Vacation must-haves

We got back on Saturday from our week long trip to Madison and Chicago visiting extended family. This trip on the front end involved a 2 hour car ride, half hour shuttle to airport, hour long wait at gate,  2.5 hour plane ride, shuttle to car rental, and then a 2 hour car ride to Madison to top it all off!


Here are the most successful items we brought along that helped to keep our sanity and our girls happy (in no particular order):

1. Index cards and sheets of stickers. These came in handy for the last half hour of the plane ride when girls were about to hit crisis mode. Addie carefully placed hers to make a story about a bee and a fairy. I peeled of the stickers for Calla and handed them to her one at a time while she made a pig pile collage of animals.

 2. Plastic stacking cups with weeble-wobbley key chain frog tucked inside.

3. A roll of blue painters masking tape. Great for impromptu games on hotel room floor or for giving child little pieces and having them put it wherever they want.

4. Mini slinky (only brought one....wish I'd brought two!)

5. iPad... great for watching this:

 and playing this:

Free App: Monster Chorus

6. Color Wonder paper and markers. For those that don't know, these are markers that look clear on all surfaces except for on the special paper.... where they magically appear a particular color. We brought a generic blank notebook with markers that both girls had fun with. But G.A. Jill gave Addie a Color Wonder Glittery Fairies coloring book that made the trip home extra special!