airplane survival plan

Travelling on airplanes is not a new thing to Burke and I... However, last week's trip to Lubbock was the first flight we've taken in 6 months or so and I had a feeling I might need to be a bit more, mmm, prepared for Burke-as-a-traveller than I've had to be in the past. Motivated by the knowledge of Burke's limited ability to stay put, especially for 6 hours in a row, I had a many pronged airplane survival plan.

Part 1- A dvd player (paired with Praisebaby [do your kids love this like burke does?] and Toy Story 2). Adam had an amazon gift card and we put it to good use.Part 2- New stuff. An Elmo magnet book, a Toy Story dry erase board and new felt shapes for his felt book... I made him shapes of things that he loves currently (a walrus, a hippo, a gorilla, an octopus to replace his old one that he tore all of the legs off of, even a little elmo). They were a hit.

Part 3- Snacks. Cheezeits, fruit leather, fruit snacks, goldfish, pretzels... you name it, we had it. Oh, and I got him a new Toy Story snack bowl from the dollar bin at Target to hold said snacks.

Part 4- Other reading material. Y'all know about Burke's fond, fond affection for books. I hid some of his favorite books a week before we went to Lubbock and brought them out on the plane. Delight, I tell you.

And, I have to say, the flights weren't that bad. I was absolutely exhausted at the end of them, but the flights themselves went relatively well. Victory!

If only I could figure out how to get my family to live close enough that I wouldn't need an airplane to see them. If you have any tips for me in this regard, I'm all ears. :)