Getting Ready For Spring Break Travel

I don't know if someones has already suggested this, but the mini cans of play-doh are awesome on airplanes!! Of course, the cans have to be brand new so the "doh" is soft and not crumbly (and no messes left behind)..I bring clorox wipes with me to clean everything down first. I knew I wasn't nuts when before one flight, a flight attendant saw what I was doing and smiled & said, "That's smart."

We traveled ALOT when our 3 were little; mostly car trips but it was so much easier to keep them occupied. I had a bag of treats (little toys, a new book, special snack they were not always allowed to have, etc) and every 30-60 min they got to pull one out.
Also, not sure if they still make these, but Colorforms are plastic pieces that stick everywhere (windows, tray tables, etc), pull up very easily and will keep a 2-3 year old occupied for quite a while.
Have a great time!!!

Splitters are pretty easy to come by and wonderful, but what has also made our life a lot easier is buying a set of child size headphones. My daughter couldn't keep the earbuds in and the adult size headphones always slipped off her head. This time, we bought her pink, childsized ones, and it make the movie watching part of the trip much easier.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Mdr-222Kd-Childrens-Headphones-Pink/dp/B00172M8HS

These are the ones we have for my four year old, and they aren't perfect, but they are a major improvement.

I have traveled with my daughter since she was 2 several times by myself and have found that allowing more time than I think I need allows us to enjoy the trip through the airport process so much more. It allowed me to let her down to walk to the gate and not have to hurry her along. No frustration or frazzled nerves. I found a little freedom early on for the kids goes a long way when they have to be strapped down and contained later. Plus a lot of airports have a play area for the kids now. Takes a lot of the extra energy away for the plane ride.

Hope you have a wonderful trip!!

The airlines do not like Playdough because it sticks to the fabrics/fibers of the seats and floors...so please don't bring that. HOWEVER...Silly Putty is fine...a ball/egg of silly putty and a few colored comic books and the kids will both love it...especially Simon because he can stretch out the characters for Anna. Then roll it back up into a ball and roll it out onto the next character to copy onto the silly putty. Finding comic books with lots of faces is the best thing because stretching out the copies faces on the silly putty is what the kids like the best. A small plastic box to hold all the supplies that fits under the seats and also works as a lap desk might be a thought since the seat trays don't always work for little people. Packets of wet wipes are always handy as well. Hope this helps and welcome back to North Carolina...were nothing could be finer ;)

You seem to be very organized Ali. Love the Travelmate for the car seat. what a great idea.

Get there early enough to make the airport process relaxing. Let the kids run around before you get on the plane. Also I don't usually preboard with the kids (of course this works better if someone else can take your car seat on ahead of time) - but I find the less time the kids are cooped up in their seats on the plane, the better. An extra change of clothes (for Anna AND a shirt for you, just in case!). I always keep some quart-size ziploc bags with me for containing used diapers until I can dispose of them. Definitely second the idea for a new toy for each of the kids. If this is Anna's first flight she might really enjoy a book about taking a trip on an airplane.

Good luck and have a safe and fun trip! It sounds like you will be well-prepared. :)

Ditto on ziplocks/wipes. I'm wary of bringing anything that can roll off their trays on the plane or get easily lost and cause drama. That's why we love the magnadoodle for drawing (no crayons rolling or lots of paper to carry). We bring one for each boy.

When ours were younger, I made laminated pictures and punched holes in it for them to "thread" with yarn...similar to these at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dtoys-and-games&field-keywords=lacing+cards

I think it is worth trusing the kids with an old point & shoot if you have one---to get the quality fun shots from the kids' point of view, they have to take LOTS of dud photos too. The disposable & instax film is so expensive, it's hard to let them take 10 of the same thing. And they love looking at the digi images on back. My boys have entertained each other on planes just taking photos of themselves making funny faces.

Dum Dum lollipops are great for traveling.

Have a great time with your sister!

