How We Travel :: Sunshine Kids Monterey Black Leather Booster

How We Travel :: Sunshine Kids Monterey Black Leather Booster 1We try not to drive more than four hours on any given day. Believe me, that's PLENTY of travel time when you have two small children in the car.

When we arrive at a destination, we like to stay put for 1 and 2 weeks. Of course, there are overnights here and there...but the longer stays are much easier for all of us.

So far, we manage the long hours on the road with snacks, coloring books, alphabet hunts, letter bingo, audio books, and looking out the window.

We don't have a portable DVD player so that option isn't available to us (which I'm both sad and glad about).

The girls have done wonderfully - much better than I would have ever dreamed. They rarely complain and are generally just awesome about the entire adventure. Yesterday, our 4-year-old prayed before lunch and said, "Thank you that we get to be on this trip to help people."

How We Travel :: Sunshine Kids Monterey Black Leather Booster 2Shortly before we embarked, we moved our 4-year-old out of her convertible seat into the Monterey Black Leather Booster ($299.99) by Sunshine Kids. She had been talking about it for quite some time - and she was so excited when it arrived! She had good reason for her excitement too! The high-back booster is pure luxury. It's super comfortable, has two cup holders, and is a piece of cake to clean. It is designed for preschoolers, 30-120 pounds...and also converts to a backless booster.

One thing I particularly like about Sunshine Kids is that many of their car seats are narrower than the norm, which makes them a good choice for small cars. You can even fit 3 car seats across the backseat of some cars.

P.S. Please do check out Sunshine Kids on Twitter and Sunshine Kids on Facebook. That's where you'll find updates about new products, contests, and more.

What snacks do you eat when you travel? What games do you play?

WIN IT! One winner will receive a Sunshine Kids Monterey Black Leather Booster ($299.99)! To enter, leave any topic-related comment on this post prior to Tuesday, March 15th at 11:59 p.m. All generic comments like “Enter me!,” “Love it,” and “Cool stuff!” will be disqualified. Winner must provide a US mailing address.

* Sunshine Kids sent me a sample for review purposes and is also providing 1 seat for the giveaway.

*UPDATE* The winner is #21 Michelle. Congratulations!

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174 comments on “How We Travel :: Sunshine Kids Monterey Black Leather Booster”

  1. This seems like such a wonderful, safe booster seat. I'd love to own one for my 5 year old son.
    When we travel we choose to do light "snacks". We do some dried fruits, granola, cherrios. We normally pull off to a rest area and make sandwiches that we pack in a cooler. As for games we don't really have any as of yet. The kids are young so just trying to keep them occupied with crayons (but not drawing on the seats) is a big thing right now.

  2. For snacks, my girls love preztels. On long trips I also let them have bubble gum once a day. They lI've trying to blow bubbles. They also love cereals as snacks. As for games we take turns telling a silly story. Each person says only a few sentences and then it is the next person's turn. We rarely drive more than 2 hours so we don't have many tricks to share.

  3. This carseat looks super comfy! I would love love love to have one of these for Kyleigh!

  4. We take healthy snacks that won't cause a big mess such as fruit snacks, baby carrots, grapes, apple slices, and granola bars. We don't play too many games because I get pretty car sick and have to just sleep most of the time. I can't imagine traveling in the car for as long as you do!!!

  5. We sing songs such as "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Old McDonald.
    And play games like "I Spy" to help the time that we travel pass quickly.

    jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com

  6. They eat goldfish type crackers and play what color car do you see? This looks wonderful!
    spcale at yahoo dot com

  7. I loved playing "I spy with my little eye" on road trips when I was a kid. This carseat would be a great gift for my sister-in-law.

  8. I recently found ou that the booster in my car is one of the worst for safety ratings. I'd love to win this to replace our unsafe one!

  9. Ooo, what a fancy booster! When we travel, my husband and I love to talk about our future and what it might look like. For snacks we like to eat fruit and nuts and our toddler enjoys fruits and crackers.

  10. I have two daughters that are pregnant right now. They are 6 wks. apart in their due dates. This car seat is just awesome. I would love to win it for sure. The only problem is, which one would I give it to?

  11. This sounds like a super nice seat that would be perfect for going on longer road trips.

    ardy22 at earthlink dot net

  12. Narrow seats are great for airplane rides too!
    We take a cooler if we're going on a longer trip and pack it full of juice, water, fruit, and sandwich items.
    We play I-Spy (an old staple) and cards. The oldest play with their aps on the iTouch sometimes too.

  13. We spend lots of time singing and repeating nursery rhymes. We play games looking for certain colors, letters, and numbers. Sometimes we just enjoy the scenery for a while - although that only lasts for a short span! We don't have a dvd player either, and I 'm not sure I want one. They seem to get quite enough tv at home.

