Trip Toy Review

Everyone,

Since nothing super blog worthy happened today (although I just heard Butterfly over the baby monitor singing, "I like to move it move it!") I thought I'd do an update on our last trip and the trip toys we brought along.

Best toys to bring hands down: crayons, note books, coloring books, color wonder markers, paper. I shoved all of these in Butterfly's backpack. She happily colored her new marker books (I had 5 markers and a box of 12 crayons so I knew how many dropped) and colored for the first 2 hours of the first flight. Then the boys helped her color some and ate the free magazines. On the second flight, I had an inspiration and made a bag puppet out of the air sickness bag. Yes, we drew on them and then stuck our hands in them. By the time Butterfly was done coloring (which took almost 4, yes 4!, hours) she had 4 puppets. They were her girls. And it's a good thing that Juice listened to my mom reading "Betsy Tacy" to her because that's what she wanted to play. Now I know what books to get her for her birthday. They also entertained the boys and we got gales of laughter out of them and these puppets.

Worst toys: I took Butterfly to the dollar store and had her pick out a few things to bring. She really wanted a bag of hard plastic rubber duckies and I figured why not. They were hard (think hitting) and kept rolling around when they were dropped. NO FUN. Also, Nana-Great sent us a few soft kittens that meow when you push a button. Professor found the button and pushed it for over an hour. We had people in the front of the plane looking around to see where that stupid cat was. I tuned it out. (These turned out not the best toys to bring to the funeral either...oops.)

Plans for the next trip (which looks like it'll be the end of May! Everyone write it down because I want to see some people...I'm talking to you Splats.): get crayons and notebooks for each of the kids themselves. Yes, we can probably share crayons but everyone needs their own coloring book. I can do that. Drastically cut back on the number of toys we brought. So much stuff they were not interested in playing with at all and it was just dead weight in our already over stuffed bags. Buy smaller magnadoodles because those were good but too bulky.

Now for the review on the Fisher Price Kid Tough DVD player. Out of 5 stars, I give it a 2. Oh it works great. It has a little handle on the top, can be dropped (and was) and is easy for Butterfly to use. It has little feet on the back to pull out and prop up which was enormously helpful. There are speakers so you don't HAVE to have headphones for it but it does well with headphones in.

Deal breakers for it: The battery didn't even last 2 hours. It barely lasted an hour and then kept turning itself on and off for another 45 minutes. Butterfly got frustrated with it. The buttons were too easy to push and we had several swipes by brothers who couldn't wait to get their hands on it. I wish they had a button lock switch I could turn. Also, where you put the dvd player in is right in front and super easy to open. That needs to be able to lock as well.

I didn't buy it at full price. The toy store had them on clearance so I picked her up one and I'm glad I didn't spend full price. I imagine that since Fisher Price is no longer selling these on their official website that they are either pulling them or revamping them. It needs it!

I have an external battery pack that if I can figure out how it works could possible elongate the life of the batter to the full two hours. But it's just one more thing to carry and I'm not sure if I want to.

Honestly my ipod and my computer would have worked just as well for movies and maybe even been a little easier.

My friend who loves me gave me chocolate at the funeral to bribe the children with. I used a little there, but most of it on the plane. Thanks again friend! It was a life saver.

Next carry on bag, crayons and markers and coloring books, check. Movie player, maybe. Ipod and computer, check! Magnadoodles, 1 favorite toy/snuggle toy each, and extra patience. Check!

I think I'm crazy for going in May again but I miss my family. Although this may be the last plane trip we do for a LONG time. It's seriously stressful.

Safire