We spent last night getting our place ready for our next visitors and packing. We left bright and early for DIA.
No way do I pay extra to pick our seats ahead of time so of course we were all separate in middle seats. The flight attendant wasn’t happy and asked me if I knew I could pick them in advance. (My brother is a flight attendant, of course AI know that)
She has us ask people to move their seats and eventually we had 4 seats together and 1 lap child. Gavin and I sat next to this man named Rob from San Diego. He and Having talked about cars and mechanics for 2.5 hours.
Jake slept
We told Rob about our past travels and future ones. We talked with him about raising our kids and how we view life. He told us that he thought it was amazing. He told Gavin he was a very lucky kid. He also told us that we restored his faith in humanity. He bought Adam a beer. He was a breath if fresh air and I am do glad we encountered him
Once we landed we went to baggage claim and got our car seats, our suitcase ended up in Orange County, I guess it happens often as the airport codes are similar. They said we would get it tomorrow morning and since I flew standby I wasn’t given any compensation.
We left and rode a shuttle bus to the rental car spot and a wonderful friendly cheerful amazing customer service rep for Budget, Ariel, helped us out. We ended up with a beast of a dodge charger and headed into town.
We had a nice lunch and the kids were so well behaved.
They played in the waterfall and we toasted huge cups of coffee. Then we headed to the grocery outlet (mind blowing!) and of course Target.
We checked in to our tiny home and have spent the rest of the evenING relaxing. After this, I am thinking 120sq ft for a family of 5 really could work 🙂 ill do another blog on the actual place in the next few days.
Highlight of the day….sitting in a police SUV outside of target!
I must get to bed, tomorrow is the big day! Birthday Celebration at…….Legoland!
Keep exploring
Plan your family adventure
Travel with your family
More from the Americas
Plan for roughly half the driving you think you can do. Kids need movement breaks every 1.5 to 2 hours. The best stops are not the ones on the itinerary but the ones you find by pulling over. Pack snacks that avoid crumbs. And accept that the trip will go differently than planned and that is usually better.
Audiobooks and podcasts for kids work better than screens for longer stretches. Window games. Music everyone can agree on. Letting older kids navigate. And giving them meaningful jobs rather than just asking them to sit quietly for hours.
A car trash bag. A cooler for drinks and snacks. A first aid kit. One bag per person that lives accessible in the car. Entertainment that works without wifi. A physical map as backup. And less than you think you need of everything else.
Four to five hours of actual driving is comfortable for most families with young children. More than that and the last hour tends to make everyone miserable. Factor in stops and add at least 50 percent to driving times.
The national parks are extraordinary and widely underused by families. Zoos in major cities. Interactive children’s museums. Sea World, Legoland, and similar theme parks for dedicated days. And the unexpected stops that were not planned that end up being everyone’s favorite memory.
Share this:
Discover more from Adventures We Seek
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Love reading your blogs! I absolutely love the photo of the boys in the carry on compartment thingamajigger. Please have fun at Legoland. It’s amazing!