Road Trips: Packing the Front Seat

As there is a limited amount of space in the front seat of our Firebird, there are only a few travel essentials allowed up front: snacks, music, a small diaper bag, and the mending (or sometimes a stack of bills that I pay by phone using my cell phone -- hey! Every minute counts!)

Protein: Hummus, Veggies: Carrots and Celery, Fruit: Grapes, Dairy: Cheese, and Grain: Flat Bread -- All low mess, easy to pass out, and low prep. I'll pack a plastic knife to spread hummus on the bread. Everything else will be pre-cut.

I try to pack well-balanced, healthy snacks since when you travel you are more likely to do more eating out or at the very least eat differently from what you are used to. You will notice that drinks were not on the list. My mom worked for a doctor before I was born that had 4 children. He said to always pack grapes instead of drinks so the kids are less inclined to have to go to the bathroom. Words of wisdom from someone who obviously knows! All of this goes into a small ice chest. I am also planning to pack John a bottle this time. Usually we just stop to feed the baby, but sometimes he gets pretty exercised so I thought it would be nice to have a bottle to try if he starts fussing (since there is absolutely NO WHERE to stop for at least an hour and a half at points -- No, seriously, you know it is bad when you get excited about the gas station that is an hour and a half away -- The Buckatunna gas station actually really does have nice bathrooms -- Yup that's where we are going with two small children....the absolute middle of no where!!!! I think we will actually be eating lunch in that gas station.) I digress...

Music-wise, we usually pack a selection of children's cds -- most especially a cd of ocean sounds and a lullaby cd. This proved to be a necessity when traveling with Jessica as a baby. We also pack an iPod that we can play through the radio because for at least an hour of the trip we can only pick up maybe 4 channels (and that's on fm AND am)! Oftentimes we will listen to Christian music and podcasts. I think this time we will hear a lot of Big Big House by Audio Adrenaline. Jessica LOVES to sing along with Mommy... "big, big, big, big,..."

The small diaper bag contains one cloth diaper, a blanket, a change of cloths for Jessica (since she is potty training), a plastic baggie (for soiled items), a small container of wipes, powder, and a pacifier. This bag can be refilled as needed by digging things out of the trunk, but I have found it very useful to have a small bag ready to go in case we need to make an emergency stop!

The mending I plan to get done this time includes: finishing embroidering John's name on his diaper bag and finishing altering one of Jessica's dresses from last year. Thankfully, I won't have any bills to pay this trip! :-)