More travel tips with twin toddlers

+ Don't forget to pack: Stain remover stick - though you need to put it in your checked bag, not the carry-on. I had one confiscated from me at security once since it broke the 3 oz. liquid and gel rule. These are infinitely handy since washing machines and soaking buckets aren't often at hand on trips. A small bottle of dishwashing soap - It's great to have this around for washing out bottles and sippy cups. Both of these are things that you can of course buy at a drug soter or supermarket, but it's nice to just know you have them.

+ Don't plan on eating at full service sit down restaurants (unless this works for you ordinarily). My girls have lots of energy and while we've found it's OK to go to the kinds of restaurants where you order at the counter and then get your food, we've not yet had a successful meal with the girls at a full-on full-service restaurant. One or the other just has to get up and run around, or they start crying form being confined so long, or they're hungry and the food just isn't coming. So our current M.O. is to eat picnic style breakfast and lunch and then eat dinner after the girls go to bed. If we're with family, we take turn leaving one person with the sleeping girls and everyone else goes and enjoys a fully relaxing dinner and brings back take out to the remaining person. If we're just the two of us, one person goes out and brings back take out.

+ We've found that for us, small town destinations are a lot easier to manage with twin toddlers than big cities. This was a surprise because we always preferred going to big cities for all the activities accessible in a small area and lots of things to see generally. But something my mom said about my childhood in a small town sums it up. She told my husband that I used to do cartwheels down the aisles of our local grocery store. And that's the thing, kids can do that kind of thing in a small town without the kind of sidelong glances you'd get in a big city. And our goal now is to go wherever we'll feel most welcome with all the chaos we bring in tow.

+ The longer the better. A little counterintuitive, but once you get somewhere it just pays to settle in enjoy.