Planning a road trip

I haven't been able to spend a holiday with my family since 2000. Now that I have a 4 year old daughter and 1 year old son, I want to share my families holiday traditions with them. My hubby started a new job a few months back and his time off hasn't accumulated much. That means the kids and I will be traveling on our own and he will fly out to meet us. Our trip will start in the Midwest and end in Southern California.

Something you should know about me, I'm a huge planner and I love to organize. I'm starting to plan for our trip even though we don't leave for three weeks. Our route is going to depend on the weather. Snow means we'll take the southern route through New Mexico and Arizona. If the weather looks clear, we'll take the beautiful Colorado and Utah route!

The first thing I do is plot out the two different drives. I make plans for a two day trip as well as a three day trip (safety first) and plot potential overnight locations. I also do some research to find some fun activities to do along the way so that when the kids (ME) get antsy, we have some potential fun things to do.

I plan to stock the van to the max! The key will be to make everything accessible to me as well as my eldest so that I don't get distracted while driving. I plan to put a cooler in between the two front seats filled with milk in sippy cups, drinks and protein rich snacks. (I'm thinking some energy drinks might make their way in there).

In between the kids, I'm going to pack a tote full of toys, games, and activities for the kids that are at their arms reach. I'll have a few "new" toys (previously loved toys that no longer make it out of the bottom of the toy box) and keep them as little surprises. I'm lucky to have a DVD player in the van. (That will keep my daughter entertained for hours). Some other important mentionables are a trashcan (pinterest style), pillows, blankets, road emergency kit, and of course...lovies.

I'll let you know how our trip goes and what I think I could've done to make it smoother. If you have had some road trippin' experience, please share your pointers below!