It’s really important to post about the flight to and from Denmark for a coupla reasons. One, my kids rocked it! seriously you guys, you would not believe how wonderfully behaved these two lovely ladies were. secondly, i searched and searched the web looking for real live people who have flown 19 hours with a 2 and a 5 year old. you know what i found? very little. I had to know what was the absolute BEST airplane activity to pack? should we bring the carseat or not? I needed to know from someone who had done it. and that’s why I’m here folks. I over packed so that you don’t have to. We flew with and without a car seat so that you can make an informed decision for your next flight.

I was excited about actually being in Denmark, but getting there was not exciting me. at. all. I made some a lot of busy bags and packed an entire carry on dedicated to busy-ness:

here they are broken down.

calico critters

pipe cleaners

tiny puppies

orca family

masking tape and cars (with hoods and doors that open cuz that’s kind of a big deal)

stickers!

twistable crayons.. not your run of the mill everyday crayon.

snakes..we once took a 5 hour car ride. the only thing i brought for entertainment were stretchy snakes (like the blue and green one). the girls played with them the whole time!

dominoes

dollar store fans.

cute matching game I ordered from Beneath The Rowan Tree (can’t link it for some reason).

open and close activity

sticker book with scenery and removable stickers

piglet. Lisey is/was quite fond of him.

Plus I purchased a brand new polly pocket set the girls had never played with. I brought a bunch of books, a notebook, and some homemade I spy bottles.

I was insane to pack all of this! I seriously could’ve gotten away with just a few busy bags. Pipe cleaners, masking tape, and small puppies were all that Ava (age 5) needed!

in the above photo you see the cars and the fan but she really didn’t play with those long. she mostly made wings out of tape for the dogs, turning them into condors. her words, not mine.

As for Annalise (age 2) she had a fever and mostly slept, but she was content with the stretchy snakes and calico critters.

Speaking of mostly sleeping. If you are traveling a long distance and you have to buy a seat for your 2 year old anyway.. bring the car seat! Yes it’s a pain to haul around the airport, but just strap it to the handle of your rolling carry-on and, ta-da! you have a stroller! It’s also a pain to go through security cuz you can’t just send it through the scanner. A very friendly and knowledgeable (if you were actually speaking to me, you would sense sarcasm here) TSA person will quickly (more sarcasm) place some magical searching gloves on and personally feel for any weapons or explosives that may be hidden in that dangerous car seat. but once you get past all of that, oh wait, you wouldn’t be in the clear yet. United no longer seats families with small children first. And really, we all know that tiny kids have the most patience. we can totally get in line an hour before the plane boards to ensure we’re on first. right. so since we’re always last on the plane, we had to be very careful squeezing that carseat down the aisle trying really hard not to hit those already seated passengers.

I think I just talked myself out of bringing the carseat. Wasn’t I for it just a moment ago? Oh yes, I was because the best is yet to come!

Once Annalise was buckled and reclined in her seat she went right to sleep. Easy peasy. It really was a life saver. We took a total of 6 flights. We were seated four in a row on just one flight. One was 2 and 2, and 4 of them were 3 seats in a row. So as much as Scott would’ve liked to help me with the girls, he couldn’t. He was usually smashed between 2 strangers. Without the car seat, 4 of those flights would have been miserable. One flight was only an hour so we checked the seat at the gate. Lise ended up in my lap and cried during take off and landing because she had to sit buckled in her own seat. If I had to do it all over again, I would bring the car seat on that flight too.

so there you go. take the car seat. pack masking tape and stretchy snakes. your kids will love it! and remember, there are always other crying kids on the airplane too. sometimes they’re yours, and sometimes, they’re not!