Getting Road-Trip-Ready

We're planning a road trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa (as well as a quick two-day stop in Santa Barbara, where Mitch & I met, used to live and got married!), so I decided it was time to get to work on a few projects to keep the kids occupied on the looooong drive.

First, I made these coloring wallets for the boys. I've seen several versions of this with free tutorials online, but I really liked the setup of this one with the extra pocket for finished drawings, so I purchased the pattern from Jennifer Casa and got to work - it was SO easy! (Sorry about the poor quality photos today - I didn't have time to edit them!)



We didn't have any 3x5 notebooks handy, and I didn't want to have to buy anything new (everything used to make these I already had on-hand), so I gathered up a bunch of index cards, a tube of silicone sealant and some binder clips to hold them together while they dried - and we made our own notebooks - easy peasy (and free!)! Plus, I love that the index card notepad actually creates a harder drawing surface for the boys since they'll be using them in the car.



Look at how nicely they fold up, ready for travel!



Second, I won this AWESOME giveaway from Frugal Family Fun Blog!!! I was so inspired by Valerie's Roadside Scavenger Hunt travel game that I almost attempted to make one myself...but I got incredibly lucky and won the ultra cool one that she created instead! It's inspired by the same design as the coloring wallets...



...but inside it has four laminated bingo-type cards and two dry erase markers to play a fun game of I-Spy on our trip - YAY!

The boys are already having a ton of fun with this (Sutton took it with us on our drive to school yesterday!). I can't wait to play it on a longer drive! Look at how cute her illustrations are! Thank you SO much, Valerie! :)

I decided that some kid-sized travel neck pillows were also in store since I don't want to see slumping sleepy heads in their carseats (their new booster seats just don't have nearly the head support as their old carseats - boo!). Sawyer picked out some monster truck fabric, naturally.

Sutton wanted to model his for you :)

I'm still hoping to make some seat back organizers and two of THESE really cool car trash bags (with boning to keep it propped open...hopefully insuring that the trash actually makes it inside the bag this time!), but we'll see how much time I get before we leave. Mitch & I are excited to hit the beach on Monday and show these little guys some of our favorite places around our old stomping ground, but the boys are most excited about visiting Grandma and Grandpa and going fruit and veggie picking at the farm! :)