We will be driving to Florida, so the next thing to think about before we head out, is how we are going to pack up the van and fit everything in. This will be our second road trip with Emily, but our first one with Jackson, Olivia and Levi. In 2014, when Emily was only 6 months, we took a road trip to Texas to visit my dad, stepmom and little sister, Alexa. It was so much fun driving down and Emily did extremely well for the long car ride. We did the drive down over 3 days, stopping for 2 nights along the way, as well as frequent stops during the day. It will be very interesting to see how the drive will be this time, with 3 little ones just under 1 year and Emily who will almost be 2 1/2. It should be a lot of fun and very exciting!
I am trying to create a list of everything that we will need for Dan and I, Emily and Jackson, Olivia and Levi. After I create a list for each of us, I know I am going to have to go back and really think about whether we need it or not. You would think with a van there would be tons of room to fit everything, but with 2 adults and 4 kids all in car seats, there is little space for everything else.
I am trying to think of the biggest thing we will be bringing, which I think include the portable high chairs, the play pen and the seats for the stroller since the triplets will be out of the stage one car seats. I know they won’t fit in the trunk, so I have been looking for a storage unit to put on the roof of the van. Luckily we added on a roof rack when we bought the van to help with extra storage. I have been looking into various roof top storage units and there are so many out there to chose from. They are also really expensive! We can’t afford to spend $300-$700 on a hard box storage unit, so I am thinking the best bet would be to go for a bag style unit. I have come across a couple that I think would be good, but I want to make sure I am getting the right one and for the best deal. I also want to make sure if we go with a bag storage unit, that it is waterproof. It would be the worst thing to store something up there, only to have it soaking wet from rain when we go to take it out.
If any of you currently use a rooftop storage unit or have in the past, we would gladly take any advice on what to buy and what the best brand to buy is! We have a Dodge Grand Caravan with a roof rack if that helps too!
Once we have the extra storage, it will make things a lot easier and will give us an exact idea of the space we have available to pack everything in. I think we will have to do a couple trial runs of packing up the van before we leave, so we aren’t spending 2 hours figuring out where everything is going that morning. I guess in the end if we can’t fit everything Dan will just have to compromise and only bring a small backpack for all of his things because I will be the first to admit, I don’t know how to pack light! 😉
Now I will just continue writing my lists and hope that I can think of everything before we leave!
The Baby Gang 