Maya peeking through

Evan has been more interested in Maya lately so when I heard them both squealing with delight I found them interacting nicely. Evan had put his hat on Maya.....

How we survived 8 hours in the car with 2 babies

Amazing! That's how I would describe the performance by my kids. We were able to leave Palo Alto at 10am and arrive at our hotel in Encinitas by 6pm. Really amazing!

Here's how we did it:

First, we have been telling the kids for the past week that we were going to make a big trip. That helped us all to mentally prepare for the big journey. Ironically enough, a 5 minute drive across town is met with the constant mantra of "I want to get out!"

We do know that the kids understand almost everything that we say (even if sometimes they don't want to...) and that when we clue them in to the "plan" then things go a lot smoother. This includes mundane plans of "We are leaving for the market in 5 minutes." I suppose that they feel included in the decision and have a sense of power in that.

The second key factor to survive the drive was having mamma sit in the back with the little ones. Heleen planned for the journey with activities and games, books, beloved toys, and a goody bag with new toys. Additionally, a steady stream of snacks kept appetites balanced.

We only watched a DVD once and for only an hour or so, maybe two episodes of Go Diego Go. Evan was not really interested. Again, I think the fun of having mom in the back to play with made all the difference.

We stopped twice on the way. Once to refuel and a quick latte, that was about 4 hours into the trip and once after the stop and go traffic of LA, about 6 hours in. The last stop was initiated by a very hungry 6 month old that needed her mamma-fix. So, 45 minutes in Orange County on a grassy knoll outside of the In and Out Burger (only fries with mayonnaise for us) and we were on our way!

I hope that this story of survival will not be registered as over confidence because I am quite aware that we will have the drive back....and going home is never quite as exciting!

Say a prayer for us

Long Car Ride with 2 babies...

We've made a (somewhat) last minute decision to travel down to Encinitas from the Bay Area with our 2.5 year old and 6 month old. We feel bad about locking the kids down for a 7 plus hour car ride, but we want to take the trip. After Googling "Long Car Ride with baby" I've not really come across any great new ideas as to how we might occupy the kiddies.

One suggestion is to drive when the kids are sleeping. The big problem is that the 2 year old doesn't sleep in the car. The other problem is that if we were to drive at night, then I would...

We're planning on sing-along-cd's and even children's books on cd = John Henry narrated by Denzel Washington, etc and a marathon of DVD's. We've picked up some new toys that will act as surprises along the way...Hmm, what else? We'll plan to stop and stretch our legs quite a bit. Of course the makes the trip even longer...Oh boy.

We've been telling the babies about the trip. That helps in getting them excited about the adventure. "We're going to the beach!" "We're going to see a panda!"

One funny side note is that with the popularity of Go Diego Go in our house it makes going to San Diego even more exciting. Now we hear Go San Diego Go.

We'll let you know how it turns out!