Van Emergency Box

Inspired by Raising Olives (as I often am), I decided to finally put together an emergency box for the van. Not “emergency” in the usual sense – I don’t mean breakdowns or flat tires. By “emergency,” I am referring to kid-related emergencies. Things like bladder accidents in the grocery store, a unexpectedly sick child, an unexpected chill in the air while we are out somewhere, a bee sting or allergy attack, a sudden mess (the possible causes are endless), or just a pack of hungry or thirsty kids on the road. Sure, we could stuff the diaper bag full of all kinds of possible necessities, but by and large, we typically reach for the diaper bag only when we need… well… diapers. It seems to be a big waste of energy to lug around a diaper bag stuffed full of things we probably won’t need, when our van is usually located near to the vicinity of our children. We can lighten the load of the diaper bag, and easily keep many of those emergency items in the van, fetching them in the rare instances when they are wanted.

With that in mind, I spent the morning putting together our van emergency box. Here is what we have inside:

• Paper Towels (for messes, clothing protection while eating in the van, and wiping up afterward)
• Plastic Cups
• Plastic Grocery Bags (for sick kids or for garbage – you never know!)
• Bag with Sunscreen, Stain Spray, Insect Repellent and Hand Wipes
• Bottled Water
• Bag with Paper Plates, Baby Cup, Plastic Ware and Bibs
• Bag with Cutting Board and Strong Butter Knife
• First Aid Kit (Bandaids, ointments, allergy meds, etc.)
• Jackets (in all current kid sizes)
• Change of Clothing (for younger children who are likely to have accidents)
• Diapers, Wipes, Diaper Disposal Bags
• Toilet Paper

Also included is a list of the box’s contents. I put the list inside a plastic page protector and taped it to the outside of the box. This is a good reminder of what we need to replace when something in the box is used or dirty. It will also help us to remember what in the world is in there, since most of the items will not be used very often, and we are likely to forget.

Besides emergency-preparedness, I am seeing other benefits to this as well. There will be less running and gathering at the last minute before outings, because a lot of the items (such as jackets) will be permanently packed. If we ever run out of diapers in the diaper bag, we will always have a back-up stock handy. We won’t be limited to fast food when we are on the road with hungry kids. It will also take a number of items off of our packing lists when we travel! So what am I forgetting? Hopefully nothing large, as the box is already rather full, but we can squeeze in a few more things that are likely to be helpful in a kid-emergency!

 

Getting there on time

My Help for Growing Families tip this week is a simple one. When you need to go anywhere with your family, leave the house 15 minutes before you think you need to. I say this, not with my finger pointing at you, but with my hand smacking my own forehead. I am reminding myself of this little rule every bit as much as I’m sharing it with you.

The worst that can happen by leaving 15 minutes early is that you will arrive 15 minutes early. More likely, however, you will arrive right on time. Fifteen minutes allows for the probability that one or more of the following will happen:

• Someone will have hidden your keys and you will need to search for them.
• You will have misplaced your own keys and will need to search for them.
• Your toddler will have decided to give the baby his pureed butternut squash while you were busy looking for your keys, and you need to clean them up and change their clothes.
• The baby will have explosive diarrhea and you will need to change all his or her clothes.
• You will suddenly realize that one of your children desperately needs his hair soaked with a water spray bottle and combed.
• Someone will be unable to locate one complete, matching pair of shoes.
• Someone will be unable to locate one complete, matching pair of mittens that fit their hands.
• Someone will have trouble buckling their seatbelt.
• You will realize that you had forgotten about the ”white elephant” gift exchange for your MOPS brunch, and you need to quickly put something together.
• Someone will have an urgent need to use the potty after they are bundled up in their coat.
• Someone will have an urgent need to use the potty during the drive to wherever you are going.
• The child who was in such a hurry to use the potty will be in no rush to finish using it.
• All of the stoplights will turn red just as you approach them.
• Five minutes into your drive, you will need to return to your house to get your purse, coupon, diaper bag, or grocery list.
• If your name is Michelle, there is a strong liklihood that you will get lost.

