Help me plan a mini vacay with a 1 yr old.

[Deleted]

I would do an overnight, but kids tend to sleep like champs in the car.

[doctorsbaby]

There is no way in hell I would take 3 hr each way day trip with DD! She doesn't sleep worth a crap in the car and has an extreme dislike of being strapped in her carseat. It would have to be an overnight, preferably 2 nights for me to do it.

[Deleted]

You are crazy for even entertaining that thought! I highly recommend an overnighter for Charleston. Also, DC sounds lovely but try to drive at night when the babies are sleeping. DS goes nuts if he's strapped down too long now that he's walking :-(

[dcrunnergirl]

Last summer when our LOs were almost a year, we drove 3 hours for a day trip to the beach.

We thought for sure they'd sleep on the way there, but they didn't. We had fun at the beach, but then they NEEDED to sleep and we could not get them to nap in our beach tent, so we had to head home so they could sleep in the car. We had fun seeing the kids at the beach and the ride home was a nice time to just sit and talk with DH, but it was a bit crazy. Here's my blog post about a 3-hour day trip to the beach with two 1-year olds:

pipeandfletch.blogspot.com/2011/08/day-at-beach.html (yes, I'm a shameless AW.)

[Jem]

This is a tough one. I don't think the one day sounds that fun because that is a TON of car time and you'd have to transfer a sleeping baby from the car to the crib, which does not always go smoothly.

Is your friend worried about staying overnight with everyone in one room? DS was not the best sleeper, even at 1, and especially in a strange place, so staying overnight would be stressful because I would have been worried about DS keeping everyone up.

Is there a fun city or beach town more like an 1/1.5 away?

[hocus]

I wouldn't do what you're friend suggests.

We live about 2.5 hours from family. I've take the kids to see them at several points. When my older child was about 7 or 8 months we did a 3 days trip similar to what you are suggesting. We drove up and crashed at the hotel, did several low key things each day but had flexible plans and at least one nap was at the hotel.

At this point I have done 2 day trips with my toddler (~2.5 y) and it is OK. She'll sleep in a PNP so we drive up early with a video grab lunch and she takes a nap (and I visit with family). We'll then to a kid thing, have dinner and head home (with videos). It is a long day for everyone and it usually means a cranky next day. This really only works because I am visiting people at their homes. I wouldn't go on a beach trip with my toddler she's a pretty good kid. We're going to have her skip her nap next month for a party and I'm really sort of dreading it.

[annieh2]

That doesn't sound like a fun day to me. I know that the trip there would probably be okay, but the return trip could be horrible if the kids travel anything like my son. But if you child does well sleeping in the car it might be doable.

I would definitely prefer some sort of a shorter trip if you only do a day or staying over at least 1 night.