How to Make GORP

I'm not sure if GORP stands for Good Ol' Raisins and Peanuts or Granola Oats Raisins and Peanuts but it is an excellent snack for hiking, the zoo, the park, cross-country skiing, or traveling, etc.

Add whatever ingredients you like.  Options include: dried fruits and berries, nuts of any kind, granola or oats or granola clusters, crackers or pretzels of any kind, chocolate chips, favorite candies, or dried cereals.

This is what looked good to me when I went shopping for GORP ingredients.  If I wasn't so spacey while pregnant, I would have remembered the box of Rice Chex in my pantry and added it in.  I only added about 1/3 of the bag of marshmallows and half of the bag of pretzels.

Mix thoroughly in a large bowl.

Put about 1-2 cups of GORP in each little plastic bag for an individual portion.  Stash in a safe, kid-free zone and throw them in your backpack for a handy, and delicious snack-on-the-go!  Kids love GORP and mommies and daddies love GORP too!

Depending on what you add into the GORP, it can be fairly inexpensive.  I spent about $10 and was able to make around 12 or 13 large portions that served us very well at the zoo and for snacks in the van.  However, if I had been able to get to Walmart to purchase the ingredients, it would have been a bit cheaper. 

*If you have young children be sure to keep in mind what they are able to handle chewing and watch them carefully lest they choke on a craisin or peanut, etc.*

The Best Sippy Cup on the Face of the Earth

I've been searching for good sippy cups for a long time.  I was pretty happy with the Playtex brand cups until everyone started talking about BPA and wondering if their kids' sippies were safe.  We still have a bunch of the Playtex ones, and they are very leak-proof and probably BPA free too, but I have found that the Nalgene Tritan Grip n' Gulp for kids are now my ultimate favorite.

Why I like them:

They are BPA free

Just like Nalgene's adult water bottles, which I have used for years, they are extremely durable...even when thrown against pavement by angry children

They aren't baby-ish, making them perfect for older kids too.  Your child could use this cup from 12 months until 10 years old.

I can carry 3 sippy cups in one hand while I'm juggling kids or keys in the other, thanks to the little finger loop

They are completely leak-proof

Residue doesn't build up in them like it does in our Playtex cups

Easy to remove valve--and large enough that it's harder to lose

Dishwasher safe

They hold 12 ounces, which means less fill-ups for our extremely thirsty kid

My "oral child" who chews everything to destruction has left tooth marks on her spout but hasn't managed to destroy it or smash it in--it's a very durable spout!

Possible Cons

On the http://www.amazon.com/ reviews, some of the moms said their children couldn't get any liquid out of them.  We haven't had this problem at all.  It does take a bit more suction than our Playtex cups, but I count this as a blessing seeing as how it takes Jeremiah around 6 minutes to drain his 12 ounce Nalgene sippy instead of 1 minute (the length of time it takes him to drain his 10 ounce Playtex).

Some moms don't like that they have to tip the cup up to drink from it.  If you prefer that your child not have to tip their cup up, you can give this sippy a try, which one of my mom-of-4-four-and-under friends highly recommends.  I was going to buy this kind but couldn't bring myself to pay $20 per sippy, knowing my kids would probably lose them the next day if I did.  Also, some moms said the straw pushed their kids' teeth forward so I wasn't sure I wanted them after all.  Someday, when they go on a REALLY great sale I will try them and see if they become my new favorite.

Cost:

You can buy the Nalgene Tritan Grip N' Gulp online from several different places, but ebay seems to have the lowest prices, even after shipping.  They will run you around $8 each after shipping.  Because a local sport and outdoor store here had them for $8 each, I purchased mine locally.  It seems expensive, but I think they are worth EVERY penny.  My kids have used them hundreds of times and they have been the best thing ever for soccer practices and games, picnics to the park or the mountains, church,  taking into restaurants on our long trip to MN and back, and just drinking from all day long.  And in spite of taking them everywhere we haven't lost one yet.....thankfully!  They have 4 colors, which means whether or not we have a boy or girl the fourth child is going to end up with a pink one.  Maybe.

