J and M + j + s: Traveling with two

Julian's sister got married a few weeks ago, so we took our first flight as a family of four. We traveled with Josh when he was 3 months, and of course as a toddler--so at least we knew what to expect from each child. We were happy to have taken a few weekend trips this summer, so we had an idea of what worked for us in terms of "stuff" to bring. Here are our tips and overall thoughts for how to travel successfully with 2 small children.

1. Pack light- We found that we needed to be able to manage all the bags, carseats, stroller, kids, etc. with our 2 hands. While they have those over priced carts you can buy, they were never where we needed them so it was critical to be able to manage all of the luggage. We stayed in a house and we knew they had a pack and play, so we didn't bring one. We also knew we would have a washer and dryer and were able to bring much less spare clothing/accessories. We rented a carseat for Josh so that we only had to bring one for Sam. Overall we had 2 larger rolling bags and a carseat to check and 3 backpacks plus a stroller to carry on.
2. Carry both kids when possible- We have both a carrier for Sam and a toddler carrier for Josh. We wore Josh as much as possible in the airport, even through security and it made everything much smoother. It was great to have our hands free and not worry about him running away. When we wore both kids, we used the stroller for our carry on bags.
3. Bring a friend :-). We had Heather fly with us on the way to Nashville, and it was great having an extra adult to help carry stuff or watch the kids.

4. Plan everything. We arrived in Nashville around lunch time, hungry, cranky, and having skipped our naps. We had no plan for where to eat, and it was very hard to figure out what to do on the fly. The rest of the weekend was pretty scheduled. We have found that we waste too much time if we don't plan in advance and then everyone gets cranky waiting around.

Overall the trip went very well. Both kids slept on the plane and were very good. Obviously traveling with kids is never easy, but we got really lucky that our first trip with 2 went so smoothly.