Because half the fun is getting there

At least for us. We love to travel as a family. Road trips are a common part of life, and we try to stop and make them as much fun as possible. There's always places to go and things to do, and normally if you look just a little bit there's other things to see in between. Example: last summer I took all 4 of my kids to KS by myself (while pregnant with the 5th). Between here and our first stop in TN I found a state park that was a Revolutionary War site. I got the kids out of the car and made them hike around to wear them out, with an added bonus of learning a few things. Turned an 8 hour drive into a 10 hour journey, but, I think it was a benefit both to them and my sanity.

Since this will be a long trip with hopefully many stops, I made these for the kids:

Travel Journals

Got the idea from the dear friend of mine who is about to have as many kids as I do and is also a miltary spouse about to transfer. I wish I was craftier and could cut straight, but they get the job done and the kids are very excited about them. On the right is a small actual journal part where they can write stories of their adventures, on the left is a small sketchpad of sorts where they can draw pictures of what they see. There is a fold out map for them to mark off our stops on the way with stickers, and on the back is an oversized envelope for them to collect things like postcards. Those passport wallet looking things are stickers I found in the scrapbook section at Michaels (I probably got a bit too excited about them when I found them! :)!) I can't wait to see what they choose to collect, read, and write about.

We won't be travelling by canoe, steamtrain, or steamship (I don't think), but I think that the idea of the journal harkens back to exploration days. My kids will be the modern day Phileas Fogg's (Around the World in 80 days, Jules Verne) or Ned's (The Lost World, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). Ok, maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but I hope it inspires them to enjoy both the destination and the journey.