Carrie Underwood Talks Life on the Road With Son Isaiah

Carrie Underwood has gone on tour plenty of times before, but one major way her current Storyteller Tour is different than her previous shows is the fact that she has her son, 18-month-old Isaiah, out on the road with her.

The country singer recently spoke to PEOPLE about her time on tour and dished about what she does to keep a sense of normalcy during her days on the road.

“We travel with a washer-dryer. Doing my own laundry makes me feel like a human,” Underwood explained. “I bring my dogs, which is a little piece of home,” she continued. “And I have a cooking surface on the bus because I like to cook as much as possible. Room service gets old.”

She also does her own hair and makeup before shows, explaining that the alone time is important to her.

“I do my own hair and makeup on the road,” the singer said.” It’s another thing that … I’m a person and I’m a lady, and I like to do my own makeup and hair. On red carpets, somebody else has to do it for me because the lights can do weird stuff with your face. But on the road, it’s my zen time before the show.”

Underwood also talked about bringing Isaiah on tour, revealing that she had her bus specially outfitted for her young son.

“My bus is outfitted for him — he has a crib in the back, and everything is safe there,” she said. “That’s a whole other thing — when you’re in a hotel, they probably wonder why I put the big plant in the closet. It’s because he’ll grab it.

The singer also dished on what she and her son like to do on their days off, sharing that they look for family-friendly activities in whatever city they happen to be in.

“On days off, we look for parks and zoos and aquariums,” she said, adding that she likes to go to farmer’s markets, co-ops and more to buy groceries while on tour.

Underwood later spoke about her husband, Nashville Predators player Mike Fisher, explaining how the pair stay in touch despite their busy schedules.

“We FaceTime almost every day so [Mike] can have a little interaction with Isaiah,” she said. “He comes out sometimes. I look for times when his schedule has him playing at home, and we might send Isaiah home to be with him so he can have some time with him.”

“That has to be hard, for him to be away from Isaiah. I have never been on that side of it,” Underwood added. “They need their time together because Isaiah loves his daddy!”