kid

travelling with a kid

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We are on our way home from a mini vacation to my sister’s house in New York State. It has been a whole lot of driving for such a short visit but worth every mile/kilometre!

Having a chance to see my sister, her husband, and our niece and nephew is a rare treat – we try and visit once a year but they are the real troopers who haul the kids up to Canada more often than most sane families would dare. As mentioned before, all of our nieces and nephews live outside of the country which sucks, but at the same time, it is an excuse to travel.

Long gone are the days when Mike and I would get up at 3 am and beeline it out of Montreal, aiming to make record time to Halifax in the VW Golf TDI.

Now with a child, we have had to adjust and here are some tricks we’ve learnt on the road. David is five and has road tripped several times to Montreal and New York and also around California, Spain and Florida so he’s a backseat pro. This being said, it’s not always fun and he’s not always enjoyable but you can’t blame him.

  1. Always try to book a hotel with a pool. Especially if it will be a long day in the car and especially if you have another long day in the car the following day. A pool is a great way to burn some stored-up energy and it’s a great bribing insensitive on the road “Five more hours and thennnnn you can swim”.
  2. Food. Lots of snacks. It’s vacation so don’t stress about being healthy but the more you pack, the less gas station and fast food stops you will require.
  3. Invest in a good pair of earphones. I love these. They enjoy their movie and you can enjoy a good podcast or music up front.
  4. Stay at a hotel with free breakfast.
  5. Take the fastest route always. Kids don’t care much about the scenic route.
  6. Fill a basket with books, markers, paper, activity books, small toys and even an iPad. The more they can reach, the better.
  7. Start the day on the road early and finish early and plan ahead as much as possible so you can stay in a kid-friendly location.
  8. If you can, bring movies to watch on the road.
  9. But, if you have something like a movie, save it for when it’s really bad – do NOT give them all of the good stuff too early.
  10. Expect the unexpected and embrase the rest stops and playgrounds.

We decided to take a day off in between a seven hour day and a ten hour day of driving ahead. Right now I am at a hotel in North Conway, New Hampshire which has two pools, an arcade room, a movie room, DVD rentals, access to easy hiking, shopping and family restaurants. It is actually cheap (less than $100/night) because it is not peak season and it has hopefully helped us recharge before tomorrow’s journey.

Images below: A trip to the Discovery Centre in Binghamton

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Images below: A kid free night at an AHL game. Who knew there were two Nova Scotian’s on the Binghamton team. We spent most of the game yelling Port Hawkesbury! Antigonish! Thank you to Mat’s mom who got the kids to sleep before we got home.IMG_1543 IMG_1550 IMG_1556 IMG_1558

Images below: Binghamton has an awesome playground
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Images below: Hiking in North Conway, New Hampshire
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Let me know if you have any additional tricks. Safe travels!

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up and away

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C’est Halloween (tomorrow)! This makes me relieved for three reasons:

  • The mini chocolate bars, that I’ve done a terrible job at not eating this week, will exit the house
  • The pumpkin flavoured/scented everything will hopefully be done! (marketing overkill much?)
  • I can compost the dead potted mums and the rotten pumpkins sitting on my porch

I am happy to report I have made it though another year without a Superhero costume. Nothing against all of the Superhero kids… I just like making stuff and my skills do not include sewing. To avoid this, I spent a bit of time on Pinterest looking for ideas which I then I shared with David. To my surprise, he picked his favourite and committed. Phew. Unlike last year, this costume is rather simple. We started with a sketch:

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As you can clearly see, he is a HOT AIR BALLOON PILOT.

I bought a basket (50% off sale at Michaels) and cut out the bottom.* DSC_0540

I hung flour-filled balloons off the sides (aka propane tanks). DSC_0537

and made carrying suspenders out of braided twine I recycled from last year’s pirate ship.

The helium balloon was tied on with baker’s twine and ribbon. DSC_0542

David already owned the jean jacket and scarf but the aviator goggles and cap came from a party supply store. DSC_0534 DAVID

I actually got two helium balloons. My original plan was to use the little balloon for school and the big one for trick-or-treating but I am nervous the costume may be too awkward for the school hallway. Sadly, he may go to school dressed as a pilot. Dammit Janet! 

RHPS forever. Happy halloween y’all!

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See David’s past costumes here.

psst. If you like what you’re reading, please subscribe and share. xomeg

* When Halloween is over, I am just going to put extra throws in it… as a stationary blanket holder, you don’t really need a bottom.