Day 3: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Four states in one day today! Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. We got off to a rough start as the fire wouldn’t get going. It had rained so the wood we found was too wet and would smoke instead of igniting. We found a cute cafe and had a breakfast that filled our hungry tummies and helped us be patient. The first leg of our trip went really well - the girls slept for about an hour and then were easily entertained with the toys I packed for them.

We stopped in a Panera near(ish) Chicago for lunch.

The next leg of the trip was the longest yet - over four hours! It went surprisingly well, again the girls were entertained and then slept, I also have a plentiful stash of snacks to keep them going. We stopped in a (creepy horror-movie-style) small town to get gas and let the girls and the dog play at the park for a bit.

The last two-hour leg of the trip was the hardest. They were both hungry and the toddler (Miss Z) threw her toys a few times. Finally we made it to Minneapolis and had dinner and we are ready for bed in a hotel tonight. We are super excited to discover the Mall of America tomorrow!

Oh also, the hubby and I started looking for different license plates and we found 32 today (plus 3 Canadian ones)!

via Tumblr http://ift.tt/1WBlbpM

Our cabin, 8-mile in Detroit, crossing the bridge into the USA...

Our cabin, 8-mile in Detroit, crossing the bridge into the USA and our cold picnic

via Tumblr http://ift.tt/1SFv6WA

Day 2 South Haven, Michigan

Today was a looong car day! We’ve driven over 1200km since we started. We try to break up the drive in 3 hour chunks, which usually coincides with when the girls get antsy. We left our friends in Belleville this morning (funny how distance and time are related, it already seems like so long ago!) Our first stop was in Ancaster, Ontario for lunch. Despite the cold, we had a little picnic.

I was apprehensive about the border crossing into the USA, but it went really smoothly. The agent asked Z if we were her parents and she just stared… Thankfully the agent didn’t seem too bothered by her lack of words!

Next stop was in Detroit, Michigan, to buy some dinner. We went to a Whole Foods there and I had a very odd conversation with a woman in the bathroom after having changed diapers. It went something like this:

Woman: “oh you’ll know this - when is summer in Paris?”
Me: “summer in Paris? Um um… April?…”
Woman: “right… April till…?”
Me: “September?”
Woman: “April till September, see I knew you’d know this.”

I feel bad that summer in Paris definitely does not start in April, but hey, it was a very odd encounter. It was our first time in Detroit and from the looks of it, it is very bleak. Not the nicest city.

We continued on and our plan was to camp tonight but it was (is) raining! So we rented a cabin instead and it is just wonderful. Exactly what we needed. We had a great dinner using our new camp stove Biolite. Hopefully the girls sleep well!

via Tumblr http://ift.tt/1NKxjTO

Day 1: Belleville, ontario

First day went very smoothly, although the girls didn’t sleep much in the car. We stopped at a McDonald’s drive through (no shame) about 15 minutes after they’d fallen asleep and they woke up and didn’t fall asleep after that. We made good time and enjoyed playing in the yard with our friends. They made us a wonderful dinner and it was great to catch up! Z made a friend and LJ is camping downstairs with us tonight in her sleeping bag - so cute! Ready for more adventures tomorrow!

via Tumblr http://ift.tt/1YWLfuj

And we’re off! C'est un départ!

And we’re off! C'est un départ!

via Tumblr http://ift.tt/1rnHCDe

Photo

via Tumblr http://ift.tt/1QnnQw9

Road trip toy organization

Traveling with an 8 month old and a two and a half year old means we have to ensure they are well entertained in the car. In order to do this, I found a box to fit between their car seats and filled it with toys. When choosing the toys, I kept two things in mind: 1 - I don’t want noisemakers, in case one of the kids is asleep while the other is not and 2 - I don’t want anything the 8 month old could choke on.

Here is a picture of the box:

urg! Never mind, I just found out I can’t add pictures to a text on tumblr. This will have to be two separate posts. See next post for pictures. Inside the box are the “regular” items: a doll wrapped in her blanket (if you look closely you can see her head was coloured on with pen during a previous road trip), a metal lunch box containing plastic animal figurines and a notepad, a metal box containing letter magnets, a colouring book and pencil crayons (regular crayons melt in the heat- I learned this the hard way), a Melissa and Doug paint with water book, 5 board books the baby can’t destroy, three soft balls, animals that can be laced, a Crayola finger painting travel toy. Next, I made 7 ziplock bags with novelty items so that both kids get a new toy every day. My plan is to rotate the items that are already in the box to have enough room for everything. In the bags I placed: various teething toys for the baby, books, sticker books and paint with water books. Hopefully this keeps them entertained and stays more or less organized!

via Tumblr http://ift.tt/1QnnK7A