on the ground and getting our rental car.
Month: March 2015 (Page 4 of 4)
We are on board, on time and Norah just spent 4 hours climbing stairs in Newark. So she is currently watching Monsters, Inc and lounging. 90% asleep already. I’ll probably not update until Tuesday night since my cell phone won’t work and I’ll have to wait for Wifi.
I’ll try to find wifi and quick update if possible.
I told you if there was interest I’d post what we are taking with us to try to entertain the little tyrant… So here you go.
These cute little REI women’s hiking bags are awesome because of all of the pockets. We had one before that was stolen.. So we bought another to replace it for the trip.
The key is flat objects for maximum items to account for her 2 minute attention span and no sound so no one kills us on the flights or in restaurants.
She is way into The Very Hungry Cateriller- so I found this very thin ColorForms on Amazon
Also, she’s just starting to draw and write (and she’s terrible at it lol) so I found a dry-erase book of tracing lines and letters so she can do it over and over again to save space.
She is also obsessed with these Finger Family videos on YouTube. (“daddy finger, daddy finger, where are you?”) so Grandma Baboo (Donna) sent finger puppets these over from Hong Kong
She also sent this awesome tape activity book. She is going to love that she can unroll and stick tape down on the pictures.
Of course, she’s in love with Frozen so we got a few Frozen themed things that she hasn’t seen yet..the highlight (and our ace in the hole) is the Frozen digital Camera. She is going to flip over this. She tries to take my camera all the time…now she gets her own.
I found a miniature play set of Frozen figures on EBay that I thought would be good for playtime and not take up much room
Also, magnet sets are awesome for the car or plane because you have to work pretty hard to get the pieces to fall off
Imagine Ink books are awesome too because they color with just water and there is no delay of the color appearing like with the Color Wonder.
One of my favorite finds was this Melissa and Doug memory game. It has tons of different insert cards, so they can always lift the flap and find something new.
I also found this party pack of mini play-doh so I just stuck a couple in the bag for something to play with on the tray table if things get rough. Haha
And lastly- the figures. I repurposed an old Makeup bag as the Mickey Mouse/Peppa Pig carrier.
Also, in her suitcase- I packed our 5 trusty “every night” books
And above all else- I have the iPad, so we have our purchased movies and all the apps as well as this amazing new feature I found that’s free!
Sites like YouTube are awesome when you have an Internet connection because each video can just keep rolling into the next.
I found a website where you can copy the link to the YouTube video and it will save off a copy onto your computer for you. You can then import it into iTunes as a “Home Video” and sink it to your iPad.
Took me a good 30-40 minutes, but I was able to grab all her favorite “go-to”s from YouTube for about 7-8 hrs of YouTube videos
The site is KeepVid
www.keepvid.com
**If you’re going to use it- watch out for the “download now” buttons that are advertisements- you want to scroll down to the bottom and save the 480p or the 720p version of the file.
I’m sure there are more user friendly sites out there, too-
Savetube.com and TubeLeecher.com look promising- but I’ve never even been to the website…so do your research first 🙂
Well, Off to bed I go.. Our ride to the airport arrives at 8:40am.
After years of business and personal travel…I like to think I’ve become quite the expert packer. If I’m going anywhere for less than a week, I can do it in a carry-on. People always ask how I can pack so “light”… But the truth is, I don’t pack light at all.
So, since this time I was packing for over three weeks to a cold destination…I thought it might be fun to capture the packing process for anyone interested.
I raided the closet and this is what I selected for the trip:
No way, right? Wrong.
In 15 minutes- all of that plus shoes and toiletries was in here:
And really, this suitcase is just the next size up from carry-on… It’s not even a full size.
So enough bragging. Here’s the secret: pack loose items into packing cubes where you can and learn to fold and stack for maximum space in a suitcase.
I was able to fit 15 pair of undies and 5 of MY bras (yeah…I went there) into this 6×9 inch packing cube.
Most people think about suitcases all wrong. We open it up on the bed and start using the sides like drawers. That limits the stacking space. Stand it upright on something rigid, a little higher than the ground to make it easier. I chose the bedside table…and use it like a shelf.
Start with your most important items you have to pack and stack all the way to the top
Then, once it’s stuffed to the top, lie it flat and continue placing items in the leftover “top” space in the traditional fashion until full
Unzip the expander ring zipper to give you an idea of how high to stack your remaining items. Place shoes in the pockets and other small items that have not yet been packed
Lastly, add your toiletries in the small areas in all the nooks and crannies.
Then zip it up and once it’s zipped, apply some pressure to the top and re-zip the expanded ring for extra security against movement inside the suitcase
And there you have it. Suitcase packing- Level Expert.
Any other tips and tricks? Was this helpful? Let me know in the comments.
Monday is the big day. We leave West Palm Beach airport on a 2 hr flight to Newark.
A 5 hour layover with a toddler there should interesting…then the 6 hour flight to Dublin. Did I mention we’re bringing the toddler? 🙂
If anyone is interested in what we packed to entertain Norah for the next 3 weeks, let me know and I’ll try to share.
Kegan, Erin & Norah
