summer road {day) trips with cinnamon toast crunch

For the past few years I’ve been waiting for the baby of the family to get bigger and be ready for a family road trip. At the beginning of this summer I had high hopes for a multi-day road trip with the kids to explore as many fun destinations as we could manage. Our 3 year old quickly dashed those hopes when we attempted a 3 hour (one way) trip and I was able to hear a real life child repeat “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” on repeat for 10 minutes straight. Then he did it again about 30 minutes later, and again within the hour. As I held tightly to my sanity I let those dreams of a long summer road trip slip away and replaced them with dreams of day trips.

Now, I’m all for letting the kids get bored during the summer and making them entertain themselves. In fact, that was the majority of our June and July… and then this past couple weeks I switched gears in to Day Trip Memory Making. We have had a trip to a dairy farm, cottage days with family, beach days with more family, and even a movie snuck in there.

As an experienced day trip road trip taker I have a few tips to make it a successful experience.

1. Always Pack Snacks, the more snacks the better. Because hangry children are NOT fun. This Cinnamon Toast Crunch Waffle Cone Snack Mix was a hit with everyone – you can find the recipe HERE on their website.

2. Bring along in-car entertainment – the license plate game, bingo, activity books, and even technology when needed. Believe me people, you don’t want to be hearing “Are we there yet?” for 10 minutes straight.

3. Hydrate – yes, this will mean more potty stops but with kids you need to stop frequently anyway for them to work out some energy.

4. Bring towels – these are great for everything from being caught in an unexpected rain shower to a mini picnic blanket. Towels also come in very handy if you stop at an actual beach and decide to do some last minute wading (and adding in an unexpected stop to play with water is pretty much guaranteed to make the kids’ trip highlights list).

5. HAVE FUN! Seriously, whether you’re taking a long or a short trip the whole point is to have fun as a family and make memories!

Thanks to my friends at General Mills Cereal and especially the folks at Cinnamon Toast Crunch for sharing the fun Cinnamon Toast Crunch Road Trip Survival Guide gear you see in the above photos.