First Vacation Off the Farm!

We took our very FIRST family vacation off the farm this year! So fun! Sharing some things we did around the homestead prior to traveling to help make our travel a little less of a burden for our help at home while we were gone. Also sharing some of the things we invested in for our travel time to keep our little farmers' busy minds occupied!

Prep around the Farm:

• Gave pens a deep clean the weekend before

• Installed extra feeders and drinkers with 7 days' worth of feed and water.

• Installed cameras to monitor animal behavior.

• Hired a house sitter who was willing to collect eggs and take care of dogs and rabbits.

One of the biggest setbacks for those looking to start homesteads is the responsibility of what to do with all these dang animals when you simply just NEED a vacation! With 50 laying hens, 30 brooding chicks, 2 mating bunnies and 2 dogs, escaping the farm for a few days took a little careful planning. Thankfully at this time, we have no larger livestock animals under our care. We also have a wonderful support system behind us of people willing to help, and a house sitter who is willing to stay at night with our dogs and walk through the animals twice daily.

Before we left, we cleaned out all our animal pens, provided fresh bedding, and fresh drinkers. We also installed additional feeders to help reduce the responsibility while we were gone. This allowed our help to focus on just checking our animals and collecting eggs, and not doing a full round of chores each evening. We also have installed cameras over all our animals. This allowed us to specifically monitor our chicks in their brooders. This helped us keep an eye on daily behavior and for us to determine if their environment was too cold/warm and advise our help on how to handle the situation, as the outdoor temperature fluctuated 50+ degrees over the course of our trip. The kids also enjoyed being able to monitor their animals from afar.

Off the farm prep:

Traveling with Toddlers Links

• Backpacks

• Lap Trays with dry erase board

• Whiskware Snack Tumbler (Disney) (Pixar)

• Simply Modern 18 oz water Bottle

• Fire Tablet w/ Memory Card

• Headphones

• Bento Box

One of the hardest parts of traveling with farm kids is that farm kids are used to being BUSY. They are always on the go and used to using their hands and moving! These kids need the hustle and bustle, and they don't do well in places that require a lot of silent sitting and waiting... like an airport gate or on an airplane. Above is a list we put together of the things we found to be helpful to survive this first trip and keep these busy minds occupied!

First, we upgraded backpacks to more of a small child sized backpack so they could fit more items in for the trip. We also invested in the activity mats pictured on the bottom right. These mats come with a dry erase board, markers and have two drink holders, which paired perfectly with our water bottles and snack cups. They worked wonders on the plane of keeping things in front of the kids and off the floor. Inside the backpacks, we packed a variety of books, coloring supplies, sticker books, their tablets and headphones, bento boxes, and a blanket.

Since these kids have been born, I have been so ADAMENT against tablets. We are still considering ourselves a tablet free household. I found the tablets on sale and invested in them solely for the plane ride/airport. They worked perfect. We utilized them along with our Disney+ app, Hulu and the memory cards to download TV series and movies. After downloading completed, we turned off the WIFI function. The kids are only able to use their tablets with the Disney+ and Hulu apps and the downloaded items. We have no games or any other functions. It was just enough to keep their busy minds occupied on the plane ride in between coloring and books. They have only asked for them ONCE since our trip. WIN!

Lastly, we packed Bento Boxes full of fresh fruit and sandwiches for the kids going both ways. For the price of the box, they more than paid for themselves, saving us on expensive airport food, and they were a much healthier option than what we probably would have found on our travels. The kids were OBSESSED with them. They thought they were so cool and looked forward to using them both on the trip to and from our vacation. 10/10 recommend. Our kids have asked us when they can pack them again. LOL.

Other basics we packed in our carry-ons:

• Stroller – Gate Checked after traveling through the airport.

• Diaper bag with one change of clothes per child

• Backpack for each child

• Backpack for each adult with one change of clothes and electronics

As recommended, we chose a shorter 5-day trip with direct flights. Our flights were around 4.5 hours each and we arrived at the airport approximately 1.5 hours before boarding. Everyone is different, but I would rather chance myself being on the later side for boarding than have to entertain kids at the airport for hours. For convenience, we chose to park at Midway Airport. It was a little more expensive than other park and fly options, but it was so convenient to hope right on the elevator and cruise up to ticketing. We also chose to rent a vehicle at our destination with car seats provided for easier travels. Hope these tips help you on your next vacation with littles off the farm!

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