Every one of these has happened to us. Several have happened many times. Two of them happened today, right before we went to our MOPS Christmas brunch. I’ll bet you can guess one of the incidents!

So, next time you need to be somewhere, leave 15 minutes earlier than usual. If you happen to be meeting me there, give me a call and remind me to do the same!

Want more? Check out How Do You Eat an Elephant? or see the list of all my Home Management Posts.

 

More Vacation Stuff

Our blogging theme this week has been our recent vacation to the Outer Banks. We have turned this into a fun homeschool project and cooperative family effort. As you can see below, the kids blogged about their favorite parts of the vacation: Sweet Pea choosing the beach, and Game Boy choosing the sand dunes. I’m going to conclude now with some other vacation memories and pictures that haven’t yet been written about.

Crab Chasing

We didn’t exactly chase the crabs, but we did go out a few nights just to look for them; however, ”Crab Looking” just doesn’t have the same kind of ring to it as “Crab Chasing.” Anyhow, on two evenings the kids donned their jackets and collected their glow-in-the-dark sticks and flashlights, and we walked out to the beach. The kids loved watching the crabs run around. Here is one little guy that we hung out with for a while:

 

Wright Brothers’ National Memorial

As I’ve mentioned before, Iron Man and I are what you might call history buffs. The kids probably will be too. It’s in their blood. How could we possibly visit the Outer Banks without a visit to the Wright Brothers’ Memorial in Kitty Hawk?

Here we are in front of the markers that show the locations of the first three landings that the Wright Brothers made.

The children walking toward a Monument to the First Flight.

The Pool

The kids spent so much time in the beach house pool, that our vacation blogging wouldn’t be complete without a few photos of their fun swimming.

Princess was very afraid of the water. No life jacket or floating ring could induce her to come in the pool. Finally, Iron Man brilliantly made her a “boat” out of the baby pool that we had used at the beach. That did the trick. Of course, everyone wanted to equip her boat with all the essential amenities that a baby pool boat needs, such as beach balls, boogie boards and sand toys…

Game Boy and Sweet Pea doing “cannon balls”

Cutie

Bubbles

Happy

Monticello

Okay, this isn’t in the Outer Banks, but we stopped here during our drive home. When travelling long distances, we like to do sight seeing along the way. While Iron Man had been to Monticello before, the kids and I had not. We used this trip as an opportunity to visit this beautiful spot. While we weren’t permitted to take pictures inside the house, we did get to take some pretty shots outside.

During the Drive Home

Last but not least, I want to include two photos that were taken in the van on the drive home. The Blue Ridge Mountains were so breathtaking that I couldn’t resist a photo. This is the best I could do through the window of the moving van:

And finally, a snapshot that Sweet Pea took of Cutie, guaranteed to bring a smile:

 

Roanoke Island

Besides the beach, this was one of my favorite places to go during vacation. I’m a sucker for educational activities, particularly if they have to do with history. Roanoke Island Festival Park was not a festival, but it was a lot of fun. Just a little background… Roanoke Island was the location of the first English settlement in America between 1584-1587. The Park is commemorative of this time period. We climbed aboard a replica of a 16th century ship and were greeted by “sailors” who talked about the conditions in which they sailed.

We visited a settlement site where a tradesman taught us about various swords, much to the delight of Game Boy. The kids got to experience old-fashioned toys such as the hoop-and-stick, and they got to dig into a 400-year-old tree trunk with sea shells to help dig a canoe.

We walked through an adventure museum that the kids enjoyed immensely. Among the many hands-on displays, we tried on Elizabethan clothing, walked through a Civil War tent, and explored a Native American village. The museum store had a lot of fun items like these Civil War uniform hats.