One more thing: Most pics online show a sideview that leaves you wondering if they have a pointed spout that is uncomfortable for the child.  The spout is not pointed, but rather very similar to the Playtex sippy spouts.  This is a blurry shot of Justus' cup.

Car Organizers

I found this excellent tutorial here, which inspired me in making these. But because I didn't have sturdy fabric around, I decided to use two old garments that were on their way to the rag bag. The cool thing is that I still get to enjoy my hubby's western shirt and my favorite courderoy skirt that I wore nearly everyday for the last few years on end.I forgot to take a pic of the finished skirt one,

but it's just very basic with about 5 square pockets on it and less frills than the denim one.I forgot to take a pic of the western shirt before chopping it up, but you can probably imagine it.The little hook on the back of the shirt becomes a great place to put a carabiner, where you can stash ponytail holders, keys, or pacifiers.

I even re-used the tag, figuring it would hold pens.

My pics of it in the car didn't turn out so well, so here is my daughter holding it up to give you an idea of how it works. The elastic at the bottom goes around the seat of the car to help hold it tight against the car seat.

Since I sit in the back with the kids on long car trips, these organizers really bless me! The brown, plain one went behind Justus's carseat on the front passenger seat. (He still rides rear-facing). I mainly stashed extra diapers and wipes and winter hats there since it wasn't as accessible as the one directly in front of my seat. In this one, I stashed dark chocolate, lotion, diapers, wipes, coloring book, mp3 player, keys, pacifiers, kleenex, sippy, etc.

Packing for Trips--Healthy Snack Ideas

Every year, I attempt to work on areas of growth in healthier living/eating. Stay tuned for my yearly goal list at the beginning of the year to find out how I hope to grow in 2010 in these areas.

We end up doing a lot of road trips with kids because my husband's family lives in Minnesota and we happen to live 18 hours away from there! Though I often have packed healthy snacks for our trips, I am well aware that I could do better. I've often splurged on things like Capri Suns, fruit-roll-ups or Cheez-Itz for trips. Recently reading the book Eat This, Not That really opened my eyes in a new way to things I could do to swap unhealthy foods for healthier versions. So, as I begin to pack for our upcoming trip, healthy food is going to be top priority!

What I Plan to Pack:

Fruit leather instead of Fruit-roll-ups

Frozen blueberries and frozen peas in little containers

Cheese cubes and String cheese sticks

Pretzel sticks

Unsweetened applesauce cups

Low-fat, low-sugar granola bars

Cutie Pie (aka clementines) oranges

Nuts

TLC cheese crackers

Healthier cookies

Homemade wheat bread slices

WW tortillas with Peanut Butter

Popcorn, lightly salted, no butter

100% juice boxes

Everyone in our family will be receiving either a stainless steel water bottle or BPA-free water bottle for Christmas so we will have tastier water on our trip too!

I realize the healthier food is often more expensive. It would be cheaper to buy Twinkies than frozen blueberries, etc. However, the healthier we have been eating, the better we have been feeling. It's worth the investment! I have found that you don't need to buy all organic or spend a ton to eat nutritious foods. By using coupons or buying on sale in some areas, you have a little more flex in other areas so that you can afford the healthier version. And a lot of these things can be found on sales, discounts, or made at home. If we fill up on nutritious food, we will be less likely to spend our cash at greasy fast-food places and the kids will be less cranky from being all sugared up!

I welcome your ideas! What are your favorite healthy snacks for long car trips?

Traveling Tips--Extra Goodies

Because I wanted this trip to go very smoothly with 3 little ones, I packed above and beyond what we needed. A lot of the activities I had along never got used because of our driving through the night with sleeping kids. But, it's always better to be prepared, I think, and I know that if we had decided to drive back during the day I would have needed EVERY single item I had along!


