We left Vancouver on December 31st with one goal in mind, don’t crumble and buy the portable DVD player…

We did it! It was sort of a personal thing for Justin and me. Everyone said, “you have to get a DVD player for Stella,” but for multiple reasons we didn’t want to do it. We agreed that if it got bad we’d pull over at the first Wal-Mart we could find along I-5 and buy a Dora Box Set along with a portable DVD player!

Even the fights over the radio (Stella wanting Dora or her “Music Together” CD’s and Justin wanting to listen to all things sports or 70′/80′s rock…I was happy with my magazine) weren’t so bad.

In all fairness we didn’t do any crazy driving days. We started out with a short trip to Seattle where we spent 2 nights and then broke the bulk of the trip up into 3-4 hour driving chunks. 3-4 hours in the morning, a break for lunch and 3-4 hours in the evening for 3 straight days. With a final stop in LA the day before we arrived in San Diego on January 5th.

Both Stella and Sebby did really well. I had a lot of toys and snacks and spent a bit of time in between the two of them reading books and singing songs. We even had a fun evening of making up new words to songs. I also spent a bit of time hovered over Sebby breastfeeding while Justin was driving…no easy task and quite amusing to the trucks passing by I’m sure…

Little Sebby also cut his first tooth on the trip!

My advice for anyone planning a long road trip…
1. Don’t plan any driving distance for more than 3-4 hours with out a significant break (we didn’t do any drive-thru lunches but actually went in and sat down). Everyone needs to stretch their legs and get some fresh air.
2. If we could we tried not to stop for 3-4 hours (note my breastfeeding gymnastics above) but did have the occasional potty break (for me…). I tried to get Stella and Sebby out at each of these 1.5 hour breaks but Stella didn’t want to get out usually.
3. Have tons of healthy snacks and variety…and don’t be afraid to let your toddler have a bit of candy…it’s a nice treat…but not too much or you’ll have a wild child in the back seat.
4. GPS! We don’t travel without it. We swear it “saved our marriage” on our last cross country trip!
5. Get plenty of sleep! I didn’t sleep in the car as I was usually pretty busy with the children and then when they slept it was nice to just chat with Justin or read a magazine, however, I was in bed when the children went to bed each night.
6. If you can get a little exercise in the evening after you arrive it really helps. This is one thing we didn’t get to do much but I think it would have made me feel a lot better over all.

Outside of Sebby’s new tooth the trip was pretty uneventful which was great given the chaotic and “bad luck” we’d had in December.

For all of our friends and family who have contemplated coming out to our new place in San Diego for a visit…don’t delay, book your ticket! This place is awesome. We only have it for 4 months so we’d love to share this time with as many of you as possible.

Sorry we don’t have any pictures to share…our camera broke just as our “bad luck December” started.