Thanksgiving Plans

to my mother's house we go.
We are off to lovely June Lake, California for Thanksgiving. June Lake is in the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains and is high-desert. Mono Lake -- an important bird area -- is nearby. The scenery is dramatic as the mountains on that side of the Sierra are rugged and steep. It's lovely and isolated.

Thankfully, the weather is with us -- no snow planned and the best pass (right through Yosemite National Park) is open and looks to stay open until we come home. It will take us about 6 hours to get there (with no stops). Today, I'm thinking about the drive up. We're taking our truck which means close quarters. We're leaving around 2pm or so. School gets out early on Tuesday and then Ruthie has an eye appointment. After that, we're coming home, packing up, and heading out. Should be a fun trip. We won't arrive, however, until around 10pm (because there WILL be stops!). The kids will do well on the trip but at some point boredom and bickering are inevitable. So, how to counter it . . .

Here's what I'm planning on.

• Each child will pack a small backpack with favorite toys, books, and beloved things. They'll have pillows and special blankets too to make sleeping in the car easier.
• I have bought a couple of books designed to make long car rides easier. We'll see how that goes.
  
• We bought whiteboards for the kids to use. They can use them for math, writing, drawing, etc. We've done this in the past and it was successful.
• Movie. We have an in-car DVD player now. We aren't big fans of watching movies in cars but I'm thinking that when we are in the dark for 5 hours, a movie or two will be a good thing for the kids. They can watch and then sleep. This will be our first time to try this method. It won't happen until after dark.
  

Other suggestions for keeping kids from killing each other (or causing their noise-sensative mother from killing them) will be appreciated!