We are lucky to be conditioned to travel with her for 6 hours to see my parents but our autumn vacation to Florida is looming and I'm realizing that I'm not quite sure how to get her from point A to point B with minimal difficulty.  And lucky us, my husband and I not only have a toddler in the car but we are brave enough to be bringing our dog with us on the car ride too!  Yippie!

Ok, sarcasm aside, I'm less then one month away and I'll admit to being a little freaked out.  I think the biggest reason is actually because our 22 month old is showing more then just signs that she is interested in potty training.  (Yes, I know it's a bit early, but this munchkin always seems to think she's older than she is.  Does that happen with your toddler?)  As we get closer to our vacation departure I will let you know what we decide to do with potty training.  We are at a critical point where we don't want to miss a window of opportunity to do this now but to do this before we go - ugh!  Diapers in the car would just be so much easier!  So I'll keep you posted on what goes on.

The distance is also settling in as well.  We are driving 1500 MILES south along the East Coast with BOTH a toddler and a dog!!  EEK!  We have been lucky to travel with our daughter since she was 3 months old so I think we have had some significant experience so I'll let you know about any tips we have found along the way.

With that said, let's start with basics:  the car seat.  It is essential to have a good, safe car seat.  When Keiki was an infant we used the Chicco Keyfit 30 and as she got older we have been using the Recaro.  I could spend the time reviewing both, but I'm not paid to promote either one so I'll just leave it as "it worked really well for us."  Cozy cushions for head support and adjustable reclining  position/angle position is crutial for napping and sleep times is always helpful.  Sun shades, suction cup toys, sippy cup holders, etc. are all just added bonuses for a more pleasant ride.

And for those of you who are curious what I brought on the car trip that was worth it to bring, I"ll write another post once we travel onwhat worked and what didn't.