When we planned our Florida trip it was somewhat last minute and very dependent on the kids being healthy for a change, which seemed like a big if. We pulled it off though, and here’s how!
As much as possible, we planned our stops at schools/college campuses/state parks because those typically have large green spaces for the kids to get out and run. We enjoyed a much-needed stop at a Georgia high school to sprint around the lawn next to the parking lot, and on the way home a North Carolina college served well for a “let’s see who can beat dad to the soccer goal” challenge. Maudslay state park right off Rt 95 in MA is a great pit stop area with tons of (beautiful!) green space and bathrooms in the parking lot.
A tip someone gave me was to buy/find and wrap little gifts for bribes along the way. We try to limit bribing our children to moments of desperation, and when you’ve been driving for 10 hours and have 3 to go and it’s dark and you’re hungry, that’s a moment of desperation. I had a little cloth bag with me in the front seat with “treasures” wrapped for each kid to whip out when some motivation to cooperate was needed. Some were things I found around the house - little toys they’d forgotten about, stickers, etc., and some were things I bought in Disney World for the drive home. Keychains, magnet sets, and a little Encanto character set were all great little “treasures” I could open up and wrap individually.
I bought the large size toilet seat covers that not only cover the toilet seat but drape over the front and sides, because it’s impossible for little kids to sit on a public toilet without rubbing their clothing and legs against the front of it. Which is Gross with a capital G.
We keep a stroller organizer on the back of the driver/passenger seats to give extra storage for the kids’ water, snacks, etc.
Our kids have Tonie boxes and love them. They’re so easy for the kids to control on their own, and they provided hours of entertainment.
We have a car outlet that plugs into the cigarette lighter - key for charging a dead Tonie box while driving!
We made sure wipes and a hand sanitizer pump was stashed in every door pocket for easy access getting back into the car after stops.
Another great tip was to bring those Water Wow books for the kids but with wet wipes instead of those water pens that come with it (and inevitably are unscrewed, pouring water all over the kid’s lap and leaving them with no way to color the pages).
Scoping out the clean(er) visitors centers with grassy areas for the kids to run (that weren’t right along the highway) was helpful. The first visitor center in GA after you leave FLA and the first visitor center in VA were both hits!
