I’ve packed the kids activity bags already. And following a friend’s tip, I’ve packed snack bags, too. As soon as we get in the car the kids will each get their Activity Bag (Day 1 contents include Color Explosion (Trevor) or Color Wonder (girls) papers and markers, a folder with 8 activity papers (mazes, geometric pattern coloring page, seek & find, a writing exercise, and a math paper), a spiral notebook & mechanical pencil, a travel game, a dry-erase board and 2 markers). I’m also taking some zippered pouches filled with colored pencils and washable markers that they can “check out” and use (but need to return when finished). OH, and we are packing some laminated maps of Oregon and California so they can track the trip progress! They can use a dry erase marker to trace I-5!

The snack bag is filled with a variety of snacks like trail mix, fruit snacks, granola bars, yogos, chocolate covered raisins, jerky, nuts. Oh, and a pack of gum. These items the kids can eat at their leisure, so no comments of “I’m hungry!”. Of course everyone will have a water bottle and we’ll take some boxed juice drinks for the drive as well. The Snack Bag idea is new to us, so the kids are already excited to see what’s in their bags.

Speaking of excited….geez the kids are going wild these past few days! I need to figure out a release for all the excitement because the current release is running around like a bunch of maniacs and not focusing on anything they are supposed to be doing! Suggestions anyone?

Day 2 each child will receive some additional activities for their bags: a pad of graph paper, a pad of plain paper, 8 new activity papers, and a new Nintendo DS game, which will help get them through those last few hours of “are we there yet”?

A Garmin on the dashboard helps curb the “how much longer until we get there?” questions because it shows exactly how much longer to the destination! At least it will help with the older kids. Not sure how Brooke will handle that.

It will be an interesting drive! Last night the kids all voted to leave a 1/2 hour earlier than our original plan, which means they will miss their school lunch and grab a bite in the car as we head out. I would like to make it past Willows that first night, if possible. The more time we spend on the road for Day 1, the quicker we get there on Day 2, and the more time we’ll have for swimming and shopping and going to the Rainforest Cafe!