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Apr 17 2016

spring breakers

Posted by hayley
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The stars aligned and, despite his unpredictable travel schedule, Handsome was actually home for the week that our kids had spring break this year. So naturally we jumped at the opportunity for a spontaneous family vacation!

One thing we really like about living here is our proximity to our nation’s capital. Just 3 1/2 hours by car puts us smack in the middle of all the wonders that Washington DC has to offer – museums, monuments, historical sites, govt buildings, festivals, etc. You couldn’t see it all in a week if you tried.

Handsome and I have been to DC a couple times, but always without the kids. We decided they were finally old enough to handle the walking that the city requires and would enjoy seeing a few of the sights.

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

For our animal lover, we started at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, then trekked over a mile down Constitution to see the country’s most famous house on Pennsylvania Ave. Bug’s little legs got a boost for that hike.

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

For our aviation lover, we drove about 40 min outside of downtown DC, to the air and space museum at the Dulles airport.

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

Even for a non-aviation geek like me this place was insanely amazing – 176 aircraft under one gigantic roof, including the SR-71 Blackbird, the Concorde, the Enola Gay, and the Discovery Space Shuttle! If you’re planning a trip to DC, I would highly recommend adding this spot to your short list.

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

Even our hotel room view was a lesson in Americana with a phenomenal cityscape of the Washington Monument, Potomac River, and the Pentagon (foreground).

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

The next day we knew the kids’ legs wouldn’t last a whole afternoon of monument-hopping, so we opted for a stroll along the reflecting pool to visit Abe.

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.comspring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

When I learned about Martin Luther King, it was from a flat, lifeless black and white photo in the “K” Encyclopedia Britannica. Now, thanks to YouTube, at the tender ages 4 and 7, both my kids have watched Dr. King give his “Dream” speech. So we stood in the place where he spoke those words and imagined what we might say to inspire millions of people.

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

Once inside, they asked if Abe had really been that big in “real life” (nope, he was actually as tall as Daddy!).

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

As a first grader, Songbird has been learning a lot about US currency, especially coins – their values, sizes, and who’s face is on what. Ironically, she found a penny on the ground outside of the Lincoln Memorial and was tickled to discover the teeny tiny imprint of Abe on the back – juuuuust a bit smaller than the man on the chair she’d met moments earlier.

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

We rounded out the vacation with a detour to Roanoke, Virginia.

Random, I know.

Was it the lure of the world’s largest free-standing illuminated star that brought us?

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

Cool, but nope.

What we really came for was the Virginia Safari Park. This gem is a 180-acre drive thru zoo where you experience and feed the animals with some seriously up-close interaction. Handsome chauffeured while the kids and I sat in the truck bed making lots of furry friends: elk, llamas, alpacas, bison, watusi, ostrich and zebra – just to name a few.

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

This guy was all horns and no fight – thank goodness!

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

In just 3 days time we explored T-REX skeletons, got within inches of the largest blue diamond in the world (the Hope Diamond), visited the President’s house, saw the plane that ended WWII, stood beneath the wings of the shuttle with the most missions in space, watched military helicopters land at the Pentagon, took a selfie with Lincoln, walked in Dr. King’s footsteps, saw the world’s largest man-made star, pet an American bison and smooched a zebra.

A spring break for the record books, I’d say.

spring break in DC | greyhouseharbor.com

 

Tags: bug, our life, songbird, spring break, vacation
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May 14 2014

road trip : kid prep – entertainment

Posted by hayley
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Ok, last installment of my road trip series: kid prep – entertainment! Here are a few ideas on how to keep everyone sane and entertained.

1. Cheap Toys

Dollar store, Target dollar bins, and Walmart’s under $5 section are perfect for stockpiling playthings that your kids haven’t seen yet. They don’t have to be expensive, they just have to be new; that’s the key… surprise factor.

road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

A very popular find were these finger laser lights that I scooped up from Walmart’s cheap toy section.

road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

I did splurge on one set of new toys for Songbird. These Disney MagiClip dolls are amazing. Their clothes are super easy to change around and she was content playing pretend with them for nearly half our trip.

road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

Handsome gives me a hard time about how I hoard craft supplies, but here’s another example of it paying off. Since their lap trays are metal, I dug out this pack of printable magnet sheets that were left over from an earlier project fail. Now Bug is the new foreman of an entire magnetic construction site!

road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

2. Dry Erase

On 5 x 7 pieces of cardstock, I printed family member faces and then used self-adhesive sheets to laminate them for doodling. This 6-pack of colorful dry erase markers are perfect for kids because they’re small and have magnetic/eraser-topped caps too.

road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

An online search led me to these fun activity sheets, which I also laminated for dry erase use. (faces, frames, alphabet trace). The original road trip BINGO sheets were found here, but people seem to forget that you can’t just print out multiples of the same sheet otherwise everyone may yell bingo at the same time. So I took the liberty of changing a few of the icons around to have 2 boards with different layouts, which you can print by clicking here.

road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

3. Keep it Tidy

All my games, toys, sheets and markers got sorted into labeled gallon Ziplock bags for storage. I purposefully did not pack crayons, as they can melt if left in a hot parked car. For Bug, I packed mini Crayola Color Wonders to avoid accidental (or intentional) marker graffiti. Songbird can handle big kid markers and I love the small size of washable Crayola Pip-Squeaks. All the markers were put into labeled Tupperware with magnetic buttons on the bottom so they would stick to the lap trays.

 road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

A large diaper box in the front seat is perfect for storing the toys, games, and coloring supplies within reach. To minimize toy chaos, I would allow them one activity at a time. They could trade it out at any time, but this kept pieces from being lost. Since the diaper box has handles, it was a cinch to grab and carry into our hotel room once we arrived at our destination.

road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

4. Audio

Local public libraries usually have a nice selection of children’s CDs and books on tape. Typically check out is 2 weeks and then you can renew the loan online if you’ll be gone longer. Instead of carrying all those hard cases along, I took the discs out and put them into a CD carrier to save space. (Shout out to Handsome circa 1992 for that awesome purchase!)

road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

5. iPad

Let’s keep it real… my kids wouldn’t be entertained by toys and music alone. A couple movies and a few tv shows got loaded onto the iPad and I brought along a USB car charger to keep it juiced up. We had a nice little rotation going – new toy (30 min), coloring while listening to a book on tape (30 min), movie/show with a snack (40-60 min), repeat.

road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

6. “Are We There Yet?!”

In an effort to thwart that inevitable question, I used gold duck tape and laminated destinations to create a visual road map on the ceiling above my visors. We stopped for 24 hours in Atlanta, hence the three states.

road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

I even printed out an accurate version of our Jeep that got moved every few hours accordingly.

road trip : kid prep  |   greyhouseharbor.com

All in all, I can honestly say that all my late night road trip prepping totally paid off. If you missed the first posts about car cleaning and kid organization check ’em out. My little ones were extremely well behaved considering the grand total of 17 hours (one way) that they spent buckled in. Let’s just hope all these same tactics get us home this week!

Tags: diy, kid stuff, our life, road trip, vacation
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25 comments
May 9 2014

road trip : kid prep – organization

Posted by hayley
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[ Edit: Since originally posting these ideas, I have had some comments about the safety of my suggestions in the event of an accident. To be honest, I hadn’t considered the possibility of lap trays hurting my kids or toys becoming projectiles. I would never intentionally endanger my children and appreciate your concerns. Please use these ideas at your own risk. ]

Earlier I shared a few cheats on how to get your car clean for a road trip with two kids. Today I’m back with my game plan for keeping my munchkins happy along the way. This topic really deserves 2 posts – organization and entertainment.

Organization!

1. Personal space.

For such a long ride, each child needs their own area to eat and play. I had seen the idea of setting a cookie sheet atop a pillow and, while I liked the magnetic factor, I found the lip of a cookie sheet to be uncomfortable on arms for extended periods of time. So, I developed a similar lap tray using a pizza pan. Look for the step by step tutorial on how to make your own next week!

road trip : kid prep | greyhouseharbor.com

By simply attaching self-adhesive magnetic buttons to the bottoms of things, you significantly cut down the spill factor.

road trip : kid prep | greyhouseharbor.com

2. Hydration

Does one judge the caliber of a child car restraint in the same way one judges that of a car—by the number of cupholders?! If so, my kids’ seats are a big fat zero, despite their hefty price tags. I couldn’t even find a suitable attachment aftermarket type. Enter the suction cup shower caddy. Not only does the big one fit a decent sized water bottle, but also some snacks and a personal fan. They’re easy for kids to reach on the window and quick to remove. I bought a few different sizes for Songbird’s window to keep her colored pencils and small toys handy as well. [edit:On second thought, colored pencils at eye level are probably not a good idea in the event of an accident. Maybe crayons instead?]

road trip : kid prep | greyhouseharbor.com

road trip : kid prep | greyhouseharbor.com

3. Snacks

Duh… these are essential to road trip success – kids or adults! I tried to pick things that didn’t need refrigeration and already came individually packaged: granola bars, pretzels, lunch-sized goldfish, fruit squeeze pouches, and veggie straws. I also divided up larger bags of things like Chex Mix and Cheerios into sandwich-sized ziplock baggies. In the front seat I put a few snacks in a dollar store bin with a package of baby wipes for spill maintenance.

Although I am an impeccable driver, I also buckled them in to prevent flying food in the event of quick stoppage.

road trip : kid prep | greyhouseharbor.com

On the passenger floorboard I put Gatorade, water and energy drinks into insulated lunchboxes to grab in-between meals.

road trip : kid prep | greyhouseharbor.com

Another bin in the trunk has back up snacks and drinks.

road trip : kid prep | greyhouseharbor.com

4. Trash

All those snacks and meals on the go are bound to generate a few handfuls of trash. A tupperware bin with a trash liner shoved between the carseats works great. Kids can reach it themselves.

road trip : kid prep | greyhouseharbor.com

5. Comfort

Be sure to bring the favorite blankets and stuffed animals. Leaving a child’s legs dangling for hours on end can prove very uncomfortable. Place kids’ suitcases on the floor beneath their feet as footrests. This also frees up a ton of trunk space for other travel goodies.

road trip : kid prep | greyhouseharbor.com

6. JIC

“Just In Case.” Once, when Bug was tiny, we had an incident that left me with a blowout and no diapers. I swore that would never happen again and fashioned this car organizer to keep all sorts of extra necessities handy in my vehicle; things like bungee cords, diapers, wipes, extra clothes, sunblock, scissors, etc. Basically it’s just a plastic shoe organizer that’s been cut, restitched and hung from a cheap shower rod. Some day I’ll get around to posting a tutorial if ya’ll want.

road trip : kid prep | greyhouseharbor.com

Alright, that’s all I got for kid prep – organization. Entertaining these monsters will be a whole other beast; stay tuned…

Tags: kid stuff, road trip, vacation
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58 comments
May 7 2014

road trip : car prep

Posted by hayley
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Any excuse to go to the beaches of Florida is a good one, right? Especially when it involves Songbird appearing in her reprisal role as a flower girl. Since Handsome has to work and the cost of 3 round trip plane tickets was astronomical, I was left with one option.

Drive. Alone. With both kids.

Determined to be super prepped, I spent the last week putting together a game plan. Today I’m sharing Part I: Car Prep.

1. I can’t actually recall the last time I vacuumed my car. Between winter weather and crumb-generating kids, I mostly figure “Why bother?” But if I’m going to practically be living in this space for the next 2 days, then it might as well start clean. (We all know it won’t end that way)

2. While we’re at it, let’s tackle the windows. I had a high school boyfriend who taught me that newsprint is the best thing to use because it doesn’t leave lint. So, to Matt Bollwerk, wherever you are – thanks for the lasting impression you made on my life. I don’t actually read the newspaper, but Joann mailers are good for more than just coupons, ya know.

road trip : car prep   |  greyhouseharbor.com

3. If they’re good enough for a babies bum, they’re good enough for my dash. Also surprisingly effective.

road trip : car prep   |  greyhouseharbor.com

4. Picked up a few smell good satchels from Kirklands Home for under the seats. It may be wishful thinking to assume the aroma will be anything but fast food cheeseburgers, but at least I tried.

road trip : car prep   |  greyhouseharbor.com

5. I think this little stick mat was in someone’s stocking this Christmas. I found it forlorn in the junk drawer, but decided to give it a shot. And yes, 10 years after having Lasik surgery I now require glasses for night driving. Handsome doesn’t mind the occasional librarian look… ;)

road trip : car prep   |  greyhouseharbor.com

6. Should your small son get unruly during your cleaning efforts, give him a blue sponge and tell him he’s in charge of the cleaning the outside. He took this very seriously and stayed out from under foot for at least 30 minutes.

road trip : car prep   |  greyhouseharbor.com

7. Make sure the gas tank is topped off – check. I could tell you a story about when Handsome almost ran out of gas in the hills, but I won’t.

road trip : car prep   |  greyhouseharbor.com

8. Oh look, my cleaning good fortune continues. Although my little boy did his best, there’s just a few spots he couldn’t reach at 3 ft tall.

road trip : car prep   |  greyhouseharbor.com

A little wipedown of the car seats and we’re all set! Don’t miss tomorrow for Part Deux : Kid Prep.

Tags: road trip, vacation
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I'm Hayley. Wife and mother by day, DIY enthusiast by night. Fueled by sweet tea and jelly beans, I own power tools and know how to use them. Consider yourself warned.

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