My good friend Laura had a yard sale a week or two before our trip. Her folks and her in-laws spend HUNDREDS of dollars a year on toys for her girls each year. She has the nicest, cleanest toys you've ever seen and keeps them organized perfectly since she used to be a preschool/daycare teacher for many years before kids. When she mentioned a yard sale, I was ecstatic! I showed up at the exact time her yard sale opened only to find that some early birds had already been buying stuff like crazy as she set up but there were still lots of deals to be had. Most of her toys were marked 25 cents for a WHOLE BAG!!!! I filled up a few bags, getting lots for our trip and some for the nursery at church. Her larger toys were a quarter each. I literally got all of my kids' toy Christmas gifts and Justus' birthday gift, a beautiful dress for Ali and a gorgeous, like-new, name-brand crocheted summer sweater and some darling baby girl clothes for my gift stash and spent a whopping total of $4 at her sale!


So, in my surprises bag, the kids were delighted to be treated to some new toys from Laura's sale. It's not something I plan to do every single trip since I don't want to teach my kids to be greedy or always expect new things, but it did help immensely in making the journey fun. There was a cute baby doll and fanny pack for Ali and for each of the boys there was a Baby Leap stuffed animal (lion and elephant) that had a little roller on it's tummy that showed different pictures, played fun music, and lit up in the dark like a glowworm (lion pictured above). Those kept the kids entertained for long stretches of time, especially when it got dark! There were also some fun little baby things to give to Justus (new teethers, little farm animals that made sounds, etc.)

I also took some little odds and ends from my gift stash and threw them in paper lunch sacks (one small gift per bag) and stapled the top closed and wrote their nickname on the bag. I had about 4 of them for each child. So, when things started getting rough (like when we were on a detour trying to find Olive Garden with hungry kids who were beginning to fuss) I could whip out a bag for each of the kids and they eagerly opened them up. Jer's bags contained things like a new matchbox car and a darling baby giraffe beanie baby and Ali got a Cinderella mini-notebook, some bright Hello Kitty socks, and some polka-dot sunglasses. Other ideas include lollipops, small balls, mini-photo albums or board books, or plastic animal figurines. The stuff you wrap up doesn't even have to be new! I wrapped up one of their favorite things to play with from the craft closet (wooden popsicle sticks) as one of the gifts. I plan to use toys from the shed next time that haven't been played with in a while so that they will still seem "new" but it won't cost me a dime!

Other ideas:

Ali is now old enough to use a walkman/discman. My mom gave us an old one that works but she doesn't use. So, on our next trip, Ali can listen to kid's music or stories on CD from the library as we drive.

In the past I've borrowed a portable DVD player from friends to help me stay up all night so I can help Josiah stay up all night. Some of our friends have had great success with using one of these for their children on long trips. It's something we may buy in the future, but I don't want my kids to just veg out the whole time and have no family interaction whatsoever.  *Update:  We received one for Christmas in 2009 and it has been a huge blessing for giving the kids a distraction when they reach the crabby "I can't stand another minute of driving" stage.  They usually only watch around 3 hours of programs on an 18 hour drive so it isn't overkill for them.*

I had started making a little album with family photos for the kids so they would recognize relatives in MN that we hadn't seen in a long time. In the busy week preceding our trip, I never found time to finish it, but it's something I hope to do in the future for the kids.

My brothers and I always loved listening to Adventures in Odyssey tapes on trips so I'd like to invest in a collection of these (in CDs) for my own kids!
Simple craft projects for kids bagged up and easy-to-assemble in the car.

Ultimately, the biggest reason I think this trip was a success is because I viewed myself as a servant to my kids and viewed this trip as a "homeschooling" opportunity. I planned ahead, had lots of educational things to keep them busy, and played more with them than I normally do, and made it fun, almost like a traveling preschool! Instead of trying to read my own book or getting into a DVD I was focused on making this trip pleasant for the kids and that makes all the difference in the world!

