Boy Oh Boy

Coming from a family of girls, to now being apart of a family of boys, has been a change. 

On our trip to Wisconsin & Chicago I made several observations about these odd creatures we call boys. 

They choose...

Wolf ears over tiaras

Moose ears over hair bows

Eating over shopping

Thrill seeking over conversations & relaxation

Wolf dens over doll houses 

Avenger bears over baby dolls 

Beating their bears together over rocking them 

Climbing over skipping 

Train delivered food over tea parties

5 gallon hats over bonnets 

Lego land over The American girl store

4-wheeler and jet ski over strollers 

Building over Decorating

Firefighters over Princesses

Digging for Dinosaur Bones over picking flowers

Boys are all about doing and finding things to stay active. 

They look at game rooms as adventure and fun. I look at them as a waste of money that could have been spent on a cute shirt. 

They want to ride fast water slides and I want to sit in the wave pool. 

In a class at church they said part of being an effective parent, is to get on your children's level. So to attempt this I lugged a double riding tube up 4 flights of stairs over and over to ride the big green water slide with Kase. Only for him to tell me in the middle of the ride, "Mom stop screaming!" 

This is only the beginning of raising boys & I wouldn't change a thing!!!

Thank you God for this change in my life & my sweet, active, wild boys that keep me on my toes!

what works 4 us

 Is it crazy that sometimes I enjoy planning for road trips as much as the actual road trip? I feel like it is my motherly challenge to keep my boys entertained & force them to love not only the family trip but the drive as well. So much so that when they grow up and get married that they still want to go with us sometimes. I know I am a little ahead of myself since they are only 4 & 2 but time flies & it is never to early to plan!! Even though Scotty thinks I am crazy.

Entertainment

Car Bucks? Yes Please!!! 

They can be earned by being kind, content & happy.

 3 car bucks = a treat

These nifty Target Dollar spot felt buckets that are hanging by yarn from their handles are where they store their hard earned car bucks. They constantly knew how many car bucks they had and how many more they needed to get 3, yes I snuck a Math lesson in there. 

Their treats ranged from Halloween Bingo

Halloween scratch tablets

Traveling Coloring Books and Tracing letters tablets

These lap trays were so handy!

Car Rule: Only Educational videos (except on long road trips)

The boys chose 5 non-educational videos from the library to watch on the trip. Why 5 I do not know because they only wanted to watch 2 over & over, to say the least Scotty & I can sing the theme song to both The Avengers cartoon and Lion King.

Kase loves Scavenger hunts & the car scavenger hunt was no different. (Actually it was Bingo but we turned it into a scavenger hunt)

Are We There Yet?

I never heard this question, instead I heard "can I pull one off","can I pull one off""can I pull one off""can I pull one off?" 

But it was a fun gauge at how long we had to go. Each hour we pulled a number letting them know how many hours left. Hours don't register to them so for Knox it was 4 umi-zoomie cartoons & for Kase it was 4 more Batman's.  

Snacks

My kids are major snackers!! 2 lunch boxes loaded with different snacks  to choose from made my kids content & they snacked as they pleased. I always try to stick some fun snacks in that they might not get often. Note to self: pack Scotty snacks next time he is as bad as the boys. 

Scenery 

The drive to Wisconsin was very scenic. The changing of the trees (insert Science lesson), & the coolest old barns. 

When there is nothing else left to do, they always find a way to entertain themselves. 

Like shoving their feet through the head rest and kicking me in the head. Which was probably the thing Knox enjoyed the most after all my planning. 

So after me twisting, pulling, reaching , & getting car sick from my rear up in the air trying to pick up things they dropped. I would say these are a few things that worked 4 us.