Top Ten Tips for Traveling with the Family

Make it easy on yourself by baking one batch of chocolate chip cookies or cookie bars, putting them in a tight-lidded container and adding it to a stack of 100 Calorie packs, Austin six-pack crackers, pretzels, peanut M&M's or Pop-Tarts. Just make sure you don't pack too many sugar-high snacks, like Little Debbies or pure gummy treats, or you'll have some hyper children on your hands.

Two: Drinks

Cans of pop are great convenience-wise, but the kids are probably going to get super sugar-high if they drink these. Instead, pack Capri Suns, 8-oz water bottles filled with water and plenty of ice or sippy cups full of a light-colored juice such as apple, white grape or white cranberry.

Three: Head Games

One of my favorite car games to play when I was young was the alphabet game. Beginning with A, find signs, license plates or businesses that contain a letter of the alphabet. But you must go in order! X is usually the hardest to find. Other head games you can play without game pieces are 20 Questions and Going on a Picnic.

Four: Trivia Games

For slightly older children, trivia games are great in the car. They're usually contained in a small pack of cards or a swivel card stack. Brain Quest is my favorite brand. You can get Bible cards, historical cards, geography - virtually anything educational.

Five: DVDs

If you don't own a car DVD player, you can always bring along a laptop that plays DVDs and has plenty of battery power. Take turns holding the laptop or set it up on top of the cooler in the car.

Six: Make Your Own CDs

Instead of bringing along Little Timmy's nursery rhymes CD, burn your own CD. Let each family member pick three to five songs to put on the CD, and burn them in any eclectic order. Additionally, you can borrow CDs from the library for a fresh spin on the CD player.

Seven: Audio Books on CD

Audio books like Bear in the Attic, A Long Way to Chicago and Surviving the Applewhites are some of my favorite audio books on CD. These are long enough for any car ride, yet entertaining for the whole family, no matter what their ages.

Eight: Clean-Up Supplies

Where there's food, drinks and children (or messy adults), there's inevitably a spill waiting to happen. Bring a bag full of paper towels, hand wipes, Clorox wipes and plastic trash baggies to clean up any spills that will surely happen in the middle of your car trip.

Nine: Bathroom Supplies

Let's face it; when you gotta go, you gotta go. We usually carry a bucket with a trash bag and a roll of toilet paper and hand sanitizer in the car in case someone's really got to go. Tie it up with a twist tie or a knot, and throw it in a trash bin at the nearest stop.

Ten: Coolers

The big, fat coolers don't always fit in a packed car. We have one that you can get at Walmart or Target that has a slim, tall build that fits great right in between the middle seats of the car. Stack water bottles and other drinks, as well as meltable snacks in this cooler for hot weather preservation.