Fish and Chips Story — The Story of Us

Every year my mom and dad’s church host a fishing derby at a local pond. They stock it with over 900 fish! And every year Alora’s cousin Corbin goes and every year Alora hears about it and begs to go fishing with cousin Corbin. So this year I planned a WV weekend getaway to nana and pap’s around the fishing derby.

Alora had a blast! Now granted she didn’t catch any fish, and was bored in 0.2 seconds, but it’s all about the cute pictures right?

On Friday before the derby we went to the pond and got to see it being stocked, buckets and buckets of fish being thrown into the pond. Alora even got to stick her hand in and feel one. Then afterwards we went to WalMart and bought her a barbie fishing pole, net and tackle box! When we got home we then promptly filled the tackle box with cheerios,”we have to be prepared for tomorrow Nana!” says Alora.

On the big day of the fishing derby we roll out of bed at 6:30 and get the girls up and dressed (for the 32 degree weather outside). Once we get there it’s a glorious day, cold at first but then starts to warm up quickly. Alora’s age group is the first to have there turn at the pond, ages 3-5. She gets her little pole out and Pap puts the bobber and bait on and she casts it out, waits for 3 seconds and asks “Where’s my fish?” Needless to say with the hour that she had, she got 3 to 4 bites all of which grabbed the bait and ran.

Now even though we without fish it was still a fun day because there were still slides, swings, games and face paint to be tackled! We even convinced Nana to put glitter spray in her hair to match Alora’s purple!

Jason and I were struggling with not giving into Easter bunnies and candy galore, but still having a spring basket and explaining the true meaning of the holiday. So how do you do that? With a salt mountain and stick figures of course. Jason found a post talking about a book from John and Noel Piper called Treasuring God in Our Traditions. It speaks of how to keep God in everything we do. The post explained how to make a flour and salt mountain (like how you used to make salt maps for science projects as a kid) a cross out of sticks and stick people out of pipe cleaner. You make the mountain on Thursday. On Friday before Easter you walk Jesus up the mountain with the cross and hang Him on the cross and “bury” Him in the mountain. Saturday you check and see the guards are still there and the stone is still in front of the tomb. Then, Sunday before Alora woke up we moved away the stone and “hid” Jesus so that the tomb was empty. When she woke up she came to see the mountain and she searched to find Jesus and saw that the guards were “stunned” and the Mary’s were there to take care of Him. It was amazing to hear Alora say “Jesus Lives, He’s Alive!” At that moment you know the point got across.

So here’s a quick preview of our Easter in pictures:

“the Jesus Mountain”, her Easter shower head (yes it’s the one thing she wanted!), dyeing easter eggs, and last but not least eating the chocolate Easter bunnies and savoring every moment, right before we got dolled up for church!

O.K. So all of you parents out there that have been in a car longer than an hour with more than one kid in the car know exactly what i’m talking about when you start screaming ” WHY DIDN’T WE JUST STAY HOME!” or worse yet you’re coming back from someplace and wondering “Can the time on this trip actually DOUBLE!”

So since we just finished one of those trips with the 3 and 1 year old and I don’t want to play offense any more, I’ve decided to play defense on our next trip; only a week away.

So I checked out a bunch of books from the Library: Traveling With Baby, Carschooling, and Cars and Kids. Well Traveling With Baby is well and good if you’re going by plane, train or boat, but not automobile. It seems more outlined for those taking a week or month family excursion vs. just a weekend trip to grandma’s house. So the next book Carschooling seemed great and I can’t wait to use it, when Alora is a year or two older, it’s just a bit over her head still. Last but not least was Cars and Kids, let’s just say when this book was written I was being born. So no books really worked for my situation.

Next on the list , google traveling with toddlers! Brilliant right, wrong! The boring dribble that you get just makes you want to cry! Then, when the cave of darkness could go no longer there was a light at the end of the tunnel, a website called Mom’s Minivan. Not only did it have great ideas, long lists, and leave me feeling hopeful that I could travel with my kids again, but it broke it all down by age group! Imagine that another mom that’s been there and done that willing to help us out!

So after reading all the list’s I pulled out my wallet and decided to try some of the things she recommended. The first is Packin Smart, by InnoBaby. It’s basically a tall tower of stackable food storage. This gadget for traveling is based upon the idea that kids like new things, so instead of cheerios for the 7 hour trip. Pack each of the 5 containers with something different and then every hour give them something new and exciting. I just received it in the mail, it’s small and portable and I love the color ( I chose pink), but my only concern is getting the food into the containers, the holes are a little small, which will be great for my kids trying to get them out with small hands, but not so great for putting things in. We’ll have to give it a test drive.

The next purchase is Baby Bungees. It seemed a little ridiculous at first, I mean a tether to keep your child’s cup in place or close to them. But then I realized how many countless times the girls lose there drink or there doll babies and we scramble to keep a seat belt on us while we twist and contort to get them as they roll back and forth on the floorboards of the van, all the while they’re screaming! These also just came in the mail today (it was like Christmas!) I can’t believe the quality. I really thought they were going to be pretty hokey and flimsy. But they’re sturdy, just a little bit of stretch and the part that is to hold the object is lined with grippy fabric (like on the bottom of kids socks or footies) to secure the object firmly. I bought 4, 2 for each girl to hold a drink and there baby doll. This I feel is a great investment.

And last but not least a second set of headphones. Now some of you out there may just now be putting two and two together and realize that i have a 3 and 1 year old and by saying that I’m buying a second set of headphones that means 2 things: 1) My 3 year old already has a set of headphones and uses them and 2) I’m buying a set for my 1 year old.   Now yes all of you have your pitchforks and torches ready, I let my kids watch tv in the van and my 3 year old even listens to her very own ipod (strictly Psalty though). But if you travel as much as we do with each set of grandparents living 5 plus hours away. You look for any way to help your children through the long ride. And besides I got a $40 pair of head phones for free with just $4 shipping, I can’t beat that. Now no I don’t actually put the headset on my 1 year old, I just put them behind the headrest in her carseat so she can’t see them to play with them, but can still hear the video and watch the screen.

So with my new purchases in tow and some strategic ideas like bringing a new toy out every hour, the alphabet game and bubbles, I feel I may at least have a start on the defensive line. I’ll let you know in two weeks how it all goes!

But if you have any new suggestions, tips, books or websites please pass it along.