Are you planning on flying this summer? Then check out the latest security measures and adjust accordingly. Don't have your son who can't tie his shoes yet wear lace-up sneakers if he may need to remove them to get through security. I'll share our trick for getting the whole family and belongings through security and back together. First Dad hands all belongings to Mom, then he goes through, hands free. If he gets stopped for a detailed check, we all wait on the other side until he's cleared. Mom sends each child through, and once all are secured and accounted for, then Mom sends the stuff: purses, cameras, water bottles, cell phones … whatever we needed to empty our pockets of. Dad collects the stuff, distributes it, and Mom walks through, hands free (and is immediately loaded up, because doesn't Mom carry Everything?). Nobody gets lost, nothing gets stolen, because there's no confusion.

Another thing we've done, particularly in busy airports (and I've seen others doing this also) is to dress alike. There's no doubt we are all together. No tantrumming child screaming for help can cause a major disturbance and involve security when we're all wearing matching T-shirts with a family photo on the front (especially a bad one!). I also can't disown that same child, so there's a trade-off.

On a plane, your normally quiet child who can amuse himself for hours with books or coloring will suddenly become a chatterbox, peppering you with questions for the entire duration of the trip. I usually forewarn any seatmates by introducing my boys as Screech and Drone. If they behave well, then all are pleasantly surprised. After our last trip, which included a 90-minute wait after we landed, one passenger was so happy she gave my son a $5 bill. All I got was a compliment.

We're also veterans of the Family Road Trip, averaging 2500 miles, round trip. While it's nice to spend so much time together as a family, in the close confines of a vehicle, it's best to use the largest vehicle you own. Space is a premium, every cubic inch counts, and so do extra cup holders. In order to stay on speaking terms by the time we reach our destination, there must be enough room for heads to slump over without one child drooling on the next. Yet the co-pilot (that's me!) must also be able to reach anything that has fallen under any of the seats while safely strapped into my own (yeah, right!). Rest areas should never be passed without careful consideration of all the necessary variables: hunger, thirst, and potty breaks. Remember, you can't make good time if you have to stop and clean up.

There are certain situations that must be avoided, however tempting. Dying to try out that slightly fancy restaurant in the hotel? Think again, especially if you have small children (although teenagers can be equally embarrassing when they're tired and hungry). No matter how cute your little darlings are, they're bound to get you bounced for finding new and creative uses for all those little forks. Likewise, any place, however casual it may appear, is a disaster in the making when you start off with just a thirty minute wait. Once you've waited for your table, then waited for someone to clear your table, then waited for a server to come take your drink order (and she rushed off before you could tell her you're ready to order the meal) it's over an hour before you actually see any food, and it's being served to the family that was seated after you were. My advice: order pizza, delivered to your hotel room.

We solved the inevitable breakfast dilemma by choosing hotels that promote their own "free continental breakfast" instead of a full service restaurant. Unlike the donut holes and mini muffins long associated with the continental breakfast, we're finding more of a breakfast buffet, often including at least one hot item. A number of hotel chains have even added a self-serve waffle cooker to their assortment, and after our last trip I'm getting pretty good at it.

A note about choosing hotels … before you ask for the suite, ask for the fridge! It may be included in a regular old double room, along with the coffee maker in the bathroom (and I still don't know why they put it in there). Once you've made sure that the pool will be open late enough to actually wear out the little tykes, the fridge can be a lifesaver. In-room coffee is nice, but it's more likely that a little someone is going to need a cup of chocolate milk before bed than a late night cup o' joe. And I've never had a hotel vending machine work properly, as in takes dollar bills, after hours, even if the selection was desirable (Diet Root Beer doesn't count).

Once the angels are sleeping, secure the room as if they will be up hours before you are, trying to escape and go exploring, because they will. If you've never had a sleepwalker in the family before, this is when they start. If they normally sleep through the night, in their own beds, they'll be all over you, all night long. In fact, they will do just about everything they've never done before. Because you're traveling, disrupting schedules (however much you try to stick to them) and trying new things, they will too, only not in the ways you would like.

Once you've worked out the traveling, eating and sleeping arrangements, there's nothing left to do but relax and have fun. So go. Have fun. And remember that whatever goes wrong, and you know something will, at least it'll make a good story for when you return.

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