  14. This looks like an amazing safe seat we have to move are oldest Jack to a booster very soon. We always have fruit and raisins and cheerios as snacks. thanks for the chance [email protected]

  15. The best road trip I have even taken was to Monterey, California. Now that we have a little girl our road trips are SO much sweeter. I would LOVE this beautiful booster seat to take our precious Valentina on more road trips with us! Thanks for the chance to win!

  16. My son Casey is ready to go into a booster seat. I love that this is narrow so i can fit three seats. I also love that the black leather will match my car. This also looks like it would wipe clean easily. [email protected]

  17. We like to play I spy on road trips to keep occupied. As far as snacks dry fruit and granola bars are healthy snacks, i like to take on road trips! I love the look of this seat and I imagine it would be really easy to keep clean!

  18. we try to stop as often as possibl to stretch, explore and get our energy out - or drive at night when little ones are sleeping

  19. No games for us yet- lots of snacks- usually gummy fruits, bananas, goldfish crackers. I try to avoid anything that spills or sticks easily.

  20. What a sleek looking booster seat! We always had children's music in the car to sing along with and of course Cheerios!

  21. What a nice booster! My daughter has a booster in her dad's car and loves it. I like the colors on the RadianXTSL®
    car seat, too. Thanks!

  22. We have cheerios, dried fruits, nuts and cheese sticks for snacks when travelling and we play "I SPY" games as well as sing children's songs. Thanks for the chance - the car seat really looks nice!
    mandalarctic at gmail dot com

  23. We only have one booster seat, so we have to constantly move it from one vehicle to another, so this would be great.
    Shaunda.Eppes at gmail dot com

  24. I've never seen a leather booster before! It looks awesome. Yeah, why not match the car interior! Our car interior is black leather, so this booster would be perfect! Even if I don't win it, I may purchase it! Love it!

  25. Trail mix, oranges and chocolate covered raisens! Yum!
    Now we don't really play games but we do look at all the animals.

    Lyndsey.Rullman at hotmail at hotmail dot com

  26. I try to have snacks that cause the least mess as possible. I usually give the kids cheese sticks, goldfish crackers, pretzels, and mixtures of dry cereals.

  27. We have just started looking into a booster and still have a little time left to go for our soon to be 4 year old. He has just hit the 31 lbs mark and I like that this booster is designed for 30 lbs and up. And what is there not to like about how much this looks like a luxury thrown for the King of the Car! The fact that it looks good and since you vouch that it is easy to clean will make my serious list of boosters to look at when the time comes.
    Thanks for the review.

  28. For snacks I like different nuts (my new favorites are the chocolate flavored almonds), my husband usually wants potato chips and our daughter eats raisins-cranberries-Gold Fish.

  29. I bet you get this a lot, but your blog banner picture makes you look like Pam from The Office. Anywho, thats a pretty luxe booster seat, my son doesn't need one quite yet, but in a month or two he'll cross over from car seat into booster seat and it'd be nice to have one ready to go by then. I guess I could buy one... but if I'm going to do that, it wouldn't be nearly as nice as the Sunshine Kids one unfortunately. :)

  30. The black design makes it look really sleek but overall I like that it's built with safety in mind.

    mckelly74(at)gmail(dot)com

  31. I have a 5 1/2 & 3 yr old. Every summer we travel 6 hours to the outer banks. I make sure to bring a lot of snacks & drinks. A bag of matchbox cars, books, kids sing along CDs, & coloring stuff. We also like to play games like count how many red cars you see, ispy, & singing (old McDonald)

  32. We like to travel at nap time, but when the nap is over, we like to sing songs and do rhymes. Our portable DVD player is a hit, too. Snacks are a must!
    What an awesome booster seat, I've never heard of that company, and it's hard to believe that soon we'll be moving on up to a booster!

  33. I just read about this booster -- I'm surprised at how lightweight it is (15.7 lbs) and how much protection that it has! Seems very much like a seat I can trust. Thanks for the chance!

  34. I really like the look of the RadianXTSL® in Flora.
    My baby is only 12 weeks old, so I am happy when we are in the car & he isnt crying. The other day, the only thing that would soothe him was if I was making a loud annoying siren sound, thankfully we were alone in the car.

  35. We make trail mix before we go, also pack dried fruits, etc.

    We don't really play any games, but we do sing songs and such. :)

    THANKS.

  36. We take Thin Wheats or other baked goodies with us. We play 'guess the song and artist' from the radio. The kids watch DVDs.

  37. We usually bring along cheese crackers, mini sandwiches, fruit drinks and soda. We play license plate bingo or name the state plate.

