Starting to get nervous

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I said "yes" to this but we're leaving for vacation on Saturday which involves a 16+ hour car drive from Ottawa, Canada to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. My family has been going since I was a baby and my Dad has been going since he was very young as well so it's a big family tradition to vacation there. The last time we went was when Dannik was almost one and I am now remembering the drive with one baby and am not quite sure why I thought it would be OK this time! Add all this to the fact that the girls have just started to throw those wonderful toddler tantrums (which I had somehow convinced myself we were going to avoid since they hadn't started yet at 18 months) and have both started a cold and I'm wondering if it's too late to stay home, lol!

We're planning on doing the drive through the night and are praying the kids sleep for a good portion of it. My (pregnant) sister and her husband are coming with us to share the driving. Once we get there we'll have lots of help as we're meeting my parents, my FIL, my grandfather, my sisters IL's and others so it should be a nice week.

Anyway...any positive travel thoughts would be appreciated . Being stuck in the car with an almost 4 year old, two 19 month olds and my pregnant sister is going to be interesting. We all have a bet going to see who gets crabbiest...the 4 year old, the babies or my sister, lol.

I hope we make it there and back in one piece and are able to enjoy our time there in between!

 

Not sure how I managed this but posted in the wrong forum...this should be in Second Year. Not sure if someone can move it but if you can, thanks!

 

Wow, 16 hours that's quite a hike! I'm glad that you have 2 other adults to help; I think it would be rather daunting alone. :shok: We've never traveled that far, but we did have to go to a funeral that was about 5 hours away when the boys were about 19 months old. On a whim I bought a dual-DVD system and it was the best $ I've ever spent! They were quiet and happy for most of the trip, and we've used the DVD player on every trip since. :good:

So if you don't already have something like this, then I highly recommend it!

In any case, I'm sending you good travel vibes, and hope you have a wonderful time on your trip!

 

We just did a 9 hour drive with my two, granted they are a lot older, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well they behaved! One of our friends that drove out had to drive about 20 hours with her 18 month old son and she said the same thing, she was surprised at how well he did.

I was definitely the crabbiest one in the car for our trip. Good luck! And hopefully Hurricane Irene will steer clear!

 

DVD Player is a must!!!!!!!!!!

It is the only thing that has made our car trips tolerable. We also stop and buy them magazines to read..anything with lots of colorful pictures, like fashion magazines, cooking magazines.

Good luck!

 

Ditto the DVD player if you haven't invested in one already! We make a 2000 mile trip, it's 32 hrs driving time but we do it in 4 days, every summer. The only time we've missed is when i was very pregnant with my second child (due in sept), and the summer after I had the twins, who were 5-6 months old. Otherwise it's been a yearly thing since my oldest was born, and he's 9 this year. You'll be surprised how well kids do in the car. Since you're going overnight you won't have to stop as much, but when they are awake, stopping every 1.5-2 hrs to get out and stretch helps, as well as packing stuff like bubbles, frisbee's, soccer balls or beach balls to play with when you stop, really helps them run their energy out
Good luck!

 

Thanks! We made it down in one piece. The overnight drive took some time off for sure as we got here in just over 15 hours. The adults didn't sleep much but 2 out of 3 of the kids slept most of the way.

Since we've been here though the girls have been a mess so our "vacation" has been a little rough but I guess that's to be expected . Amelie is having her first nap right now since we've been here so I'm hoping this puts an end to the 4 days of crying we've experienced so far. The good thing is that since they've been so exhausted and miserable they've been going to bed at 6pm which makes for a little more adult time in the evenings .

Hopefully Irene doesn't mess up our plans too much but as of right now it's supposed to hit the Outer Banks on Saturday .

We have DVD players (one for Dannik and a dual screen one for Amelie and Audree) so I'm hoping the drive home is uneventful as well!

 

Oh no, do you guys have to now evacuate after driving all that way??? Hope you guys are doing ok, stay safe!

 

Stay safe! The weather in that area looks scary.

 

Yup...we left Thursday afternoon . We did the drive home in 2 days and it went pretty well. Thursday we did 7.5 hours and Friday 10 hours and the kids did awesome both days!!! The rest of my family left Friday morning and made it home safe and sound as well.

I hope everyone else on the East coast and their families are safe as well.