We also watched a fantastic film called “The Legend of Two Path” which showed the arrival of the English colonists from the perspective of the Native American tribes. We happened to visit on “Pirates Weekend” which was a lot of fun. A highlight of the pirates theme was listening to some pirate musicians sing a fun song, the lyrics of which I googled and posted below. It was quite a catchy tune and we all found ourselves humming it throughout the rest of the week.

You Can’t Be A Pirate

Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses an ear;
It drips down your neck, and it falls on the deck,
Till someone shouts, “Oy, what’s this ‘ere?”
You can’t wear your glasses, you can’t poll the lasses,
Your friends have to shout so you’ll hear;
Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses an ear.

But it’s all part of being a pirate,
You can’t be a pirate (you can’t be, you can’t be)
With all of your parts;
It’s all part of being a pirate,
You can’t be a pirate (you can’t be a pirate)
With all of your parts.

Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses an eye;
It stings like the blazes, it makes you pull faces,
You can’t let your mates see you cry.
A dashing black patch will cover the hatch,
And make sure that the socket stays dry;
Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses an eye.

But it’s all part of being a pirate…

Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses a hand;
It spurts and it squirts and it jolly well hurts,
Pain only a pirate could stand.
The fash’nable look is a nice metal hook,
But now you can’t play in the band;
Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses a hand.

But it’s all part of being a pirate…

Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses a leg;
It hurts like the dickens, your pace never quickens,
Hopping around on a peg.
Ask your sweetheart to marry, but too long you’ve tarried,
‘Cause now you can’t kneel down and beg;
Being a pirate is all fun and games,
Till somebody loses a leg.

But it’s all part of being a pirate…
You can’t be a pirate (you can’t be, you can’t be)
With all of your parts;
It’s all part of being a pirate,
You can’t be a pirate (you can’t be a pirate)
With all of your parts.
It makes me quite irate -
It hardly seems fair,
You can’t be a pirate -
If you are all there! 

Also on Roanoke Island, we visited the Elizabethan Gardens, a beautiful memorial to the first English colonists. The scenery was a great opportunity for the photography addict to get her fix for me to take some lovely pictures.

 

Sand Dunes

One day we went to the sand dunes. At first, it looked like we were walking to the beach. Then when we got to the top, I saw that everything was sand and catcti for miles! The sand dunes were really cool. On the top of the sand it was dry but on the bottom it was wet. They looked like pyramids. 

It was really windy, and we decided to fly our kite. It was funny when Dad was flying the kite. The wind was so strong it ripped the kite from the string and the kite flew off and almost hit someone.

When we left I covered a cactus with some sand. This is me building a sand castle.

Our trip to the sand dunes was some of the most fun I ever had.

 

My Trip to the Beach

This year for vacation, I went to the beach. When I first saw the ocean, I was a little worried. The waves were very loud. The water was cold. When I accidentally swallowed some salt water, it hurt my throat.

When I started to get used to the water, I really liked it. I went boogie boarding, but it didn’t work where it was shallow. Dad said I could go out where it was deeper. It worked. I could go much farther on my board.

We also picked up a lot of seashells.  I found a clam that was closed and a huge mussel shell. We found a lot of purple shells too.

Game boy spent most of his time boogie boarding and picking up seashells like me. Once we went out deep with Mom and the waves picked us up and dropped us again.

Bubbles was in the shallow part of the water and she picked up a lot of seashells too.

Happy mostly splashed around in the water and played with his kickboard. He and Bubbles spent a lot of time together.

Princess stayed away from the water. This is about as close as she got.

She mostly played in the baby swimming pool and played in the sand with Cutie.

Cutie stayed close to Mom and Dad, playing in the sand and taking naps.

I had a lot of fun at the beach.

 

Getting there is half the fun

We returned Sunday night from a glorious vacation in the Outer Banks, North Carolina. We had a great week, beautiful weather, and a fantastic beach house (which we found through www.VRBO.com). It was our first visit to any beach in seven years. Sweet Pea, our oldest, has only vague memories of her previous beach visit. The kids and I will be blogging throughout the week, recording our memories, so stay tuned for the details and photos!