  38. Our lease was up and I had to return our VERY dirty minivan (it was so dirty that my 7 year old told me we can eat a weeks worth of meals off the floor- yuck!) I spent over 2 hours cleaning out my 4 carseats and have now vowed to eat only CLEAN foods in the car and buy only leather carseats. Granted cutting up veggies before going out takes time but it really keeps the car cleaner and my kids healthier. We have a case of mini water bottles in the trunk and a stash of freeze dried apples and pears. My new car is 3 weeks old and I'm really happy to say is still looking clean. (Which is also a pleasure with passover coming). On the other note, my baby is going to need a toddler ca seat soon so one of his twin siblings will have to give up theirs and transistion into a booster. So, keeping on my vow I need a leather one, and one that can fit with all my carseats in my car would be a pleasure. BTW I have a question for you. Is cleaning a motor home harder or easier than a house?

    1. oh and as far as games? Luckily, with 4 kids in the car I don't usually have to entertain them (which I find very dangerous while driving) but we do have a stash of mini magna doodles, etch a sketches, markers , coloring books and stickers in the back and my 7 year old likes his walkman and stash of story tapes for road trips

  39. My son turns 4 in a couple of months, and we're looking forward to moving him into a booster seat.

    That said, we use the portable DVD player as a last resort as we try to keep him engaged in other things first. If all else fails, we default to a movie. The iPhone has also become an invaluable travel tool for us when it comes to keeping him entertained!

    ashaldridge (at) gmail (dot) com

  40. Fun keeping up with your travels on twitter! Ava uses the britax booster, but it is a few years old... Thought I would enter a comment!

  41. I've been very interested in one of those car seats. Does the leather get too hot? We haven't traveled as much (more than 3 hours) not that our DD is 8 months, but I would imagine that I would have to spend a lot of time playing with her in the back seat!

  42. As you know I have a small VW Jetta................currently we have two car seats in the back. It's quite the squeeze! Our car is old, but in great shape....so no plans to buy a new car anytime soon. Yet I would love to make my Jetta (her name is Jetty Marie Bishop) comfy for the boys! A booster seat this size would be perfect. Especially since we often travel from California...to Arizona...then back to California...then back to Arizona. We are even planning a trip out there this May for the Baca girls birthday! : )
    Maxwell does wonderful on road trips...even better than me!
    The main reason I would like to get this seat for Maxwell is that he would be thrilled to know that he and Kayla are sporting the same awesome booster seat!
    Thanks for the chance to win.
    -Allison

  43. Usual snacks are sandwiches, and chips. Now that the granddaughter is older we seldom play games but have great conversations.

  44. Being a grandmother of 6 I often have my grandchildren for outings that require car rides. When my first grandson was born I purchased a used car seat so that I could avoid the "switch out" everytime I had him. It has seen it's days and this would be a perfect seat for me to use for each one of my grandbabies! The leather is a great cleanable plus!!

  45. we dont usaully play games on travel. i have kids that sleep the whole time LOL.
    but when they wake up cranky they want snacks and they get animal crackers.

  46. I know what you mean about being both sad and glad that you don't have a DVD player for road trips. Sometimes they seem like a great idea, but then I think about how much I used to just love looking out the windows and watching the fields or mountains go by, back when I was a kid...

  47. When do you switch to a booster? Our 2 year old is still rear facing in her Britax-- which should see her up to 70 pounds forward facing, so they say.
    As for roadtrips, last year we traveled to visit family, which included several days of 4+ hours in the car, unavoidable unfortunately. One of always sat in the back withour daughter. We used everything in our toolbox, songs, books, toys, snacks, but there comes a point when it's just too much for the little ones :) Sometimes the best solution is to stop at a rest stop and get out for a while.

  48. My son HATES to travel. So we make full use of snacks and the portable dvd. We end up making the 5 hour drive to see family quite often. This seat looks amazing!!!

  49. We like to bring water and crackers, usually cheez-its. We play the alphabet game and license plate game. Although I have to admit that I broke down and bought the dvd player. When we make the long 9 and half hour drives, it makes it alot easier.

  50. Your girl looks so grown up in that picture! We have yet to make the switch to a booster, but will need to soon. We try not to eat much in the car, but if we are on a trip, we bring raisins, O's, carrots, gummy bears for a treat. I want to go on a road trip now...

    1. When we lived in Tucson, I would often stop at Sunflower Farmers Market to buy a small bag of gummy bears. They had quite a few different flavors and they were much better than the typical grocery store variety.

  51. We play slug bug but changed it to "beep beep red car"; and we try to go through our names or the ABC's on road signs; we sing ALOT; listen to books on tape. We eat fruit leathers, cups of nuts, cheese sticks, apples (my kids LOVE having a whole apple :)) and usually I'll bring some sparkling mineral water from TJ's for upset tummies (not sticky).

