Memories for Miles

Traveling with children is like planning a surprise party for a group of very small, very energetic tornadoes—believe me, as a Mama of five, I can assure you of that! Sure, it might feel a bit overwhelming at times, but think of it as a hilarious adventure where every detour turns into an unforgettable story and every tantrum is just a future family legend in the making.

I can remember the first time that we drove the 17+ hours from Lebanon County, PA to Fort Myers Beach, FL back in 2015. We had 3 little boys at the time ages 5, 3, and a little over a year old. What on earth was I getting myself into?!

1. I one drove to Florida once before, just with my husband. If you had a chance to read our story then you know that I grew up as a pilot’s daughter. We flew everywhere and never drove (except for the 1 time we went to the Outer banks).
2. Toddlers man. Enough said. 17 hours in the car with them a terrifying thought.

In the end it must not have been too bad, because we did it again in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024. We also added 2 more kids along the way, traveled with newborns, and survived it all. I’m basically a self proclaimed expert now.

We’ve certainly adjusted things along the way as the kiddos have gotten older, but the biggest adjustment we made was: Just go with the flow. Seriously – the more you stress out about things, the more they’re going to stress out about things, the more your husband will stress about things, and the drive will not be fun for anyone. If they aren’t napping at their normal nap time, but they are happy — who cares! You can catch up on your sleep when you get there. Is someone hungry at 4 AM after they woke up during a stop for gas — give them a snack. As long as you can keep them happy – you can keep moving. And the main idea is simply to get there – so try not to stress about your regular schedules, mealtimes, etc.

Traveling with a newborn was actually the easiest stage. We did it twice when our little guys were about 3 months old. They were still in the “sleep, eat, play, repeat” stage- and thankfully were both fairly easy babies. We were able to time our stops for gas and meals around a nursing schedule and diaper changes. One recommendation: load up on diaper cream.. even if your little one doesn’t typically deal with a rash. When they are sitting in the carseat for a long time, they will be more likely to develop a rash. It’s definitely best to protect their little bums and avoid it if you can!

Speaking of a nursing schedule- there will be times when everyone is doing so good and you don’t feel the need to nurse because well.. why ruin a good thing when you can keep driving?! The only problem is that you’re starting to feel super full and uncomfortable. Don’t be afraid to pump while you’re driving! Trust me- you won’t be the only Mama driving down 95 taking care of her milk issues. Oh- and also, sometimes you will hit traffic. And sometimes it will happen during the worst time when the baby actually is hungry and starts screaming, and you’ll feel like there is nothing you can do to help! This is when you make the best of a sad situation (no pun intended), and try to tough it out until you can make it to the next exit.

The toddler stages were a bit more complicated. I remember the second time driving Florida being an absolute nightmare. We decided that we wanted to drive through the night to avoid the traffic, and thought, “well it’s overnight so of course the kids will sleep!” Don’t fall for this dreamy idea. Some kids might sleep- but other kids (like mine) definitely will not. They were waking up crying every 45 minutes because all they wanted was their beds and they couldn’t stretch out because they were sitting in their 5 point harness.. etc etc. It was not fun. This was where the “go with the flow” lesson came from.

One fun idea that we did when the kids were younger: head to your local Dollar Store and stock up on random new toys and crafts. We would literally fill a backpack of “surprise new toys” and the kids would be allowed to pick something out of the bag every hour (I’ve heard of some people doing every new state, but that doesn’t work if they’re sleeping a lot). It was just something fun and new and they absolutely loved it! We’d include matchbox cars, window stickers, sticker books, dinosaur figurines, etc.. basically whatever we could find at the dollar store!

Now that my kids are getting a bit older- and we’re finally cool enough to have TVs in our car- the trip doesn’t intimidate us like it used to. Our driving strategy over the last 3-4 trips has gone a little bit like this:

• Leave around 3PM and knock out a few hours until we need gas.
• Stop for a late dinner around 7:30PM or so and get out to stretch out legs, use the bathroom, get gas, etc.
• Everyone gets back in the car and they’re allowed to play on their tablets or watch 1 movie until we attempt lights out.
• Lights out in the car with no screens to at least give our eyes and brains a rest. Most of the time- everyone will dose off for a few hours.
• We typically drive as much as we can on a tank of gas and only stop for bathroom breaks and gas (and of course Buc-ees if we pass one).
• We take turns driving so that one of us can get some shut eye while the other one takes on a few hours of driving.
• This usually gets us to Florida around sunrise, and we then stop for an early breakfast at Cracker Barrel.
• The rest of the drive is a bit less stressful and we take our time getting to our destination- stopping along the way if we want to stretch our legs and visit some fun touristy sights.

Coming home is always the worst. We have driven straight through the past 2 times- but I would by lying if I told you it was great and that’s what we prefer doing. I 100% find myself wishing we would have just stopped and stayed at a hotel to break up the drive every.single.time. The best advice I have for driving home is to leave early to beat some traffic- and don’t come home the day before you have to go back to school/work. Give yourself a day to recover afterwards if you are driving straight through- you’ll need it!

As I said earlier, we have some items that we always bring with us and things that we’ve used over the years to help us stay organized in the car. Visit my Amazon storefront link here for some ideas to shop!

I hope you found some helpful information for your next trip- comment below if you have questions or want to share a funny story from your own roadtripping experience!