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Annie! A classic for the whole family, always. Kids were 7 and 9 when we saw it, and we were coming out of an obsession with the movies, which made it extra fun!

I love the stage version of Beauty and the Beast! It's just similar enough to the familiar Disney movie for kids to understand everything, but just different enough to keep it fresh. The extra songs are some of my favorites.....and there's nothing like the magic of watching the beast turn into a prince right before your eyes!

Consistency is a key factor !

Give yourself plenty of time for the routine! I think starting an hour before we actually want the kids to be asleep has worked best for our family.

Though dining out is part of the travel experience and something to embrace, we never fail to make a quick grocery store run on day 1 of the trip, especially for breakfast items so we can wake up and casually eat at "home": cereal, milk, bagels, fruit, coffee, etc. This is less expensive (and less time consuming) than eating out every single morning.

Join the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) reciprocal network. Register with a flat yearly fee at your local children's museum (it pays itself off very fast!) and you'll receive 50% off at sooo many children's museums nationwide. (You'll earn free membership at your local museum, too.) Where are you headed? Find a children's museum in the ACM network here: https://findachildrensmuseum.org/

If there are six apples and you take away four, how many apples do you have? Four.

The more you take away from me, the bigger I get. What am I? A hole.

Four square has been the go-to outdoor game for us. Draw one large square (8-10 feet across) with chalk and divide it into four equal squares. Squares are numbered 1-4, and one player stands inside each square. Player 4 bounces and taps a playground ball into an opponent's square to start play. When the ball enters any player's square, he or she must tap the ball into another square. Any player who misses the ball, lets it bounce more than once, or sends it out of bounds must move to square 1, and all other players move up one square.

Sharks and minnows is fun, and it gets played a lot at school. Players stand along a starting line, and must reach the finish line without being tagged by the shark. Any minnows who are tagged by the shark become sharks, too. Repeat racing across until all remaining minnows have been tagged. The winner is the last minnow to be tagged.

Basic tools, and duct tape. My mini hammer, screw driver, and roll of duct tape came in handy so many more times than I could have imagined when I was in college.

Laundry basket or backpack, and laundry detergent.

Trail mix or mixed nuts are a great, protein-filled snack to keep hunger at bay, and easy to pack and eat in the car.

Crackers are a great starchy road trip snack to have on hand, especially if you have anyone who gets car sick.

Looking for seashells is a classic beach activity for kids that mine love to do every single time we go. I usually set a limit for how many they can bring home each time, and have learned to designate a special jar or mesh bag as the "seashell" holder to avoid creating an entire beach at home!

My boys love digging in the sand, using toy trucks, shovels, and sand toys of any kind.

What did the shark say when it ate the clown fish? Tastes funny.

Why does a duck have feathers? To cover his butt quack

I bought peepee teepees and used one once. Receiving blankets. Used maybe once or twice. Baby nail file! As much as I have to admit it...just get clippers and suck up the fear of cutting their nails. The files don’t work very well.

Blankets, quilts. Used swaddling blankets only.