Traveling with Kids

When Vacation Ends: Tips for Readjustment

Readjusting to "normal life" after a trip is hard. If you find it hard to jump back in to your normal routine when vacation ends, give these hacks a try.

Who dreads returning home when vacation ends? It’s not just that you’re no longer away from all the stresses and cares of daily life. Readjusting to daily life can be a major challenge – especially if you’re a mama. We’ve just returned from the first of several family trips this summer, and I’m already struggling […]

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Your Summer Car Essentials Cheat Sheet

Got your car summer-ready for family adventures? With these summer car essentials, you're set for whatever you and your littles might encounter.

The kids are out of school at last – time for summer adventures. Which means it’s time to prep for all those summer adventures. Doesn’t matter whether that means elaborate summer road trips, car camping, or lots of day trips. Is your car ready for summer parenting emergencies on the go? Getting together your summer

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How to Pack Light for 2 Weeks Away

Two weeks, one suitcase? No problem! The art of how to pack light for two weeks away is easier than you'd think, once you know these hacks.

Two weeks, one suitcase? No problem! Mastering the art of how to pack light takes some trial and error, but a few shortcuts can help. A week or two away from home with a single suitcase plus “personal item” is totally doable. I recently packed for three back-to-back trips simultaneously: an out-of-town meeting for a

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Super Stocking Stuffers for Happy Travelers

Need some stocking-stuffer ideas for Christmas? Or a "little something" for friends' kids at the holidays? These super stocking stuffers are under $10 each!

Need some stocking-stuffer ideas for Christmas? Or a “little something” to give to friends’ kids at the holidays? These super stocking stuffers are under $10 each, and are favorites in our house for family travel. And one of the best parts? There are no batteries or sounds involved! No fighting over electronics, running out of

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My Top 10 Family Camping Splurges, Part 2

When Kimmie checked into sleep-away camp yesterday, her gear included lots of my family camping splurges. Which is why her luggage took up a fraction as much space as the other kids'.

I have to admit, I was pretty proud when I dropped Kimmie off at her first sleep-away camp adventure yesterday. She’s there for all of two nights, and her luggage reflected this fact. Thanks to the family camping splurges we invested in last summer, she was one of the best-outfitted kids there. And also one

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Family Camping Splurges: My Top Ten Picks, Part 1

If you and your family like to camp, these family camping splurges will make your adventures oh-so-much-nicer.

As longtime readers know, I’m not a fan of having stuff one doesn’t need. But if you camp often enough, these family camping splurges are worth considering. And many of them have uses beyond family camping trips. I added these things to our family camping checklist after three back-to-back camping trips last summer. While we

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Responsible Kids On the Road: My Top Tips for Travel

Do you have responsible kids on the road? Maybe you’re thinking, Hah, I can’t even get my kids to be responsible for their own stuff at home, let alone when we’re traveling. (I hear ya; it’s an ongoing struggle.) But take heart. Being away from home is a great time to mold responsible kids. You’re

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Our First Family Camping Trip, Done Better (Learn From Our Mistakes!)

While there were plenty of things we did right on our first family camping trip, there are plenty of others we could have done better. Learn from our mistakes, so you don't have to repeat them!

Overall, our first family camping trip went quite well. Still, though, I’m someone who’s always looking to improve things the next time around. So on the way home from our first camping expedition with kiddos a few weeks ago, I made a list of things I wish we’d done better. Sure, it would have been

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Must-Haves for Family Camping with Preschoolers

We survived our first family camping trip with preschoolers in tow. Not that there was ever any doubt – my husband and I have both loved camping since we were in Scouts – but still, we’re pretty pleased overall with how smoothly the weekend went. For the most part, our previous experience in planning camping

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Prepping for our First Family Camping Trip

This weekend marks our first family camping trip. My husband and I used to camp (or at least hike) every summer, back in our pre-parenthood existence. The further away from home our car-camping and occasional backpacking trips took us, the better. We’ve been kept awake all night by the foghorns near the Bay of Fundy

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Sanity-Saving Hacks for Roadtripping Solo With Small Children

My house is a mess of unpacking, my writing is behind schedule – can you guess that my family and I have just spent the past few weeks on various road trips? For many families, summer means travel. But the reality is that in two-parent households, parents can’t always coordinate limited vacation time with other

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Tunes for Traveling With Kids: Our Top 15 Road Trip Soundtracks

Before your next family road trip, treat yourselves to some tunes everyone can handle. It will make your journey a happier one for everyone involved.

Are you sick of listening to your kids belt out the theme song from Frozen yet? Do you wish that the singing purple dinosaur had never been invented? Do you prefer some good music for a long car ride over hearing your kids’ dueling electronic toys in the backseat? Do you have a long car

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What To Pack When Traveling With Kids: My Five Must-Haves For A Better Trip

Planning your first trip away from home with little ones? Not sure what to pack? These are my "learned the hard way" must-haves for travel with small kids.

In an earlier post, I offered four tips on how to pack for traveling with kids, so you can learn from my mistakes and avoid some of the trial-and-error I’ve gone through in trying to streamline family travel. This post will focus on some of the hacks on what to pack that I’ve figured out

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Traveling With Kids: Packing Your Kids’ Toiletry Kit

You probably have your own toiletry kit that you keep packed for travel (if not, I strongly recommend one that hangs, so you can hang it up high, out of kiddos’ reach). But do you also have a separate one for your littlest travelers? Keeping one packed, and reviewing its contents before each trip, is

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Taking a Car Trip With Your Kids: Basic Tips To Help You Plan Smart

I've learned lots about traveling with kids the hard way. Lesson #1: PLAN AHEAD. Read this post for my best car trip tips, and you can avoid my mistakes!

Next weekend we’re off to visit my in-laws. But instead of over the river and through the woods, our 21st-century car trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s house involves nearly 300 miles in my beloved Subaru Outback. At least most of it is on interstate highways, but you can do the math: We’re talking at least

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Why Parents Need an Eating-Out Bag

Prepping for meals out with an infant and toddler used to eat up half the morning, until I developed a shortcut: The Eating-Out Bag.

When you become a first-time parent to a newborn, you quickly learn that you just can’t leave home without a diaper bag. And that your diaper bag needs to contain several toys and clothing changes, as well as the diapers. But by the time I had two kids in diapers, I discovered something equally important:

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The Mommy Potty (and Other Secrets to Toilet Training On the Go)

The "mommy potty" is what my girls call the elegant solution my husband devised for what to do when you're toilet-training away from home.

to lChances are, if you’ve got a toilet training toddler or preschooler, you’ve found yourself far away from a potty seat or child-sized toilet at least once on this adventure. (Unless you never set foot outside of the house, of course.) My husband devised a simple but elegant solution to this dilemma when Kimmie was

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