Leaving on a Jet Plane… with Zoobles

Tomorrow I’m leaving on a jet plane.

 

This would be exciting and romantic if the luggage involved my Kelty backpack and a passport. It doesn’t.

 

Instead, traveling in this season of life looks like two large suitcases, a carry on suitcase, one “activity” backpack, one “snack” backpack, and my oversized purse.

 

Did I mention the three backpacks designed to look like animals and carting stuffed lovies, blankets, sweatshirts, and clean underwear? Yeah. Those belong to the kiddos.

 

It’s been almost exactly a year since we’ve been on an airplane. Last year I learned the very valuable lesson that you don’t give a child a handful of prunes to enjoy the day you’re flying.

 

It’s fair to say I have some concerns about what lesson I’ll be learning tomorrow. I’ve brought clean underwear. We haven’t touched the prunes.

 

Just in case you, too, might be traveling with five children aged six and under and in need of tips for air flight with teeny terrors, let me tell you what’s in our activity bag:

 

• 5 different flavors of gum
• Skip-bo Jr, Uno and Go Fish
• iTouch, loaded with about 12 new (free) games. Easy Bake Oven is the current favorite
• Crayola Magic Markers coloring book
• 2 Zoobles (best Happy Meal toy ever)
• Little House on the Prairie
• Oragami paper with instruction book
• Big Book of Mazes
• Miniature baby doll
• Etch-A-Sketch
• BrainQuest flashcards

 

I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow… and, knowing my propensity for social media, I’m sure I’ll be Twittering experience (@stealingfaith). You should follow me. I’ll give you the gory details of traveling with five kids, two geriatrics, and four internationally-travelled adults. I know there’s comedic value in there!

 

What do you pack when you travel with little ones?