Traveling Activities

Heather, a friend in MN who is author of the blog Bless Your Family meets Justus and shows him how to draw on these fancy white boards she made as a gift for Alathia and Jeremiah. Though she didn't have internet during this summer, she'll be back to blogging again this fall so be sure to visit her inspiring blog!

Heather used fun fabric around the edges which she covered in clear packing tape. Each board has the child's name on it (the little square at the bottom). These boards were my kids FAVORITE thing to play with all the way home when they weren't sleeping. She said I could attach the marker with a piece of yarn if I so desired to prevent losing them.

Having logged at least 350 hours in a car with children since I became a mama, due to the fact that my husband's family lives 1,ooo miles away, I have learned a few things about travel activities. I have also learned that having a van makes a big difference in comfort levels while traveling!

Here is what I store in my Travel Bag, which always stays in my bedroom closet:
My travel pillow
Children's Bible Songs CDs
Small toys and board books that are only for travel and aren't played with any other time
A Ziploc full of LARGE crayons (I've found that regular crayons get destroyed immediately and broken but they can't break the large, fat crayons!
Coloring books
A few kids books on tape with storybooks included
Things I add to the Travel Bag in preparation for a trip:
Kleenex and wet wipes
A fun lacing-cards book complete with colorful strings, a gift from Heather a couple of years ago!
A ziploc with memory cards
Ali's photo ABC book I made her for her birthday
A few of the kid's favorite storybooks
Balloons
Large, colorful popsicle sticks
Alphabet cards
Markers and notebooks
Animals and Trucks Sticker Books
A few of their favorite toys
Magna Doodles for each kid (the toys our kids have spent more time playing with than any others!)
As I've said before, I've had some rough trips before and I didn't know if we'd be coming home during the day or pulling another all-nighter since my hubby figured he would decide based on how rested he felt. All-day long trips are torturous for kids, so I wanted to be ULTRA prepared and I packed an additional bag full of goodies which I'll share about in my next post!

Traveling Tips

This is a bad pic because my mom's cooler was squishing the bottom half of this when I took the pic but this over-the-door shoe organizer which I turned into a seat caddy sure was handy! I filled it up with bibs, wet wipes, sunscreen, rags, snacks, pacifiers, diapers, etc. so that things were always within reach and easily accesible. I sat in the seat facing this (directly behind my husband so I could bop him...just kidding) so I could tend to the kids.

My one complaint is that this organizer didn't hold up very well and tore in several places at the very end of the trip. So, I've made plans to make one out of denim scraps or sturdy fabric that is custom-designed to fit our van seats. If anyone knows of a good pattern, let me know!
The lower part of the organizer (which I had cut off) was tied around the back of Justus' carseat and held bottles and sippies of measured water that I merely had to add formula to. This was SO HANDY! The dirty bottles ended up back in the pockets so I could find them quickly and wash them out at gas stations.


To make the journey smoother I packed a few weeks in advance. This is part of being prepared, which I posted on recently as one of the most important parts of being a sane mommy! Of course I couldn't pack everything, but my kids have enough clothing that I was able to at least get that out of the way, minus undies, and pack travel activity bags, etc.





I consulted my Master Packing List, a document I made up to help me remember ALL of the essentials for 5 people. Before the Packing List I was prone to forgetting one or two things on every trip, like socks for myself at Christmas, and undies for Ali or some such thing. Now, I can check off as I go and make sure every kid gets their security blanket, pajamas, medicine, and that we get our camera, debit cards, keys, etc.





I packed MORE than enough kid's activities. I have been short on these in the past and have suffered much because of it (having the Air Conditioner stop working on a scorching long day in the car didn't help on that horrid trip either!) In a future post I'll feature a list of what I had along for the kiddoes!