  52. So far, we haven't had any games yet (our little guy is 21 months), but snacks , definitely!!! We carry pretzel goldfish, apples, bananas, dry cereal. I also usually use road trips as an excuse to indulge in the super bad foods at gas stations that I never buy at other times, like chips and candy bars.

  53. I'm so glad you posted about your car seats! I'm a bit of a car seat fanatic and I've been very curious to know what you were having you kids ride during your year of traveling adventure. We have three Sunshine Kids Radians, one for my 6 1/2 year old, one for my 3 year old, and one for my 18 month old. We LOVE them more than any other seat we've ever tried (which have been many). I still am curious to know what your other little girl rides in :)

  54. We make a lot of shorter trips (1-2 hours) a few times a month usually for dr. appts. And occasionally longer ones (8+ hours).

    A few things I've learned about travel with kids is to ALWAYS change things up. If we take the same thing or only 1 object it gets old fast. So I'll often pack a bag full of goodies (coloring books, crayons, games, toys, books, etc) and we'll rotate them every so often to keep interest up.

    For snacks, we often bring dried fruit (such as just tomatoes) or a trail mix of sorts.

  55. Snacks we eat: Gluten free pretzels (Glutino brand) are a big hit, corn puffs from Arrowhead Mills, a few Pure bars, some of the organic fruit leathers from Target, cut up apples and bananas and cold herbal tea sweetened with honey. Games tend to be books read, sometimes a fox (plush toy or Schleigh) dancing to music and discussions on what is going on out the window: right now Mac trucks, farm equipment, and construction vehicles are very big! And anything hauling live animals :)

  56. We love to play games in the car on long road trips. My daughter is amazing with long car rides, she is seven. My son just turned one so he doesn't care for long trips as much!! But my daughter is great at keeping him happy and making him laugh.

  57. We are taking our 6 and 3 year old boys from Dallas to Orlando this summer. I know we will make wonderful memories, but I can't say that I'm looking forward to that long ride all that much.
    Thanks for the giveaway!
    eswright18 at gmail dot com

  58. Games: through the years
    Mom says a word, daughters say a rhyming word/s,
    Mom gives new word, daughters give new rhyming word/s

    Smaller / Larger Example
    Compared to an ant, an elephant is ? Girls answer, "Large"
    Compared to the sky an elephant is ? Girls answer, "Small."

    Tons of books on tape, then CD, then iPod.
    Fun days!!

  59. THIS BOOSTER LOOKS INCREDIBLE AND WE ARE LOOKING FOR A BOOSTER FOR OUR SON!!! YES SADLY HE HAS GROWN SO MUCH AND ITS ABOUT THAT TIME!!!! I WISH THEY WERENT SO EXPENSIVE BECAUSE I WOULD DEFINITELY BUY IT!!! HOPEFULLY I CAN GET LUCKY AND GET MY LITTLE BOY THE TOP OF THE LINE!! DEFINITELY WHAT HE DESERVES!! OH AND WHEN WE ROAD TRIP MY SON LIKES TO GET THE 18-WHEELERS TO HONK!!! :D AND IT IS ADORABLE!!

  60. I give my Ellie girl a travel-sized magnadoodle for car rides. We drive 45 minutes into and out of town each day for work - the magnadoodle keeps her happy and she cracks up every time she erases one of my drawings. Ahhh...my silly girl.

  61. We have two car seat in the back of our car for our youngest grandkids. Our little grandson is ready for a booster seat but I've been nervous about him "graduating" up to one. The Sunshine Kids seat looks exactly like something he would love! I'm over the top impressed!

  62. This seems like a fantastic car seat/booster. I'm not sure about the leather though. We have leather seats in our cars and i know how hot/cold they can be depending on the season. I do think leather is more comfortable though!

  63. We've had the Sunshine Radian for a few years now, and love it! It enables us to fit 3 carseats in the back of our Subaru! (tightly...but they all fit!) We love to read aloud in the car - I remember growing up, my mom got through several great series of books by reading them aloud to us on car trips (Narnia, Lord of the Rings, James Herriot, etc).

  64. We eat the same snacks when we travel as we do at home... although cheese sticks are only for traveling as they are more expensive than cutting your own!
    Raisins and pretzels, apple slices, carrot sticks, crackers, etc.

    I'm just curious though... black leather? Won't that burn a kids' skin in the hot summer months? Doesn't seem like the greatest idea to me.

  65. I like to sing songs with my grandchildren when we travel. I like to take a cooler full of the makings of a meal and stop at a park or rest area so we can get out and stretch our lets. Awesome carseat!
    smchester at gmail dot com

  66. We plan on going to the beach on the weekend on the 4th and we have a 1 yo who will be traveling in a seat for at least 4 hours, I hope it's comfortable
    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

  67. what an exciting once-in-a-lifetime adventure you are taking your children on! I can't even begin to imagine all the memories they'll have! kudos!