I know that you've mentioned that Simon isn't really big into drawing, but I know that my 3-year-old loves our mini magna-doodle that we keep on hand for road trips. That might be something to investigate for Anna - they are about 6-8" wide, so they fit in most backpacks or even a purse. I love this because it's so much neater and you don't loose crayons. My daughter also loves to tear out the pages of coloring books when she's done, so this is another way to control the clutter. Perhaps Anna hasn't discovered the joys of paper ripping yet! :)

Have fun!!

Distractions and Diversions will make for a peaceful, pleasant trip. By the looks of the comments posted above, and your list of items, I'd say you are pretty much good to go!
Have fun!

Crayola has triangular shaped crayons...they are GREAT for the plane b/c they don't "roll" away.....I also had some"surprise" books that were new to read to my daughter when we flew together....that helped keep her entertained (she was barely 4 @ the time)

I have found that a pad of drawing paper is essential. You can play tic/tac/toe, write or draw. It has kept our son entertained for hours. A sticker book is always a great idea. I used to over pack snacks, now I just put a few essentials since you can always pick something up and the airlines are good at giving out snacks to the kids during the flight (at least that is my experience).

We tried the travelmate and found it cumbersome. We just gate check our car seat. We have made over a dozen cross country trips with our son and we absolutely love the CARES harness system for the plane (http://www.kidsflysafe.com/). Anna may not be quite old enough for it yet, but I would highly recommend it we started using when our son was about 3 years old.

Have a great trip!

imac slitter...can have up to 4 listening to the same thing a the same time. Found ours at the apple store. looks like a circlular thing with five or six spots to hook up headphones.

We went on a 3k mile road trip with three kids ages 5, 3, and 1 (last Summer). I had small wrapped gifts for them to open at different increments along the trip. They loved having something "new" every couple of hours.

Colorforms and Silly Putty were always hits with my kids when we traveled. Have a great time!

How about one of those books with the voice recorder in it that Chris can record... so he can "read" them a goodnight book each night?

Hi Ali!
I live in Eugene, what store did you find the snack container in, it looks great! Also, make sure you fully charge your laptop. It seems like common sense, but we took a small DVD player for our daughter on a long flight and it didn't last through our first layover. We charged it, but it didn't get turned off correctly, so the batteries wore out. If you have a layover, I would recharge the batteries at the airport. Good luck on your trip!

i would suggest lollipops, good for little ones to suck on if their ears need to pop. I have traveled at least a dozen times alone with my two boys...since the youngest was 6 months old...he's now almost 5. We now have it down to a science and people have said, I was going to offer to help you, but you were already through security.
Some tips:
I give the older one (I'd say since he's been at least 5) the job of holding the tickets/ID while I take the shoes off the younger one, load the security trays, etc. He focuses on one thing...he feels he's big helper. I know he has the tickets and I'm not worried about dropping them etc. Once we pass through the scanner he hands it back and we're good to go.
Also, once you're on the plane keep in mind Anna's feet will be able to "kick" the seat in front of her. (Per FAA regs kids in carseats needs to be by the window), so she will definiitely have someone sitting in front of her. Also DO NOT SHOW her how to turn the light/fan on/off....unless you want her playing it with the entire time.
When they were young and for whatever reason a little fussier than I would like, remember there is a lot of background noise on the plane and although it way seem loud to you, it might not be that bad.
Once on a really bad flight and I could not get the younger one to stop kicking...and the person in front of us had two empty seats next to her and she leaned back in her seat....I decided to let the younger one kick her seat....better to upset one person....who had a lot of options (In my opinion) that to upset the other 50-75 people on the plane. She was young (20ish) and I am assuming she will have kids some day and then she'll understand...
Good luck...

I always keep a new book or toy unused for the way home or in case you get stuck on the tarmac...it's always great to pull out something new! Great advice above!

I have flown with my daughter (solo) for almost 10 years.
* Take snacks
* If you can, load movies etc. on your ipod so you don't have to lug a computer around
* While you want to be prepared, one trip, I took too much and it became very difficult to hold everything. So, I try to travel real light