Road Trip Recreation

  Since I spent 40 plus hours in the vehicle this past week, I feel like I've become an expert on how to pass the time on road trips. Because you have to have something to do with yourself for eight hours at a time besides just mindlessly staring out at the passing road signs.

So, today I thought I would share with you a few tips and tricks for road trips. These are tips for how to, as an adult, pass the time on a road trip. I would give you tips for keeping kids occupied on road trips, but that's near impossible to do. Keeping a kid happy in the car is dependent on the day and their mood. It changes pretty much daily... maybe even hourly.

But that's beside the point. Here we go...

• Reading - I've been told that a car ride is a great place to finish a good book. I get car sick though, so that doesn't really work for me, but I thought I would at least throw that one out there. 

• Audio books or Podcasts - Since I can't read in the car, this is something I like to do on occasion. But only on occasion because the moment put my ear buds in, my kids decided that they need me every two seconds. 

• App Games - I don't play anything that requires money or a lot of time. But there are several mindless games out there like Cityville or Farmville. This keeps my attention, for like, a whole five minutes at a time. It's great. 

• Social Media - Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest... These are all great mind numbing activities. Facebook and Instagram can get old fast because you can only look at the same pictures so many times. Pinterest, however, is something you can get lost in if the kids are asleep in the back. I don't know why, but there's something about all those meals and diy projects that we will never do that keeps us so interested. 

• Sleeping - I sleep a lot in the van. Maybe it has something to do with being 7 months pregnant, I don't know, but I find myself dozing quite a bit. That is until the kids start screaming again. Me falling asleep is like an alarm to them that they need to be awake and loud. 

• Pictures - When the kids are actually happy, and in their own little world, they are actually quite funny. That's when it's fun to sneak some pictures and videos.  

• Netflix - This works about like sleeping and audio books. It has it's short limits, and there's also the issue of having enough data. There is definitely no binge watching. Although, they have this new thing where you can download an episode or movie from Netflix to watch later, but then you have to remember to download the episodes and have the storage space in your device and all that jazz. 

• Hair time - My daughter loves to play with my hair and I love my hair to be played with, so it's a win-win. So, in the van I'll lean my seat back and let her play with my hair. It's a little awkward of a position for me to be sitting, but it's still relaxing. That is, until she decides that she wants to use her toes to play with hair as well. Not only is that disgusting, but it usually hurts. Then hair time ends. 

• Chatting - There's always chatting with your hubby or whoever is in the car with you. In my case, sometimes we chat, but most of the time it ends up being me chatting and hubby half listening.  He is the first to admit that he gets in his zone in the van and that he only half hears me when I talk at times. When we get to that point, I start chipping in for him on his side of the conversation. It goes a little something like this... (Me finishing up a story) ::chirp chirp:: Hubby's not listening. Me (in my best hubby voice): "Wow, Stephanie, that's so interesting. I'm glad you shared that with me".   Usually followed up by a chuckle from him and a "good talk, babe" from me. 

 Well, I'm going to stop there. I know that's only 9 and we're just one short of 10. Try not to let it bother all of you OCD people out there! Maybe, eventually I'll do a "road trip recreations part 2" or maybe I'll just leave it up to you..  What are some other road trip ideas?