(remember me?)

(remember me?) 1I'm a blogger.

But...I'm also an RVer (which means I'm sort of losing track of time as I spend days with my family) (which is kind of nice).

I just realized that today is Wednesday and I accidentally skipped Tuesday Tours last night. Actually, we were at a campground last night without WiFi. The wind was howling and the wind chill was -1 fahrenheit. (As an Arizona girl, I'm SO not used to that).

You can expect to see me around here more often this week. I have a million post ideas and I even have some giveaways planned. Best of all, I actually have a working internet connection here in Canyon Lake, Texas. Ya-hoo.

Just to be perfectly clear, Metropolitan Mama is here to stay. That said, you can also find both Tim & I blogging at Give Every Day.

Two Questions: Did you miss me (I missed you!)? What are your favorite travel games + activities for young children?

Leave a Reply to Blessing Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

37 comments on “(remember me?)”

  1. We sing show tunes at the top of our lungs to make the miles go by quickly. Mulan, Beauty and the Beast--all the Disney musicals work well for my kids. We're even pretty lucky with classics like Oklahoma! and Annie. Safe travels.

    1. It really is beautiful here (we say that about ten times a day). Are either of you Texas natives? I'm curious how you ended up in the New Braunfels area.

  2. I get motion sick unless I'm asleep or looking out the window so we had a rule banning travel games and especially reading in the car.

    Random public announcement: if your kids get carsick, fresh air helps but make sure the window is up high enough that your child isn't tempted to try to throw up out the window. My poor parents had to take apart the car door to clean it mid journey once.

    Anyway.
    We liked to listen to books on tape, sing and play road games. Most of our road games have been mentioned, except for a game we call "Bury your horses". I don't know why it's so popular but we play to this day! Anyway, you count horses as you go by. Whomever sees them first gets them. When you pass a graveyard, the first person to yell "Bury your horses" gets to keep their horses. Everyone else has to bury them (dig,dig,dig)

    We've played all kinds of variations. My favourite is "deliver your roadkill" in the spring. You count dead bodies, and whenever you pass a fast food joint, you get to "deliver". My mom thinks that one is really gross!

  3. Stephanie- So glad to hear that you are enjoying time with your family. Today, my children took those little shape/multi-colored stickers (They are kind of "fat stickers"- you can find them in the craft section of Walmart) and each made pictures with them- It's amazing what children can create with just shapes! Also, magnet sets seem to entertain for a long time....

  4. On the road again... hope you're having fun! We read a lot of books on long trips, look at cards (Target had a bunch of animal/insect cards for $.25 a few months back), look at scenery, listen to music (my son LOVES music - anything toe tapping). We have a long flight coming up and I'm planning to get a few magnetic playboards, I've heard good things about them and they're ~ $10 a piece...so not bad. I'm thinking horses and a farm, but they have many varieties. We've used wind up toys too in the past (the unbreakable kind - no over wind). 2nd on the doodle pro, mine (23 months) is a little young for audio books but that sounds like a great idea! I haven't tried it in the car, but we bought a TAG chalkboard/white erase board that has saved a ton on paper - and the chalk is easily brushed off so no destroyed stuff YAY! Incidentally does anyone know how to get pen off of a Rody?

  5. Glad to see you back here, but have been watching your moves (or lack of moves :( on Give Every Day.)

    We drive a lot for our camping trips, and we do a lot of reading or books on tape, the alphabet game that was already mentioned, and a classic from my childhood: kind of like word Mastermind. One person thinks of a 4-letter word (not those kinds!) and you go around the car, each person taking a turn to guess a letter in the word. The first person to guess the word gets to choose the next word. It works well now that Ina is reading.

    When our reserves are depleted and there are still hours to go, we pull out our I-touches and the girls watch a movie.

      1. I have not bought any apps yet. But downloaded about 50 FREE apps from the "EDUCATION" category. There is a lot of functionality in the free apss as well. Once we figure out which apps kids really like (and can learn from, we will buy a few apps as a FULL VERSION.

  6. I gotta say that I didn't miss you but ONLY because I have been following you on Give Every Day and on Facebook so I know what you are up to and how crazy things have been the past few days! -1 is cold to everyone - not just b/c you are an AZ girl.

  7. Definitely missed you here, but totally understand if/when you take a little hiatus. Like others, I'm following you every day on Give Every Day as well.

    We take those 12-15 hour drives usually twice a year and the 9-10 hour one more than that. We use the DVD only when we HAVE to because of boredom from other things. So we do have some good travel activities.

    Travel games/activities: Our favorite seems pretty simplistic, but we all love "I Spy." We also love to sing together whether it is with a radio or not. Another fun one is the build a story game - you know, the one where one person starts a story and stops with "and just then..." My little one sometimes needs a little help, but we come up with some pretty crazy stories. The last few trips, we have taken two stuffed animals a piece in the car, and the girls can spend hours pretending things with them. Their creativity never ceases to amaze us. One animal is usually a mom and another the dad, but then the rest of the animals are a total free for all. We have sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents, best friends... Good stuff. We also have a leap pad and a little Vtech computer that get lots of use. We always have the coloring/activity books as well that entertain for a while. When all of those get old, we resort to a movie though. After all, 12+ hours is a LONG time! We were impressed on our last trip at Christmas time that our kids made it clear from Vail, AZ to Kanab, UT (almost 500 miles and a good 8 hours) before even thinking to ask for a movie.
    Happy Travels!