I thought I’d start with how we kept ourselves occupied during the long drives to and from our destination. A lot of people like to drive through the night while the kiddos sleep, and we’ve done that in the past, but this time we chose a different route (no pun intended). We considered the following facts:

1. A rested daddy is a happy daddy.
2. We didn’t want our six young, freshly awoken, energetic children to be running around a place with lots of water while Iron Man and I were catching some shut-eye.
3. We wanted to avoid losing the first day of our vacation due to parental napping.
4. We wanted to enjoy the journey and do some sight-seeing along the way.

With all this in mind, we decided to drive during the day, and stop half way to stay in a hotel. We do not have a car DVD player, nor do we have plans to buy one. Therefore, to keep everyone happy, we had to get creative. We actually enjoyed our 20-plus hours of driving time this week, broken up by a hotel stay and a few bathroom and food breaks. If you are looking for some ideas for a road trip with kids, here is a list of activities that we did and enjoyed during this trip…

Keeping the kids occupied: 

• The Backpack: Give each of the kids a backpack to serve as their “travel bag.” Have them stock it themselves with a couple of crayons, books and toys to play with in the van. Also have them stock it with hotel essentials: a change of clothes, a pair of pajamas, and a toothbrush.
• The Bathroom: Everyone goes to the bathrooom immediately before leaving the house. At the incremental stops, everyone makes a non-optional trip to the bathroom.
• Audio Drama: We all love these. Our favorites are Jonathan Park and Your Story Hour. This is a very enjoyable and educational way to spend an hour in the car.
• License Plate Game: Print out a US map for each child. Have them color in each state as you pass a license plate for that state.
• How Far Is It: Point out objects that are coming up alongside the road (overpasses, signs, buildings, etc) and everyone guesses how far away each one is. Clock the distance on the odometer to see who makes the closest guess.
• I’m Going To Grandma’s House: Remember this memory game from when you were a kid? “I’m going to Grandma’s house and I’m going to bring an Apple, a Boat, a Cookie and a Door with me…”
• Scavenger Hunt: Print off one of these lists for each child. Have them check off the items as they spot them.
• Car Colors: Each child picks a color and counts each time they pass a car of that color. Stop when someone reaches 20, 30, 50 or whatever number you wish. You can also divide into teams to play this one. I warn you, at least one little girl in our family has chosen the color “pink” for this game. This can make for a very, very long game…
• I Spy: Just make sure you remind them to choose things in the car, not objects outside that you’ll pass in 45 seconds or less.
• Favorites: Ask what everyone’s favorites are – favorite ice cream, favorite book, favorite song, favorite flower, etc. Everyone takes turns calling out a “favorites” question. These can get very creative! Happy, our four year old, once asked who everyone’s favorite “captain” was. The answers were quite unique; Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Captain Crunch, Captain Von Trapp, and Captain Jack Sparrow!
• At the hotel: When planning an overnight stay in a hotel along the way, try to find one with an indoor pool. Swimming is a great way for the kids to release all of that wiggly, “I’ve-been-cooped-up-in-my-carseat/seatbelt” energy. If you are paying for a hotel stay, you might as well find one with this fun and relaxing amenity!

Keeping Mom and Dad happy:

• Make sure the kids use the bathroom immediately before leaving the house. Did I mention this before? Oh well… it bears repeating.
• Find a list of Christian radio stations before you leave.
• Pick up a package of bottled water and cans of soda to keep close to the front seat.
• Bring a notebook and jot down notes for your blog
• Listen in on those Jonathan Park and Your Story Hour CDs. They are wonderful!
• Change the voice on the GPS to “British” or “Australian.” You’ll feel so… proper! You can also try a different, unfamiliar language as long as you are not totally depending on the audio commands. Wouldn’t it be fun if some day GPS comes out with a “Pirate” voice? 

So what about you? What have you done to keep everyone happy while travelling? Leave a comment and share your ideas!