  68. We do our best to travel during sleepy times. Other than that, one of us sometimes sits in the back to read stories, sing songs, etc. Our little guy is used to being on the road because of our lengthy commute (40 minutes each way) and he does a pretty good job of entertaining himself.

  69. We snack on frozen grapes, tubes of frozen yogurt, Annie's snack crackers and Happy Baby snacks. The healthier the better as we don't need too much sugar on a road trip with two little ones. That would make for a LONG trip!

    I love this seat. I never knew they made them in leather. What a great idea! I do not like taking carseat covers off to wash so leather would be EASY to clean! Love it!

  70. i like to keep cereal like apple jacks or cheerios and animal crackers handy and our ''game'' is singing

  71. We have the sunshine kids radian xtsl for our almost 5yo & the 'baby' who is now 15 months is in big brothers old britax marathon. This would be perfect to move big boy into & let the little guy have the radian.. Thanks for the introduction. Snacks are of course ESSENTIAL when road tripping. I've enjoyed reading what other families do to keep the littlest ones occupied. One question- I know how hot the West gets... Has the booster been okay-being leather?
    inalak at msn dot com

  72. for snacks on the road we usually go with apples and string cheese.
    love that this car seat is more narrow (we have a corolla, so that would be good for us).

    Is the leather a plus or a minus? I'm curious if it might get too hot in the warmer months...

    1. So far, so good. But I don't think we've been in temperatures above 85 yet. This summer will be the big test. ;)

      The leather is great for when there are messes though. They wipe up quick as a flash.

  73. I absolutely love that this goes up to 120 pounds. This is the first carseat I have ever seen in leather! :)

  74. My son currently has a Sunshine Kids car seat that he loves. He will be going to kindergarten in the fall so we need to upgrade to a booster seat instead of having the 5 point harness.

  75. wow - what a beauty! Just weighed my little boy yesterday and he is 38.9 pounds and his car seat only goes to 40 pounds. Down to the wire, I know but I'm fighting cancer and we have been financially and emotionally devastated the last 7 months. We have a small car so love this seat is narrow as well. Fits a child up to 120 pounds - woo hoo - perfect - last seat we would have to buy
    tvollowitz at aol dot com

  76. What a great looking booster! We are juuuust about ready to put our (very tall) 2.5 year old into a booster, am hoping that it gives a little more wiggle room in the car, and then our 9 month old can have his convertible!

    And my kids havent been in the car for more that 45 minutes at a time, I dread the (planned) summer trip to CA this year because of the drive!

  77. longest road trip thus far has been to Mammoth Mountain... so about 5.5 hours. We don't have a DVD player in the car (just purchased a portable one that we can connect to the headrest). I try to sing and bring snacks... yes snacks are messy but the Sunshine Booster seems to be easy to clean as opposed to the suedelike fabric of current car seat =)

  78. Trail Mix, juice boxes and water are our snacks of choice. We have a DVD player in the car, but surprisingly, it doesn't get used that much. We prefer listening to sing-alongs and trying to identify all the different kinds of trucks we see.... such are the enjoyments of 2 little boys ages 3.5 years and 15 mos.

    That car seat looks like a dream to clean. I'm so embarrassed by the stains on my older son's booster, and it's been so hard to clean anything in the car with the cold winter we had here in the Northeast. Would love to win!

  79. We also don't have a portable DVD player. That's mostly my fault. I think we have more than enough TV time already. My husband does love to make custom CDs for every long road trip. It's right at the top of his list with checking the tire pressure and getting an oil change.

  80. Being a military family, we sometimes get orders to move to a different base which often means moving the entire family (my husband, our 2 children, myself and our 2 dogs) to another state. When we want to visit family, it it a road trip to get there (at least 10 hour drive)! This booster would be wonderful to have for our oldest daughter! It looks both beautiful and super comfy! Thank you for hosting such a great giveaway!

  81. So far the only "game" our son understands is "what does a {insert animal name here} say?" but he'll make animal sounds happily for quite a while. He loves Teddy Grahams in the car or blueberries :)

  82. Wow! What a ride she has. Leather? Love it!

    We've never used a DVD player in the car either and honestly my kids don't really seem to miss it. They are both excellent car riders and love books and just looking out the window. I did bring a DVD player with me last year when I flew with both kids to Florida all by myself. I was a little nervous about flying solo with a 3yo and a baby so I figured the more help the better. My 3yo did watch some Donald Duck cartoons for a little while but we ended up sitting by some other young kids and he seemed more interested in chatting it up with them.