  8. Of course I missed you! But I was reading Give Every Day so I knew what was going on!

    We traveled a lot as kids and always had fun. My sister and I are huge bookworms (I think our love of reading was really developed in the car) and it wasn't uncommon for us to finish entire novels in one trip. We also loved the license plate game and alphabet game. We also made up our own car bingo cards with things to look for (ie a cow, a horse) and then put them in whatever order you want on the card. We sang a lot too.

  9. Oh yes! But I was following Give Every Day so I knew ya'll were okay. Welcome to Texas! My wonderful home state. Sorry it's been so cold for you - that's not really normal except in the panhandle.

    We liked to play I Spy or the Alphabet game. We also liked to keep track of different license plates although that may be beyond your girls. Lots of singing. Audiobooks - some libraries let you check them out electronically and download to an ipod or laptop. Keeping track of how many of a certain item you saw that day, like a big truck or birds or moving vans.

      1. I grew up about 40 miles north of Houston in Conroe. I currently live along the Mexican border about 160 miles west of San Antonio.

        It's too cold right now to swim, but Barton Springs pool in Austin is an awesome natural spring fed swimming pool. And if you get a free afternoon, your girls might enjoy the Houston Space Center.

  10. YESSSS!!! I missed you - I kept checking the blog to see if maybe my FB or feed missed telling me you posted!! :) Although I have been reading the Give Every Day blog - which is awesome, by the way, but it's just not quite the same as a Met.Mama post! :) Welcome back - can't wait to see what is in store!
    Travel games - I always loved the license plate game - trying to find a license plate from each state. I am not sure your littlest could play that but maybe? The alphabet game - find something out the window that starts with A, then B... so on.
    Reading - I always read in the car a LOT growing up when we would take long trips (and we did at least 1-2 Looong trips every year). Not everyone can read in the car though.

    1. I wish I could read in the car, but it makes me queasy so I avoid it. Audio books are a great alternative though. We listened to the first 1/2 of "Anne of Green Gables" on our way to Canyon Lake.

  11. Oh yes! I miss you. I have been watching this page and Give Everyday for updates. Please where can I send a gift for you and the girls.

    Its okay to miss a blog post or two, we all know where you are at and what you are doing. I love Texas, wish I could visit you guys on the road.....let me know if you guys ever plan to come to Virginia, Ohio or Pennyslyvania.

    Traveling game! Sing yourself silly! It works best on the road......maybe a mini karoake machine?

  12. Oh yes, I missed you! But I knew where you were since I follow Give Every Day so I wasn't worried about you :)

    We haven't had to think about games much yet - but on our big trip to California a couple of Christmases ago Sugar really enjoyed playing with magnet playsets. The only thing I remember playing while we traveled when I was young is the Alpabet game - you know the find letters on the sign one...

    Another thing that my kids enjoy is listening to kids books or Adventures in Odyssey. Hubby and I enjoy listening to books too and our kids don't mind the grown-up books as long as we take breaks for "their music" and "their stories" too!

    1. My sisters and I used to listen to Adventures in Odyssey almost every night before bed. I think I may need to start that tradition with my two. Thank you for refreshing my memory!

  13. Of course we missed you! I love keeping up with Give Every Day though!

    I don't really have traveling advice. I've traveled with my two, but for no longer than 4 hour drives or 2-3 hour flights. Those times are easily filled with books, healthy snacks, and maybe a nap. I'm really interested in what kinds of games you end up finding or creating for so much road time with little ones!

  14. Missed you missed you missed you. Yes :) But was praying for you all the time.

    Favorite travel games/activities: The big girl is old enough that we actually do a lot of talking in the car these days. She tells me what she sees, asks a million questions, and we talk about stuff. We do a fair amount of singing (badly) also. Especially to the baby sister.

    I think you have also glimpsed her doodle sketch. It is a nice way for her to be artistic in the car without the mess or too much dropping.

  15. I think of you often!! I want to subscribe to Give Every Day via email so I don't miss anything but I didn't see the option.

    Travel games? Eh. I'm so not a fun mom. We don't play many. The kids like the Alphabet game though.

  16. I did miss you! But I'm following you over at Give Every Day, so I knew you were kind of busy! :-)

    No tips for travel games...we usually travel at night so Darah can sleep while we drive!

  17. I am running off to bed but I just wanted to say "hi!" and that you were missed! I did miss your posts but enjoyed your tweets and blogs over at GED! God bless ya girl!

  18. Oh yes I missed you! But I've also been following you on Give Every Day (which I am SO thankful to have). So glad to know you will be blogging more this week. :) When we travel, we love to have our girls use little Magna Doodles to draw on. They LOVE them!

  19. Great to see you on here...although I haven't felt so disconnected since you are posting on Give Every Day too! Sorry to hear about the initial trials you guys encountered, but was so encouraged to hear how you guys handled it and what blessings came from it! Whenever we take longer drives we like to play the 'alphabet game'. Have to find a word on a road sign, car, building, etc. that begins with the letters of the alphabet - beginning with 'A' of course. First person to get through the entire alphabet wins...um...not much other than bragging rights. It has been fun to play with Analise now that she knows all of her letters and which direction to start reading them in! As always...I look forward to hearing what you have up your sleeve and what your adventures bring!

MetropolitanMama - See The World, One City at a Time
©2024 Metropolitan Mama - All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram