WEEK OF JULY 26 - VACATION

~Punkin is 24 months old!~

We were on vacation this week in Orlando...but we didn't do Disney. :( I was disappointed that we drove 20 hours with a 2 year old......and DIDN'T DO DISNEY! But I also understand my husband's point about the ENORMOUS cost of going there when Punkin won't really remember anything from it anyway. We went down there with my in-laws....someone from their church gave them a free week at their timeshare down there. So, we had fun.....just not at Disney. :( Anyway, I decided to share my activity bags that I took in the car on our 20 hour drive to keep Punkin busy. Let me tell you that driving that far with a tot is NOT a vacation for the Mommy....But Punkin did VERY well considering she was in her car seat for 2 days there and 2 days back. It was Mommy who was ready to come unglued. :) (We decided NOT to drive straight through in the middle of the night like some people do......though I would do it that way if I had to do it over again.)

ACTIVTY BAGS

• Most of these activties were things I had saved so they were new and fun for Punkin.
• Also, I took along a small (lap sized) cookie tray that I had found at Dollar Tree. It fit in her lap perfectly so she had a place to "work." I loved that it had sides on it to keep her stuff from falling all over the place, and I also loved that magnets stuck to it, so she could keep things in one place. It was the best little purchase I made for the trip.
• Of course we also had lots of books, snacks, and DVD's to help pass the time. (She only slept about an hour each day...sigh.)

Note: I did NOT like the dry erase crayons. They were very messy.....like oil pastels. Yes, they are washable, but...... I wasn't impressed. Punkin LOVED them, though.

This is a mini ABC/123 foam puzzle I found at Walmart. Punkin loved this bag!


Punkin is really into magnadoodles and drawing, so I took along this little one I had gotten at a garage sale. I added a baggie of her shapes that came with her big one that she loves.

She had fun sorting these buttons by color into her tiny muffin tray. I got a couple of these at a garage sale this year. Isn't it just the cutest little tray? Perfect fit for this trip.

We threw in her new Leapfrog Jr. from her birthday. She didn't use it that much, though.

Good old coloring book and crayons.

Lacing cards and beads. She wasn't interested much in this bag.

I found this dry erase board and neon dry erase marker set at the dollar spot at Target right before we left, and I thought she'd love it, which she did. BUT, it was very cheapo, and the markers didn't wipe off. It was basically a one time use activity. Bummer.

This was her FAVORITE bag. She asked for it CONSTANTLY! I was getting so tired of it after 20 hours! I switched out different tracing pages in the page protector for her to trace with her dry erase markers. Of course half the fun was the erasing part, too! (Note: These dry erase markers were so much less messy than the crayons, believe it or not, and they erased better, too. They just aren't washable, so I had to really watch that she didn't get careless and get it on her car seat or clothes.)

Punkin had gotten this book of reusable stickers for Christmas, but we haven't used it much, so I threw it in. She loved this activity, too. I had her put the stickers on another page protector so they would come off easily and she could move them around. After she put a lot of stickers on the page we'd play an I Spy game to find certain ones.

Simple paper and colored pencils.

I just threw in a pad of paper and foam stickers for her to make pictures. She had fun sticking the foam pieces on other things she could reach as well.....like all over me and the seat. :)

Gotta love Color Wonder markers! So NOT messy, and yet SO fun! She asked for this bag a lot, too.

This one took some prep beforehand, but worth it. I have bags and bags of already cut paper pattern block pieces from when I was teaching. So, I went to http://www.prekinders.com/ and printed out lots of pattern block pictures and then put the pieces she'd need for each picture in an envlope for her. She did very well putting the pieces in the right spot, and she had a blast. I also had along just bags of extra shapes for her to make her own pictures / collages if she wanted, but she preferred making the pictures I printed out.

Another fun bag was the counting bears bag. I hot glued magnets to the bottom of some of our counting bears and she had fun lining them up on her tray (and turning it upside down to see how well they'd stick) or making the pattern parades I had created. Her favorite, though, was matching the bears to their correct houses.

TOT ACTIVITIES

I did take along a tub of Punkin's favorite toys (and some fun, new toys, too) for her to play with at our condo. Here are a few I caught on camera.

Aquadoodle with Grandma Faith.

Her Melissa and Doug latch puzzle. She played with this a LOT!

Her new Melissa and Doug magnetic fishing puzzle that she got for her birthday.

A FEW NEW EXPERIENCES

We drove to Cocoa Beach one day. She loved it!

She sat and played in the sand for most of the time we were there.

We went to Green Meadows Petting Farm. It was so neat! She got to ride a pony! Boy was she excited!

Well, that was our week in Florida. To see what other tots were up to last week, check out 1+1+1=1.