    As for snacks? They are banned in our car. But I know I'm totally not the norm when it comes to this. It just doesn't work and the mess kind of stresses me out. I hate sticky or goopy seat belts. I also have this fear that one of my kids is going to choke while I'm driving and I won't be able to pull over fast enough to help them. Irrational? Probably. But the kids don't seem miss snacks in the car so so far it's what works for us.

  83. We do have a portable DVD player and it has saved the day for us. Before we received it as a Christmas present we did not go to Kansas very often to visit my family because of the long car drive (13 hours). Once we received the DVD player it has made long car trips much more enjoyable to us - I really don't know what we would do without it.

    The funny thing is that even for a short 45 minute trip to Crested Butte I pack a toy bag, crayons, coloring books and plenty of snacks. If the kids are happy then the parents are happy and EVERYTHING goes much smoother!

  84. What a luxurious looking car seat! I love how it goes up to 130 pounds - it seems like most car seat stop around 50 pounds and then you have to buy a new seat altogether.

  85. That is one amazing looking booster seat! We're almost out of the boosters. My 8 year old has to use one in my car but not my husband's and we just took the back off my 6 year old's. I would have loved a narrower seat over the last 6 years- fitting 3 in the back of my car for playdates and drop offs is very squishy! We do a lot of snacking in the car which I have to say drives me nuts because my back seat is always covered in crumbs. Favorite snacks are TJs cheese sticks, TJs kettle corn, peanuts and granola bars. Sometimes, like yesterday, homemade muffins but I just saw the crumbs in the back and they're going to be nixed! It's a 30 minute drive to and from school so we spend a lot of time in the car. We only use DVDs for longer trips. Right now my girls are into writing in their journals, playing hangman or listening to music. But next month it'll probably change!

  86. If it's a long trip, I always like to make "Egg McMommy's (Like Egg McMuffins only made by ME!). If it's short, maybe some mixed nuts, or an apple. So far, we don't really play any games in thecar since the baby is too little but when I was younger we loved to play License Plate or I Spy or the ABC game. :)
    This car seat booster looks AMAZING! :)

  87. Have you tried the Archer Farms Organic Fruit Bars at Target? They're my son's (2 years old) current favorite.

  88. We usually take along apple slices, fruit gummies, baggies of cereal. We try to stay away from anything with chocolate, or crackers because of all the crumbs! My kids like travel bingo to keep them busy.

  89. Our daughter has been well above her height range, and we've struggled to find car seats that fit her comfortably and safely. This seems like a great option for her, especially with the broad weight range and the fact that it is meant for preschoolers. Thank you for this giveaway and also alerting us to the company!

  90. We love fresh fruit (when we can get them while traveling) and lots of crackers and of course tons of water to keep us all hydrated. For games we enjoy I spy and lots of singing too.

  91. My poor daughter has been using the same filthy seat that was handed down from cousin to cousin, she sure could use a nice comfy booster.

  92. Oops- I didn't follow direction very well. Snacks: granola bars, crackers, and apples slices lately. Games: big girl loves her doodle sketch, little one has a button loaded radio toy. We talk and sing a lot and for long trips- yes we have a DVD player :) It is a mixed bag.

  93. We play the license plate game and watch movies. We try to stick to non-messy snackks such as granola bars.

  94. When traveling far we usually pack cereal in snack bags and the kids snack on them. Sometimes we take apples with us and bananas but we always take fruit drinks with us, We have been known to stop in the stores and get snacks there but we don't like to do that but sometimes they eat a lot or we forget to pack the good stuff..lol..We play games like who spots the (any color) car first gets to be the next one to be the leader of the game. Sometimes we tell stories that we make up and see who has the best story. Sometimes the kids take their nintendo ds with them and play in silence if mommy has a headache..lol..

  95. That carseat looks absolutely fantastic, and this may be the hour of the night that I'm reading this at, but I laughed out loud at this post. I was looking at the features and thought, "Sweet, I would want to ride in that!" then I saw the weight range and thought, "Huh, I almost could!" 120 pounds? I would've been sitting in a booster until, well, I had my first child. :)

  96. I would love this for my granddaughter. We usually have fruit snacks, Lunchables, water or juice packs. My daughter is older now so she plays with her PSP.

  97. That does look super comfortable. So many of the boosters aren't conducive to napping... this one looks great for those extra long drives where a nap is so needed!

  98. wow! this black leather booster seat looks awesome. Praying for u guys and knowing that you are learning so much. Love you!

