Traveling With a Toddler

Sophie enjoying the pool last summer.

We are taking our first family vacation with Sophie at the end of May for my sister Kati's wedding, and I can't wait! We're going to Gulf Shores and staying at a house on the beach. I'm really excited for this trip for a number of reasons: #1 my sister is getting married!, #2 I've never been to Gulf Shores, and #3 I haven't had a real vacation since my Honeymoon 2 1/2 years ago.

However, I'm also very nervous because this will be the longest trip we have ever taken with Sophie. The longest trip we've been on so far was 4 hours and she did pretty good. But that trip was several months ago when she was younger and she slept most of the way.

In preparation for this trip I've done some research on traveling with toddlers and asked some friends about their experiences, and I've gotten some good advice. We have decided it would be best to leave at night that way she'll (hopefully) sleep the whole 9 hours there. So the plan as of right now is to let her fall asleep in her crib, wait about an hour for her to be good and asleep, and then transfer her from her crib to the car while she's still knocked out, and fingers crossed she'll remain asleep until we reach our destination.

But, its the trip home that I'm really worried about. On the last day of the trip we have to check out of the house by noon, which means we have to leave in the middle of the day. So we're going to have to find a way to entertain Sophie the whole way home. I've found some good ideas on Pinterest for things like "busy" bags of toys she can play with to keep her preoccupied, and also advice like have a variety of treats on hand for her to eat. These ideas sound great, and hopefully they'll work. But, have I mentioned yet that Sophie HATES the car. She has hated it ever since she was a newborn. She cries even if we're only in it for 5 minutes. I think it's the fact that she's being restrained and can't get up and move around.

I thought this would be something she would outgrow, but she's 13 months old and she still HATES the car. The wedding is over 4 months away so maybe by then she'll get over her hatred of the car, but I'm doubtful. However, a plus side is my wonderful Mom is riding with us, so she'll be there to help us distract Sophie. And I'm sure I'll be very grateful for the help. We shall see how it goes.

Despite my anxiety over the car situation, I'm really looking forward to the trip. Kati is getting married at sunset on the beach- its going to be beautiful! And we'll get to see Sophie experience the beach for the first time! I'm sure she's going to love it, she loves pools already, as you can see from the photo above. Plus with this awful cold weather we've been having lately I cannot wait to escape to a warm beach and lay under the sun!

Anyone else going anywhere fun this summer? Anyone have any tips for traveling with toddlers, please share!