On the road again...

As we're approaching our summer vacation, memories of our last road trip with the boys are sending shivers down my spine. Really, last year's trip to Sweden wasn't much fun at all, at least until we had finally got there and past the first night. The rest of the holiday was wonderful. But that car trip...

So this year, although we decided to stay within Germany to cut down on driving time, I wanted to be very well prepared for that long ride. Enter Pinterest. I collected gazillions of ideas and tips and resources on how to prepare for road trips with small kids. And here's what I've prepared for tomorrow:

I printed, laminated and cut some really, really cool stuff from Picklebums:

• crazy glasses - I decorated these, but I've got another set that the boys can color later on - I just wanted to laminate these so they'll survive the trip ;-))
• hexi cards - okay, the boys are probably still too young to really play this game, but I guess (or hope) they'll use these for simple color matching
• a set of space characters to play with
• a couple of cute little monsters

Except for the glasses, I made two sets each, and printed different colored "digital paper" to the back before laminating. This way, they'll be able to play together, but it will still be absolutely clear who each set belongs to (as L loves green and E loves blue, there's no argument about that. Most of the time.).

When looking for digital paper, especially some that's free to use, I found a fabulous resource: Mel Stampz, who shares a wealth of papers and overlays on her blog and on flickr. Thanks Mel! I'll certainly be using more of these free designs in the future.

Okay, let's move on. Next, I sewed a tactile memory game. I made one of these as a gift a couple of years ago, and had long planned making one for my boys. I took some pictures while sewing and might do a little tutorial with tips of what items to put inside. Anyone interested?

On top of that, I've packed a whole bag full of fun stuff. Calculators, glow sticks, pipe cleaners, coloring pages, colored pencils, stickers, sticker pads with reusable stickers, and - if all else fails - some DVDs. Hubby decided to buy a DVD system for the car. You see how desperate we are to make the trip enjoyable this time around?

And of course, some snacks. I don't quite remember where I found this idea to string Froot Loops onto a rubber band, but I'm really curious to find out if it'll keep the boys busy for a while. Of course I made sure that the band itself is very unlikely to be eaten ;-) We're also taking pasta for lunch, and wieners (those should keep E busy ;-)). And lots of water. And whatever there's left in the kitchen tomorrow morning, I'd guess.

So off to bed now to catch a tiny bit of sleep before the big day :-) See ya.