It's finally summer. Time to start making lasting summer memories! As a kid I would always look forward to summer trips, we camped out a lot.
The highlight of the day when you were camping was walking to the country store and picking up an ice cold coke in a bottle and finding some kind of junk food you had never tried before and making sure you picked up the makings for s'mores for-later that night by the fire!
Driving on the summer trips were always fun. My dad would always stop by the same places while enroute to the camp grounds, so we learned quickly which stores had the best junk food and we would always beg to stop there!
Sometimes during the road trip, it never failed someone would always ask, "Are we there yet? Or state, "I am bored!" My Dad would just shake his head and try to come up with things we could do while traveling in the car so we wouldn't ask this timely question!!
Today I have instilled some of these same games in my daughter's life (by the way thanks Dad).
Here are some boredom buster tips you may like to try to keep that dreaded question from being asked!!
My daughter always loved her goody traveling bags. It would contain books, drawing paper with washable markers, handheld games and a notebook so she could write about her summer trip!
She loved it when I would include her favorite snacks. These bags could last a few hours, which kept parents sane!
We would also play car tags, where you would see
if you could spot a car tag on the road from a faraway state, like Alaska or something up north. This game could last awhile depending on the child, plus it was a good way to learn about other states, but I learned early on card games could also entertain kids for a little while, like old maid or go fish!
Hopefully by this time kids are starting to get sleepy and this was always a good time for parents to have some quite time, so make sure you have packed their favorite pillow and blankie!
Don't forget it's always a good idea to also take some healthy junk food with you. I was always amazed how much one kid could eat on a road trip! I would try to take dry cereals, chips, fruit and water or juice. This at least kept you on the road longer so Dad could make it to the campground by night fall and gave the parents something good to snack on, besides sugary junk!
Taking a picnic was always fun. This gave everyone time to stretch your legs and shake out some of that excess energy out of the kids!! Plus they would always find some treasured rock or flower you just had to take with for a souvenir of your picnic trip.
Summer memories are cool. They make you feel all warm and cozy inside, plus they keep you smiling and laughing about the fun times way into winter when the kids again start the I am bored talk, maybe then we should think about a winter road trip!
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