People often ask how on earth we keep the boys happy on the long airplane trips and what we pack. Luckily we have only done the long flight with them once since coming to Bern because truth is no matter what you pack, it’s still a LONGGGGGGGGGGG trip. Being prepared does make it better but I don’t think that means you have to pack your whole house into a bag.

This week I packed the boys airplane bag to tuck away so it won’t get packed with our things next week. I snapped a few pictures of our favorite travel stuff to share with you!  *I am not getting paid by any of these companies to promote their products!* (I wish! )

Stateside I think that Michael’s and Target’s dollar sections are perfect for travel stuff. You don’t have to spend much and if anything gets lost of left on the plane no one will be heartbroken.  I sorted through our old travel bag today and most things have held up since we started the travel bag when Jackson was little and we flew back and forth from Bogota. Others we have collected along the way.

There are a few things other than the dollar days stuff that I think are worth investing in or collecting from around the house….

playmobil travel box…not sure if this is the official name but these are winners. They are magnetic boards with pieces that can be moved around.  These are tricky if you have little ones that put things in their mouths but great when they get bigger!

mini magna doodle!

reusable stickers by Peaceable Kingdom Press. These were given to Jackson by Annie and have held up for years! We love them. I have seen these in the US in boutique type stores and I believe they are also on Amazon too!

paint books with the paint on the pages…use q-tips for painting! Thanks, Stephanie for introducing us to these!

I SPY book. Can’t go wrong with this. It’s big but you can make so many games out of it.

old crayons…I collect the broken, shabby ones and that way we don’t care if they get left behind

our little bear friend…don’t tell Owen but this leash is going to be attached to him when we are in the airport if he refuses the stroller. We got this as a gift from Target when Jackson was little!

a cheap picture album with pictures of where we lived and where we are headed…not sure if this one will be refreshed before this trip but I will try. I know Jackson will be having a hard time processing all of it!

Story cubes and Brain Quest …I just added these because Jackson needs something a little more than coloring these days. I hope these are winners!

We packed it all into a clear backpack. We did this for our last trip and I was worried that the boys would then be nagging me for other things because they could see them. We didn’t have a problem with that and it was wonderful to see what we needed and not be digging through aimlessly.

We also plan to have a big snack bag. When the activities fail, grab them a snack.  I always assume that the kids will think the airplane food is scary (we all think it but they don’t give in as easily) so I plan assuming they will need a sandwich or something and lots of snacks for along the way. Some other favorites are raisins or other dried fruits, baby bell cheese, crackers and those squeezable applesauce packs.

Okay, just thinking about all of this has my blood pressure up! Fun times ahead!

PS- In Switzerland they have SUPER strict move out cleaning standards. As in, they don’t believe in wear and tear, it is to be in new condition. And spic and span. The Embassy highly recommends hiring someone so that it can be guaranteed to be up to standard. We had the first of 4 cleaning companies in for an estimate this afternoon. Their estimate was $2,900 francs….over $3,000. Gasp. Breath. Gasp. Wha?!!!!!!!!!!! Ummmm. What?! I think I may just fly my mom over to help me clean and use the change for furniture for the new house.

PSS- Owen discovered the whoopie cushion this week and is addicted!  God has a funny sense of humor giving me two little boys.

PSSS- Seth invited his entire office for lunch today…only 2 days til packout. Why not have one last shindig, right?!  One week from today I will crash!

I finally decided it was time to step out from behind the camera and be in some family pictures with my family. I love taking pictures and it’s often only we are done for a day that we realize I am in maybe one or two pictures. I think for a long time I was putting off pictures wanting to be in better shape or find the perfect outfits for our family, or the boys were getting along exceptionally well,  but push came to shove with our timing and I realized that we needed to celebrate this time and season, just as it is. I couldn’t make it into something new for pictures. I asked my friend Lucie at Primrosa Photography to capture us naturally even if that meant the boys were fighting or hanging on us. We wanted to keep it real!  And I am pretty sure we did. There were many moments of sibling rivalry, hungry troops, whining, me feeling self conscious and silly taking pictures, Seth being a good sport and humoring my old barn fetish.

We loaded up our wagon with some old vintage suitcases that we normally use for decoration, our favorite quilt, the boys favorite book,  a giant wooden frame I found at the neighborhood sale and some other things that we thought really were “us”. We walked down the street where we live to a farm at the end of our road. They have a pretty field of poppies and a few barns. Now you don’t really think we just walked on in do you? Seth went the day before and asked premission  to use the land. the owner seemed flattered.

So we got going yesterday. We spent nearly 2 hours taking pictures with Lucie, except for the time spent talking to the 2 farmers that came to check on the situation. It seems someone called and reported that a family had moved onto the land with suitcases and a wagon. When they said “moved in” they literally thought we were trying to move in and occupy their empty barns. Seth reassured them that the suitcases were empty, introduced them to our photographer and tried to put them at ease. The man eventually took pictures of our props and then a picture of us so he would have some record.  there must be some law here where you can occupy empty land when it’s been empty for a while.  If I could buy it and make it into a bed and breakfast I would do it in a heart beat but I think it might be a bit out of our budget. Swiss chalet Kolb will have to wait, our Virginia cottage is waiting!

Back to the farm, I thought we would be aiming for a great barn door but it turns out there were 3 buildings tucked back there with lots of great spots and lots of neat old barn doors. We are hoping for some good shots.  If nothing else we will have some fun Swiss memories to take back with us.

BUT, we have to wait to share pictures because Lucie is still working on editing! So for now you will have to see Jackson and my renditions of our family that we drew about a month back on a rainy afternoon. (I took the liberty to make myself look extra tiny in a sundress and Jackson made every effort to make us look as natural as possible.)  I am going to bet that Lucie’s shots are much more accurate!

ps- Jackson does know how to write his name correctly so no worries there. He ran out of room here and decided backwards was better for such a small space! Kindergarten will do him good!