  99. Oh, I am going to take a picture of this super fun "car" game that we played as a kid that you & your 4 year old {Pinky ;)} could play together. We did a lot of summer road trips as kids with my parents, as they would minister at various churches, often spending anywhere from 6-10 hours in the car on any given day. This fun game incorporates what you see around you as you drive into a game. We often played kids against parents. It is so old and falling apart now but there MUST be something like it out there. But I just HAVE to take a pic and send to you...I KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE IT! I am seriously THAT confident!

    and this.....

    “Thank you that we get to be on this trip to help people.”

    ....wow! It gave my heart a HUGE squeeze!

  100. We're planning a long road trip this summer, so I need to start coming up with more ideas to stay busy on the road. Usually, we love playing I Spy, reading to each other, or playing Pictionary on an Etch-a-Sketch.

    Snack-wise, we always take along cut up fruit and veggies, cereal to eat dry, and a "junky" snack for everyone, Doritos for hubby and I and goldfish for the little one.

  101. My daughter just turned two...I assume a booster seat would be appropriate for her and besides, a leather booster seat? This is the first time I am seeing such.

    1. Most booster seats are rated for either 30 pounds+ or 40 pounds+. Our 4-year-old is just barely 31 pounds now so I assume your daughter still has a ways to go before she'll be ready to move out of her 5-point harness.

  102. My girls entertain themselves by singing along to the music on regular trips around town, but when we are going to be on the road for an extended trip (i.e. to the beach or some other 3+ hour destination) I usually install our portable dvd player for at least part of the trip.

    It is great to know that these seats are narrower, but I'll have to look and see if they have any less expensive models (maybe not leather if that makes it cheaper) in order to purchase 3 of them at once. I wonder if even though 3 "fit" across the back of a vehicle, would the children be able to buckle in between with seats so close together?? That has been part of my hesitation with moving Maggie, Kate, and Sarah into booster seats... for now they can buckle themselves into their 5 point harnesses and I've properly installed the seats themselves, oh, and they can't unbuckle themselves from the seats so that is nice too.

    It really is time for me to be researching this... thanks for the heads up!

  103. I love Sunshine Kids for their smaller seats! When we travel we love to bring Annie's Cheddar Bunnies, raisins, and peanuts. Oh and lots of water! Things that both the adults and kids can eat! ;)

  104. Snacks seem to be the best way to travel with our 22 month old. We start out with books & toys but they get thrown to the floorboard pretty fast!

  105. We make lots of trips to Phoenix and feel the same way about a dvd player. We would love to have one, but we sort of like not having one too. We are planning on buying 3 sunshine car seats when we get our son home. They are the only one's I've found that we should be able to fit 3 across the back of my car.

    Thanks for mentioning their facebook and twitter pages.

  106. I was just price comparing booster seats for my four year old last week. But I didn't consider anything made of leather. :) That is one fancy car seat!

  107. we installed our baby carseat last week!! I know that the newborns don't stay in those baby car seats very long - so we are already scoping out sales on the larger convertible car seats - this one looks AMAZING. We'd love to win it!

    As for how we travel - as children we would play the license plate games...READ...we would watch lots of movies too (my mom had a little TV w/ VCR in our car growing up - cars didn't come with them like they do now, we would plug ours into the cigarette lighter!) We would do a LOT of singing together too...and lots of books on tape...lots and lots of books on tape!

  108. I've always loved road trips, but it's definitely a lot more work as a mom! For snacks we like to bring water bottles for all, dried fruit, crackers, nuts, granola bars, and cheese sticks. Games include 20 Questions, MadLibs, and others. Sometimes we'll listen to audio books or music, and the kids have portable video games they can play on long trips sometimes, too. :)

  109. I like the looks of this seat! Our 3 year old is ready to get out of her convertible seat - I'll make her wait until she's 4, but have been looking at different options - I love this one!

    Our kids like fish crackers and dried fruit for a snack when we're traveling!

  110. We have a smaller car and would love a more narrow car seat for when we have 3 in the back! What a great product!

  111. I'm trying to think of fun things to do in the car. We recently went on a 2 hour trip and listened to a variety of audiobooks. We loved the Green Eggs and Ham read by Jason Alexander. It is great. For snacks, its all about the animal crackers from Trader Joes. I get a little freaked out about some snacks because of chocking hazards. How do you handle that?

    1. Most of the time I ride in the back with the girls so I don't worry too much about it. At ages 2 and 4, they're both pretty good at chewing most anything now.

  112. Wow! That is a nice seat! I like the fact that it is narrower too. This looks like the perfect seat for long trips! Right now our peanut is too small for this, but I foresee this would be a great seat for trips to see grandparents!

  113. We mainly talk, look at the scenary and listen to music. My kids love Janeen Brady songs! We also play our own version of "eye-spy".

