You’ve been planning this for months, maybe even all year. A whole week (or two, or just a few days) visiting a beach, campground or record-size ball of twine. This is it: summer vacation with the family. What could be more relaxing?

For starters, not being repeatedly badgered with “Are we there yet?” Although responses like “no” or the parenting classic “soon” do have their place, they aren’t nearly as satisfying as the peace you’ll experience when young Edward or Suri are truly entertained. What will you do when there’s a backup on the freeway or an hour-long wait for the bumper cars? Be glad you read this, that’s what.

“Are we there yet?”

After an hour in the minivan, when you’ve run through your entire sing-along repertoire, you’re fresh out of cows to count, and slug bug punches become increasingly violent in the back seat, you’ll want to turn to your technology to keep it quiet back there.

Of course, portable DVD players were designed for just this type of travel. Many have dual earphone jacks and screens that attach to the back of a car seat. You can also have a whole system installed in your car. Just pop in Despicable Me, and you’ve bought yourself a minimum of 90 minutes of road trip bliss. Or, if you enjoy irony, pop in this movie.

You can go “old school” with a portable DVD Player or “new school” with a Samsung Galaxy.

Of course, you can always toss your smartphone or tablet into the back seat. There are some great apps that bring new life to the classic car games, like the License Plate Game, Road Trip Bingo or iSpy. Maybe give the always hilarious Droid Libs a try. It allows you to share your creations with the world (but only if you'd consider them okay for grandma to read). If your kids are thinking new school games, check out Angry Birds, or Doodle Jump.

“When will we get on the plane?”

When there’s been a flight cancellation and a weather delay, the kids are bound to get squirrely fast. Even if you’ve packed activities for the plane, you won’t want to use up all that entertainment before they get on board. An airport has plenty of room to move, so you’ll want to get them on their feet.

A point-and-shoot digital camera can get them moving and energized. You can create a scavenger hunt game, by making a list of common airport sightings and have them take pictures of what they find. Or have a game to see who can photograph the most objects of a certain color or shape. Or, if you’ve got a shoot-and-share camcorder handy, encourage them to start creating videos about their trip to share on a video blog.

Hand your child a camera or camcorder and let them capture the wonders of the airport… And by wonders we mean Chili’s Too.

For airport phone fun, My Paper Plane is an arcade-type Android app that lets your little one pilot a paper plane through a series of obstacles. Or, to unleash your kid’s inner air traffic controller, there’s the popular iPhone app Flight Control. (Although it’s probably not a good idea to play that one ON the plane.)

“Will it ever be our turn?”

Waiting (and dealing with waiting) is an inherent part of the summer vacation experience. You wait at the Teacup Ride. You wait for snow cones. You wait outside restrooms. But time flies when you’ve got a handheld game with you.

The Nintendo DSi gaming system is so compact it will fit into a pocket, and it has games suitable for all ages. The little ones might enjoy a trip to the zoo with Elmo. If your kids are into Pokémon or The Last Airbender, you might have trouble tearing them away when it’s finally their turn. Beyond games, the DSi has two cameras (one to snap photos of you, the other to take pics of your family) and is Internet-enabled so you can communicate and game with friends back home.

The two cameras on the DSi are great for goofing around but the megapixel count isn’t stellar, so they won’t replace your digital camera.

The Sony PSPgo system is smaller than the original PSP and has 16 gigs of memory, with room for additional memory sticks. This means you can download movies, music and games, with no need to keep track of any discs or cartridges. It’s also Internet-enabled, so if the kids are bored of talking to you, they can pop on their Bluetooth headset and Skype with friends at home.

“We’re soooo bored!”

When the weather isn’t cooperating, and you are cooped up in your hotel room, step up with creative, vacation-right diversions. Avoid a massive sulk-fest by getting the young ones to plug into these sanity savers.

This is the perfect time to pull out your laptop. Having a break in the action gives you time to start working on your photos. You can get the kids involved by helping them create a digital scrapbook. Or add extra fun by letting them edit the photos with special effects. Just be sure to make copies and save the originals before you let them go to town.

With a netbook with built-in wireless, you can hop online and download lots of games, from puzzles to ones that allow kids to build their own ranch or run a restaurant. Or have the kids hop onto the Weather Channel website and track the storms. You can also keep everyone entertained by streaming movies. Maybe check out Clark Griswold's vacation disaster. It's got to be worse than yours.

This HP Netbook has wireless and a webcam built right in. Plus, it weighs less than three pounds.