Long Drive+Children=Much Needed Planning.

Things have been crazy busy for the Mattern household but oh so fun! We just got back from the beach where we hung out with my mother and sister. We enjoyed lots of vitamin D, sunshine and sandy suits.

As soon as we got home, I ran inside, loaded the washing machine, and began packing once again for another trip.

We're headed to Texas for a week.

It's the hubby's annual business convention and we are all super excited. This will be the very first time that we have brought the children along.

Long Drive+Children=Much Needed Planning.

Here are five tricks (that work for us) that keep the kiddos from asking the usual, "How much farther?"

1.) Have some little goodies waiting to hand out every four hours or so. (For us we make a special shopping trip for things like new coloring books, reading books, car games, little barbie/GI Joe toys)

2.) Instead of lots of mini breaks plan and pack a picnic to chill. We will stop at rest areas and pull out our home made picnic lunch and hang out enjoying one another. The kids get to play tag, stretch their legs and burn out energy.

3.) Never underestimate the power of the Alphabet game!! We have our own rules for this game. We begin with A.. you must find words that start with the letter. If it has been a while without finding a certain letter you may use license plates. Words have to be outside of the car. All my kids love this.

4.) Night driving. We usually prefer to leave at night so that the kiddos can sleep straight through but we aren't as lucky this time to be able to make a night escape. If you can do it though, it works much better regarding kid patience :)

5.) Make memories! If kids are getting antsy, be creative. We took a 30 minute break in one of our past adventures, pulled into the nearest Wall-Mart and grabbed a few cans of silly string. We then had a war behind the store. This is something my kids still talk about today. Don't stress if things are getting "stressful," be spontaneous.

What are some of your favorite kid tricks while traveling with little ones?

*Don't worry if you don't hear from me for a week, we will be out making memories and I will report back when we return. With lots of photo's too :)*