  114. We had magnetic roadside bingo growing up (you got to put down pieces when you saw a cow/tree/car/etc), and tried to make bingo. We sang a lot though...in 4 part harmony even, because we were dorky like that. :)

    Also, am I the only one that finds the 120 lb limit on the booster kind of hilarious? I woulda been a sophomore in college before I weighed that much!

  115. Don't enter this comment please - I live in Australia!
    We play Punch Buggy (volkswagon beetle spotting) without the punching - instead we 'put it in the bank' and the first person to reach 5, gets a prize.
    And then there's Monkey - where each car colour has a different name. Monkey is yellow, wizard is green, pink is hot-hot-hottie, etc...you can make up your own but its fun yelling them out!

    1. I'm she posted this;). We play punch bug too all the time except we call it "herbie" and don't punch either.
      "monkey" sounds like a hoot! Can't wait to play that one.

  116. I had never heard of this brand of car seat before. I am for sure going to be checking into them. My husband & I have just started talking about looking into high back boosters for Jake. He hasn't complained about being in his car seat, but it is never too early to start researching good ones.

    Car snacks can sometimes seem so hard to come up with and still stay healthy. If we are leaving early in the morning I will make mini muffins to bring and put together a mixture of fruit. And then the rest of the trip we like trail mix & a home made party chex mix type snack. Color wonder has been great for the car and we usually bring along some magnetic activity type books.

  117. Great to know that these seats are narrower than most. Soon we'll have two boosters and a toddler seat to contend with.

    My kids love playing with alphabet and number magnets on small cookie sheets when we do road trips. Magna-doodles and Crayola's Color Wonder products have also been successful. Oh, and my nearly-four-year-old loves making jewelry and people to play with out of colorful pipe-cleaners.

  118. We eat nuts and drink water! We also bring some junk-food snacks so it feels more like a holiday than just "sitting in a car" We also sing a lot of songs, do rythmic clapping, and memory games!

  119. That is a really nice looking booster seat. My son has about worn his out and could really use a new one.

  120. when traveling we love to snack on Vic's mix-- popcorn from vic's corn popper that is a mix of caramel, cheese, and white popcorn. Also love beef jerky--come to think of it, that's about the only time we eat it though!

    As far as games go we usually get the kids some workbooks and listen to books on tape.

  121. I tend to stock up on Trader Joe's snacks.....cheddar puffs and veggie sticks are favorites around here! I make sure my kids have plenty of books, their DS/leapster and we have a travel Bear Hunt game that we love!

  122. My 4 year old would love being out of her car seat and into a booster! Especially since I will hopefully be needing to fit 3 seats across in our back......

    For road trips we make sure to have plenty of snacks and toys that are new or only played with in the car. Color Wonder is my favorite thing for car drawing!

  123. The Bell Family is 3 and counting! With 2 children in car seats, travelling in our 2-door Jeep is...intimate! :) The next few months promise a new car since our new addition will now need somewhere to sit. Not to mention this may finally be our year to make our road trip to the Grand Canyon! I'll be checking here for some 'Stop Here!' suggestions. Thank you!

  124. We haven't played any games yet, but I can see a "find the letter/color/shape" game coming very soon.

    As for snacks we eat a lot of graham crackers, string cheese and tortillas.

    That is one super nice booster.

  125. We just upgraded to a 15 passenger van and I am so looking forward to traveling in it. We don't have a DVD player in it, though, which we used sparingly, but loved when we did use it. We enjoy audio books and Adventures in Odyssey CD's. Color Wonder books are great for the little ones - no stray marks on the car.

    We would love this booster! The only problem would be deciding which of the preschoolers would get it :D

    1. Adventures in Odyssey is fantastic, isn't it? Our girls both love to listen in...and they actually retain quite a bit of it. I was quizzing our 4-year-old on Bible stories a few days ago and was surprised how many questions she answered correctly!

  126. Our longest trip so far was about 26 hours, done in two days with our 4 kids aged 4 months to 6 years. With all 4 kids in car seats, we are constantly shifting seats. #3 is about to move to a seat like this but #2 is still in hers so we'll need another. This would be great since we are in the car quite a bit.

    We like to play I spy, or each try to find different color vehicles. Favorite snacks are granola bars and of course, fruit snacks!

  127. We ALWAYS bring Trader Joe's dried mangoes with us... even if it's just a short trip to the store. I won't go anywhere without them. A quick, easy, healthy snack that everyone loves (including myself!!)
    And yes, 4 hours is PLENTY of time in the car. We find that we have to just about double travel time with kids. I admire you guys!!!

    1. Dried mangoes are one of my FAVORITE snacks. But I think I prefer the ones from Costco (they're probably not quite as healthy though). Have you tried them?

  128. When we road trip, it's all about fun playlists and reading. Sometimes, it's even fun to just listen to the road noise and think...

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