Traveling with Kids, an adventure worth enduring?

Hello and Welcome Home,

Elliott Family Summer 2017

A while back I moved my family half-way across the country in pursuit of a better living for them at a more affordable price point.  We took our three lovable kiddo's and drove them from California to Oklahoma over the course of three days and two nights. As an added bonus, my wife's parents drove behind us along the way. Traveling with kids can be a daunting task and wondered how things would go down. 

We thought, like many of you I'm sure, that it would be the longest adventure we'd ever undertake. While the drive was long though our kids did remarkably well.  We were shocked and utterly amazed at how well they actually did. We couldn't have asked for a better trip, and it's all because my incredible wife had some of the best ideas to help us along the way.

Kids with GMA on Route 66

At first, I didn't want to believe that these ideas would have much of an impact, but our kids can be full of surprises. 

There were so many times when our 18 months old could have ruined the trip because she just wanted out of the car. There were times when my son could have really had issues with needing to go to the bathroom. There could have bee times when my oldest just got bored, but they didn't. When problems with our children could have reared their ugly heads, they didn't.

Sometimes the most unexpected blessings can come from your kids and during our family road trip, our kids offered many of them to help make the trip a rousing success. 

We had so much fun along our journey that we firmly believe that we will do many of the same things on our next family road trip, whenever that may be.

Here are just a few of those things,

1. We left at 3am in the morning.

I know, I know it sounds like a crazy plan, but it really worked. Yes, our kids woke up really early in the morning and were grumpy for a few minutes, but as soon as we jumped on the highway, two of them were out like a light. They slept for over half of the trip on the first day. Our oldest didn't sleep as much, but that's okay, she slept for most some of it. It was a peaceful journey for them all.

This is not actually where we stayed!

2. We didn't drive more than 2 hours each day without stopping.

Honestly, it may seem like this wouldn't work but it did. Every time we stopped we got out and enjoy the scenery. Once we got to highway 66, we saw some pretty cool things. Our kids didn't understand, but our traveling party sure did. There were some really cool sites, sorry not many pictures but it was a lot of fun. Because we stopped so much we didn't have to deal with bathroom breaks and running low on gas either.

3. We didn't drive more than a total of 9 hours the entire day.

This is where a lot of people are like, WHAT!!! Why not just power through it all. Well, because it's better for everyone if you don't, LOL. By the time we got to the hotel on the first night, we had plenty of time to rest and just have some family bonding time. The hotel wasn't the best in the world, but it met our families needs. Our kids went a little wild once we stopped, but you know, that's to be expected.

Entering OK, trusting God!

4. We left a little later on day 2 and then again on day 3.

Okay, so here is where it may be a little complicated. Leaving later means less sleep for the little ones, doesn't it? Yes, it did, but we also drove fewer hours on day two and three as well. On day two we drove between six and seven hours, and on day three we drove between five and six hours. Each day we were where we were supposed to stop around dinner time and then just enjoyed ourselves together.

Those four things really made a difference in our road trip together. There were other things as well, but I will share those in another post. We really felt these things though made the most significant difference for all of us, grandparents included. Traveling with kids can be a really trying adventure, but it can also be an adventure of a lifetime. It was the latter for us, and the memories we embrace with our kids along the way will never be forgotten.

Living by faith with our family,

M. E.