When my brother announced his engagement to a woman from Virginia and asked our three children to be in his wedding last summer, we began making plans for the 5,000-mile trek to Washington, D.C., and beyond. We decided if we were going to take a plane that far, we might as well see as much of the East Coast as we could, in our time frame, on our budget.

We consulted maps and books and decided to fly into D.C. early and drive south to Shenandoah National Park, on to Colonial Williamsburg, up the coast, then circle back into Washington for museums and monuments and wedding celebrations.

Before we left, we took the children to the library and researched landmarks and monuments. We rented a video about Washington. We looked at dollar bills and identified presidents. We read about some of the accomplishments of early presidents and we talked about civil rights, the Boston Tea Party and the Declaration of Independence. I took a risk and told my children, ages 5, 8 and 9, they have the right to free speech.

Anna, Jon and Sophia Pirl of Hawai'i visited Washington's Reflecting Pool during a two-week vacation to the East Coast. Courtesy of Pirl family

We talked about how people lived in colonial times, reiterating at every chance how easy they have life now. We talked about how people could live without refrigerators, without electricity, without airplanes. We learned the names and stories of some characters we might encounter on tours.

We researched museums and picked our top 10. We bought a membership to the American Automobile Association and another one to the Smithsonian Institution, for discounts at shops and restaurants along the Smithsonian-lined Mall. We made airline and hotel reservations. And we called the car-rental company to request a minivan.

Snag one: We were told there were no minivans available at Dulles International Airport. However, at no extra charge, the agent would upgrade us to an SUV. Oh well, I thought, be flexible. We signed on for the SUV.

We made arrangements to have the pets fed, the mail stopped, the garbage taken out and the paper picked up. We shut our front door and left at 8:30 Monday night.

Being locked in an airplane for hours is both mentally and physically challenging for children. Through trial and error, we have developed a few strategies to make long trips more bearable.

We try to schedule flights out of Honolulu in the evening, when the kids will likely sleep. We spend the day at the beach, and then we keep the kids awake and occupied until we board. Sometimes it takes them less than an hour to fall asleep.

If an evening flight is not possible, we keep their curious minds occupied by bringing a combination of interactive, solitary and team activities and by taking periodic breaks to stretch. Break long flights into 30-minute segments. When kids start fidgeting, switch activities. Start by talking about the trip, checking out the plane, fiddling with headsets and getting comfortable. When they get bored, read them a book, then play cards, then let them play video games and switch to chess or checkers when they tire. Have them write in their journals about what they are looking forward to on the trip. Hopefully, there will be a two-hour reprieve with an age-appropriate movie. And finally, with any luck, a long nap for both kids and adults.

We book aisle seats so we can get up and walk through the plane without disturbing others. The best seat assignment for the five of us is to occupy the three seats by the window and two across the aisle in the same row. We can easily rotate seats and put an adult between each child if we need to.

I used to pack and carry all their stuff, but as they got older, it was easier to have them bring their own books and toys in backpacks. My husband and I pack essentials in our carry-on. We also pack a full set of extra clothes for everyone in case of delays, accidents and spills. I can tell you from experience that it is miserable to fly for hours in an air-cooled cabin while soaking wet. I also bring everyone a sweatshirt and a pair of socks. We also pack our favorite comforter because there never seems to be a pillow or blanket for everyone.

Even if kids are well-behaved, occupied or even asleep on the plane, keeping them together, and alive, while wrestling with the luggage, the rental car, the drive through unfamiliar territory and finally the hotel registration is enough to fry tired, hungry childen and their parents. A 10-hour flight easily turns into 16 hours of travel time if you count from the time you leave your house until the time you reach your hotel. We are usually wiped out at the other end.

Remembering this, for once, I had booked our first night at a nearby hotel only 25 minutes from Dulles and on the way to Shenandoah.

By 4:30 Tuesday afternoon, we had landed and were crowding into the five-seat "mini" SUV that I had been persuaded to rent. We crammed in everything, including the kids, and hit the road. After screaming at the kids only briefly — more because I was starving, tired and had missed a turnoff, than for anything they were actually doing to each other while squashed in the back seat — we arrived in the historic town of Manassas to eat and recuperate for the night.

When we travel with the children, we have a few small details that we have come to see as necessities. One is a hotel with a swimming pool, so that after long flights we can work off some of the frustration that comes from being cooped up for hours.

Another is a cooler. To keep costs down, we make picnic lunches during vacations and save eating out for dinners and treats. Having a cooler also means snacks, juice and cold water are readily available during those long stretches of highway or traffic jam that comes out of nowhere. Because our travel cooler had seen better days, we sent it to the dump before we left Hawai'i and vowed to buy one when we arrived on the Mainland.

While unpacking the mini SUV at the hotel, we realized just how much stuff we had managed to cram into the small vehicle they had given us. Just an hour before at the rental lot, when we were still dazed and confused from the journey, we hadn't thought to argue for the one shiny van I saw in the parking lot. Now I regretted that. I realized there was no way the three kids could sit, knees touching, for two weeks. And a cooler wasn't going to fit anywhere in that SUV.

I had a brief moment when I thought maybe we didn't need a cooler after all. Then another moment of confusion when I concluded that perhaps the children could take turns holding a fully loaded cooler for the entire 500-mile road trip.

Eventually, my husband brought me to my senses and we divided up the children according to those who were likely to nap during another car ride and those who were likely to fight during another car ride. My husband headed off to the pool with the fighting pair of the three, while my youngest and I called the rental company to procure their nearest location with an available van, planning to buy a cooler, food and some drinks. (Plan B)

Later, we met at the pool; we swam, ate dinner, had a refreshingly cold drink and slept.

What a difference a good night's sleep can make! The next day the sun was bright, the kids were separated by an extra row of seats and we had a cooler full of snacks. Life was good and we hit the road singing.