We take the kids on a quick getaway once or twice a year. It’s just to a little resort with indoor and outdoor pools. There’s tennis and a basketball court. They used to have mini golf back in the day.

When my husband was a kid, he would go to this same place with his parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. They would go for about a week each summer. My family used to go to my aunt and uncle’s lake house for a week when my dad was finished with Chicago Festival Season. It was the 90s. There were a lot of festivals. IYKYK.

My kids love this trip. Like they pretend they are going to LLR as a form of play.

I’m gonna be honest here. This is not my favorite trip to take. It’s not a vacation for the parents. You know this if you are a parent yourself. I now know why my mom absolutely hated the annual lake week. But I go for the kids and for my husband’s nostalgia. We bring Great Grandpa with us. Once we brought Aaron’s dad. He hasn’t been back with us since so I’m pretty sure we share the same opinion on this particular “vacation.”

Have you traveled with a 4, 7, 9, and 96 year old? There are multiple unreliable bladders, calls of “are we there yet”, and so many snacks.

Over the years, I’ve found some tricks to making this trip more tolerable and easier to prep for. I’ll drop them below.

AnyList app. I keep a list of things we need to bring each time we travel together. It’s split up into categories for both my husband and myself so everyone knows what to do. It’s shared with him so we can check it off making sure it’s all done. 

I might make note of a particularly spacious room or a restaurant that was more welcoming to my loud crew. I list any usuals we bring with us that might seem out-of-the-ordinary to most like a real knife, first-aid kit, nightlights, and a sound machine. 

We pack the kids in an over-the-door shoe organizer. It’s a genius hack I saw on TT a few years ago. Each kid picks out PJs, 2-3 outfits, socks, undies, and a sweatshirt. I load it up with all the things including meds, the first-aide kit, the real knife, diapers, overnight diapers, swim diapers, wipes (team wipes for life). 

I just fold it up and put it into the suitcase. Remember to pack the hooks. When we get there, I simple unroll it and put it on the outside of the bathroom door. It’s SO easy for everyone to find their things. When not on vacation, we store this in the suitcase so we can always find it (and the hooks). 

We pack a car basket. It has snacks, headphones, iPads that are fully charged and have a movie or two downloaded onto them, vomit sleeves, a stuffie and lovie for each kid, paper towels, and some grocery bags for trash. Each kid gets their blanket in the car so it’s one less thing to try to squeeze into the suitcase. 

A swim bag is packed with everything we need for the pool as soon as we get there. We typically try to arrive early…well before check-in time. We see if our rooms are ready. If they are, we start to unload. If they are not, we have lunch then start using the pool. They will usually let you start using the amenities before your room is ready as long as you have a reservation. I bring a big zipper bag to toss wet suits in if needed. Don’t forget the goggles, a swim diaper, a dry diaper, flip flops, cover ups, sunscreen (if needed) and pool toys. These reusable water balloons are a hit at EVERY pool we visit. Highly recommend. Although, skip the blue because they can be hard to find in the water. 

We tend to do breakfast, snacks and either lunch or dinner in our room. So I bring our picnic caddy. I have this thing loaded year round. We bring it to the pool, I grab it for book club on the patio, and I fill it to bring to LLR. My friend turned me onto this specific one. I like it because it holds everything including full size paper plates and straws. 

We plan for entertainment. Many hotels, and this resort in particular, have little
nooks and tables placed about the property. We like to order a pizza and play some family games. But we also know that our kids like to watch a movie to unwind at night. This is an older hotel with some rooms sans smart TV. So we bring our extra Fire Stick to access our streaming services. We store it along with our other electronics and extra cords so it is always ready to go. Just remember to bring the remote and store the batteries separately. We also have a bag of spare chargers and blocks that we toss in our suitcase. 

We prepare for crappy beds. This place is OLD. We’ve never had a comfortable bed there. At home, we have a top-of-the line adjustable bed that is hard to leave. We found these inflatable wedges a few years ago on Amazon. We store these in the suitcase, too, since we only need them when we travel. 

I still loosely meal plan. We have been doing this for a while and know that our kids aren’t leaving the pool to sit in a restaurant. So we plan to have sandwiches at a table near the pool for lunch. We will have cereal and fruit for breakfast. One night we will head out for dinner but another we might order in pizza. And everyone will want a million snacks. We plan for it and put in an order for pick up the afternoon we arrive. This way we aren’t hauling it all with us. I go for easy-to-grab and go items like yogurt tubes, precut cheese with crackers, individual bags of chips and mini cereal boxes, and an 8 pack of a favorite soda. This helps to ensure that we aren’t hauling it all back with us. I do bring a cooler bag for any odds and ends we might want to bring home. 

My very best hack for traveling with your kids is…if you have a cleaning person, schedule them to clean while you’re gone so that you return to a freshly cleaned house. Because it’s spring and I am desperate for a spring cleaning, I asked her if she offers deep cleans. And OMG!  She does. I’ll strip the beds before we leave, pick up the house so she can CLEAN clean and leave some money on the counter. When we get home, we will return to a spic-and-span house. All we will have to do is empty our garbage bags of dirty clothes directly into the washing machine and put away the suitcase. While my husband is driving up to the resort, I’ll place a grocery order to get delivered the afternoon of our return. This way we are not raw dogging it the rest of the week.

I hope if you ever find yourself traveling with a crew of people spanning a century, you can benefit from my many years of experience. Drop any brilliant tips you have in the comments.

Oh. And don’t forget to try to take an annual picture!

I am writing for the 18th annual Slice of Life challenge presented by Two Writing Teachers.