Quick Tip Tuesday

My criteria for airline amusement is it has to be small, quiet, relatively inexpensive (read: replaceable), and something that will pass inspection (no toy guns, things filled with water or gel, etc.)  I love to shop educational toy stores because they usually have lots of small toys in bins for under $5 and small sticker books full of re-positionable stickers.  Another favorite is the dollar isle at Target.  You can find masks, crayons, wooden toys, all kinds of stuff if you keep your eye out.  But, my all time favorite place for this kind of shopping is the party store.  Talk about cheap!  20 plastic Slinkies for $2?  Sign me up!  It's also where I first found the best airplane toy of all time.  I've since found them at Wal-Mart, Target, and Oriental Trading Co. but you'll always find them at party stores.  Now, go forth and shop!

Rookie Moves

We just got back from a trip to Hawai'i.  I was really excited about this one since I had picked up this blog recently and I got "the big head," as they say in the South.  Let's talk about all the rookie mistakes I made, shall we?

Rookie Move #1:
I didn't follow my list.  I had things like sandals for the boys, ultra mega super absorbent leak-locking mattresses for me (with wings), and my "sights to see" list on there.  None of these things made it into the bag.  I had packed the boys some flip-flops so they were OK, but it would have been nice for them to have had shoes a little easier to walk in.  Both of them had flip-flop related parking lot vs. knee interactions.  We had to run to the store for pads, and I asked my neighbor/catsitter to send me my list in an e-mail.  All things that were an inconvenience but not a big deal in the long run.

Rookie Move #2:
I didn't fully unpack in the hotel room. As a result, my husband didn't have a belt all week, and I forgot I'd packed dress shoes and wore flip-flops to a fancy dinner.

Rookie Move #3:
I didn't bring enough sunscreen. My youngest is allergic to most sunscreens and I didn't bring enough of the one he's not allergic to.  The company has changed formulas so though I could find the "same" thing almost everywhere we went, we couldn't use it.  I used something new on him and he ended up being itchy and swollen for three days.  So, we spent a fair amount of time researching sunscreen ingredients, brands, and places to get them on our island.  Poor little itchy kid... But I had packed Benadryl cream, so that was good.

And finally, Rookie Move #4 (it's a doozy):
I forgot the food bag.  I did pack my beautiful, awesome food bag.  I just didn't bring it.  I realized what had happened when we got to the airport.  I called our neighbors and gave them the perishable items.  We ended up spending gobs of money on breakfast in the airport and buying meals on the plane.  But over all, the boys did very well.  I'm glad I didn't forget it when they were younger, but at 3 and 5 they did great.

The Good News:
Even though I should have known better, all those mistakes were just minor inconveniences.  We still had a fantastic vacation!