To summarize: we drove 12 hours to Maine, stayed in a cute house for a week, went on bike rides, hikes and boat rides to explore the area, and then 12 hours back home.
The drive was hell. Maybe not quite - but if you are picturing happy singing kids passing snacks to each other and quietly playing "I spy", you are wrong. Kids hitting each other, whining, complaining, and screaming. Whatever games I had in mind, whatever little activities and books I brought - on the way to Maine, they worked for all of 30 minutes. Total. What saved everyone sanity were, in that order (1) Snacks, (2) Occasional stops to stretch our legs and have snacks, and (3) Audio books. On the way to Maine, we listened to "Pippi Longstocking". On the way back, we listened to "Matilda". To be fair, there was maybe a combined of 30 minutes of actual fighting and screaming, off and on, each way - but it was more than I thought. Also, the age gap... oh the age gap. While the older two were thrilled to listen to those audio books, the 3 year old was ... not quite so enthusiastic. Whenever she would get bored, she would start singing. Loudly. Which pretty much made it impossible for the other two to hear anything else. So I had to entertain her with snacks, stickers, and take frequent breaks from the stories.
My husband did all the driving. I was the entertainer, snack provider, and conflict resolver. I offered to drive (even demanded!) but he refused. I suspect he was much happier driving than dealing with the kids.
I'll have to write more about our adventures in Maine later - and these were very much full blown adventures! We had fun! Every day was something new and we managed to hit that balance where we did a lot but not too much. I also discovered that my older daughter was quite capable of enjoying hiking - as long as it involved some rock climbing, berry picking, and tide pool hunting.
I am very curious to hear how other families manage car trips...
