Up Up and Away

Us Stangers' just arrived home after two weeks of visiting our favorite Easterners! From the 12th to the 27th of this March we played inside and out, ate home cooked meals, cuddled with friends, and showed off new found talents.

Playing Princes'

Girls

Practicing

Fighting over Daddy's phone

Coloring

Egg Hunting

Windy Walking

Sunday Pictures

To be honest it was seriously chilly outside and not exactly wind free, so vegging out while hanging out with the fam was the main occurrence.

On the flights to Maryland the kids were both amazing sleeping and quietly playing most of the time.
On the flights back from Maryland to Idaho, it was a different story.
Bella was airsick from the start, we ended up bagging the baby backpack halfway through due to its need for cleaning suffice to say, luckily needing only one outfit change for Miss Bella thank goodness. After the first airsick episode we were able to adjust and help Bella, knowing exactly what was wrong with her now. So we kept her cool and let her sleep, didn't push foods but did push liquids. End result she made it through the second longer flight without another episode.
Connor, did well for the most part. Being two now he had his own seat, which was bittersweet - the price tag being our least favorite part but let me tell you, him having his own space and his own carry on EXTREMELY beneficial. He sat in his own seat both ways the entire time. With the seat belt on. We gave him no options to take it off, and ours were on too. We did loosen it for him so it was more comfortable, and so he could sleep.
Mainly for future reference I wanted to record what I brought to entertain our children (Connor), and to record what worked and what didn't.
Brand new pirate activity 1000+ sticker book 
- Entertained him and helped him work on matching, but required my constant attention since he couldn't pull off the small or intricate stickers. Each page had a set of stickers with it. I made sure we had the pages we were working on clip boarded so we didn't get distracted. He enjoyed doing it with Mommy, asking questions and discovering new animals, bugs, foods, etc.
Color Wonder Book and ClipBoard 
- Entertaining, and he asked for it a few times. Wanting to color the same picture over and over :) We had to be careful with the markers and lids. This activity also required constant attention, considering we didn't want markers and lids to get lost, and it occupied him for longer if we were doing it with him. He loves asking and being asked "What is that?", so watching the hidden pictures appear as we colored was perfect for us exploratory nature. The clipboard it came with was nice. Considering we had a place to keep the markers, and it motivated him to put them away too.
Brand new games downloaded on Shea's phone 
- Of course with our technology driven world we were smart enough to know that having games to play on Daddy's phone would be Connor's favorite activity. Considering it is something he doesn't usually get to do. This activity required no supervision, since I had researched the activity's I put on the phone and put on  a kids mode application (so he couldn't leave the games or be directed to the internet in any way). We could put the phone in airplane mode during the flight so he could play on it, but during ascent and descent it had to be off. This is when other activity's came in handy :)
Snacks
- Popular Connor snacks: fruit snacks, twizzlers, chocolate raisins, and chips.
- Popular Bella snacks: fruit snacks, chocolate teddy grahams, goldfish, and wheat crackers.
- We asked to have their drinks filled before the flight started. We just walked to the back and had Connor's water bottle filled with water, and Bella's bottle filled with milk.
Small Toys/ Books/ Jackets
- Connor never asked for toys, and worrying they would get lost I never pulled them out.
- We brought a couple books with us but Connor didn't want to be read to. Bella played with them a little, but she wasn't gentle.
- Both kids got too hot on the plane. And I think leaving Bella's jacket on caused her to get too hot and accounted for her airsickness. So next time I think we will need to store jackets in a carry on before the plane. But Shea and I had jackets that got used as pillows and blankets at times, so that was nice to have out.

Since our flight was so early we got home in time to take much needed baths and enjoy some warm blanket snuggles.

It was nice to be back home. To pass by familiar streets, to smile at "it has been too long" faces, to share "way back then" stories, and to take a break from the Mom job in many ways; was exactly what I needed to replenish me before Shea starts up another grueling school semester.
Now we are recovering from jet lag and enjoying the results of living on a routine again :)