Z's First Road Trip

We survived our first road trip with Z this past weekend. Our little girl has already done quite a bit of traveling--she's been to California, Florida and Hawaii. But those were all via plane, and those trips also took place before she became fully mobile (a walker). So I was a bit nervous about how things would go. We were making a trip to Memphis, and Google maps told us that it would take just under 9 hours to get to our hotel. That seemed like a really long time for a squirmy one year old to be in the car. And I was right. It is a really long time for a one year old to be strapped in a car seat.

There were a few things, however, that I prepared beforehand in an attempt to make the trip as smooth as possible. My "toddler road trip stash" included the following items:

• iPad with Dora the Explorer episodes and Finding Nemo. (We try to avoid exposing Z to TV, or any screens for that matter--but desperate times call for desperate measures).
• Toys. Lots of toys. These include traditional toys, as well as items that babies sometimes like even more than toys. For example, Z likes to play with a lint remover roll because she likes the stickiness of it. Go figure.
  
• Books. Z likes this animal book where the animals are actually fuzzy.
  
• Food. There are these Gerber Graduates puffs that are seriously like Cheetos for babies. Healthy? I don't think so. But like I said before with Dora and Nemo--desperate times call for desperate measures. And Z really likes the baby cheetos.
• Music. Preferably kids music that is upbeat. I recommend CDs by Hullabaloo and this CD.
  
• An entertaining auntie. Lucky for us, one of my good friends went on the road trip with us. She worked hard to put on a show for Z. Complete with singing and dancing.
  

These things got us through the drive there and back. We also tried to stop every couple hours, which made a big difference. But because of the frequent stops, we tried to make the stops as brief as possible. As a result, poor hubby did not get to try out "The Only Home of Throwed Rolls" for lunch (and have rolls thrown at him) on the trip back. The wait was too long (30 minutes)..which I thought was surprising for a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Sorry, hubby. Maybe next time.