We're going on vacation (with 9 kids!) AHHHHHH!?

Question

Okay so we're going to the beah one Madelyn Rae is about a month old. And the beach is about 2 and a half hours away. How can I keep them entertained for that long? Charianna Rose 10 y/o
Danielle Elizabeth 8.5 y/o
Caroline Scarlett 7 year (she goes by Scarlett!)
Anabella Renee 5 y/o (twin)
Ansley Grace 5 y/o (twin)
Gabriella Laine 2.5 y/o
Kingston David James 10 months (twin)
Kelsey Marie 10 months (twin)
Madelyn Rae 1 month
Those are there ages. PLEASE NO RUDE COMMENTS.

Answer 1

If possible, leave when the little ones are sleepy and can nap. If you have a DVD player, that will also help a lot. Kids do a lot better than you think in the car though. 2 1/2 hours isn't too bad. Make sure you have snacks and drinks and plenty of patience. Has Madelyn been born yet? Or are you planning ahead. Either way, I'm sure you'll be fine! And you guys need a vacation! LOL

Answer 2

2.5 hours is a long & difficult time for a 10-year old, not to mention the others. Also, does the 2.5 hours account for stops? They'll probably need some time to exercise/blow off steam, too. Are you sure you want to do this now?

At least, if you time it right, you might travel with the 10mo & 1mo sleeping. The others might spend some time reading & playing games but a portable DVD player might be the best help.

PS - I concur you shouldn't publish too much data (real names/ages of multiple children). It can give people a way to find out who you really are and where you live.

To protect yourself, you really should delete this question before it goes into voting or resolves. At that point, you lose control of it.

Answer 3

We used to go to Canada to visit relatives once a month and it was about a 7 hour trip to our Aunt's. What my parents did with us when we were kids was to leave late at night so we slept the whole way. As a matter of fact, when we were really little, they would put us to bed then once we were asleep, they would transport us to the car and we would wake up in a whole different place! Two and a half hours isn't all that long, so you could leave around 10pm and still be there by 12:30.
Good luck and have a great time!

Answer 4

You DO know what causes pregnancy???
There is a man and woman....
No really, we have twin boy/girl at 2 year, a 7 mo old and a 5 year old. and we thought we had insanity.
All I can say is use the buddy system as much as possible. You have 1x 10 year old a 8.5 year old and a 7 year old. These are your big helpers....use them.

Use DVD movies in the car and pack lots of games you have a span of ages so this will nto be a light load!
Aside from that advise may god have mercy on your soul !!

Answer 5

Get each kid to pack a back pack with a few toys and things to keep them occupied in the car, like; pencil case, paper for drawing, coloring in book, reading books, smallish dolls, soft toys etc, Game boy console...that kind of thing. Also pack each bag with a few snacks, like fresh fruit, sandwiches etc.

Also have some car games in reserve for if they exhaust their back pack of toys. Some car games for the older children are:

- each pick a car color and keep count of how many of their color car they see on the highway in the next ten minutes

- try and make a funny phrase using the letters on the other cars numberplates

- Boy, Girl, animal, place (one child counts to ten while another goes through the alphabet. When the child counting reaches ten, they say STOP, the alphabet child tells what letter they got up to in the alphabet, and everyone tries to think of a boy's name, girl's name, a type of animal and a place (town, country, city etc) starting with that letter. The first person to think of all four calls out STOP and recites the names etc that they have thought of.)

- Eye spy with my little eye

Some car games for all the children, littley's included are:

- Sing songs

- Nursery rhymes with actions (Pat a cake, the wheels on the bus etc.)

Good luck and have fun! Hubby and I travel a lot with our five, we do a 13-16 hour trip at least twice a year to visit family and as long as you are prepared and stay calm, the children really enjoy the whole thing.

Such a lot of children, you are very lucky!

Answer 6

To me this is so cool. I was in a relationship where we had 6 all together. When we went on vacation, now remember this was a few years ago, I bought the boys black tank tops and red shorts, and the girls red tank tops with black shorts and we got so many compliments, the dad and I are no longer together but I am still in touch with his kids and him with mine, and they all remember that they were like ages 8,7,6,5,2, and 4months. You will have so much fun. Pack a cooler with sandwich stuff and drinks. Take coloring books for the ride, probably colored pencils if it's hot there, just stuff like that go to the dollar store take the 3 older kids to help you pick stuff out, that will help them stay busy while you have to care for the smaller ones on the trip. Just relax. Kids memories last forever.

Answer 7

I'm a bit confused... I thought u were just now pregnant andfindng a name for ur next daughter which wasn't born yet, and now she's a month old? I'mlost. Unless ur sayin when she's a month old that's whenyau'll are going? Sry if I offended yuh

Answer 8

If you have a DVD player in your mini-van, you can bring along sets of your kids favorite videos for them to watch. For the older children, I would suggest that they pack their favorite books to read (or ones on their summer reading list) for them to keep occupied on a long car ride.

And if there are no rest stops, tell them not to eat or drink so much before you leave! ;)

Answer 9

Are you sure you arent playing the Sims? Most people wouldnt put there kids names and ages out on a site like this...

Answer 10

well to say the least you are gonna have a blast running after all them just let each of them take something they like to play with or somethen like that well i hope you have a wonderful time at the beach