Thanksgiving with the Coddingtons

This year we traveled to Rochester, New York, to be with the Coddingtons for Thanksgiving. The 8 hour car trip was pretty uneventful. I had all kinds of tricks up my sleeve this time for our toddler who absolutely refuses to sleep in the car, no matter how tired or bored she is, or dark it is outside. Here are some of the strategies I used for any of you who might find yourself in a similar situation:

1) After the first 30 minutes, offer a snack that your child has never had before
2) Every hour that your child is well behaved, let them pick a wrapped present from the Dollar Store to open
3) Offer another snack each hour (I timed it so it was halfway in between present opening times)
4) Sit in the backseat with your child for a portion of the trip to change things up for him/her
5) Sing at least one song as a family every hour
6) Hannah opened this as one of her gifts and it entertained her for over an hour!! I highly recommend getting one! (Note: It was much cheaper at a local toy store!)
7) Stop as often as you can to let your child run around and get some pent-up energy out
8) DVDs, DVDs, DVDs

Caleb found his old train set in the basement and it quickly became Hannah's favorite toy of the week!














I think Hannah looks like me a lot in this picture below. What do you think?










Hannah loved playing the piano with JuJu! She even sang along sometimes.










Hannah with Great Grandpa at Uncle Aaron's and Aunt Lisa's.









We had a really fun vacation with the Coddingtons. It's always so sad to say goodbye. I really wish we lived closer so we could see each other more often. Hannah loves her JuJu and PaPa!