traveling treasure jar

In one week from today I will be on an airplane, flying back to North America, with our youngest child.

We will be getting up at 4:00 a.m.

We will have two layovers: one in Miami, one in Los Angles.

We will be getting to San Francisco at 10:45 p.m. (that's 12:45 a.m. Quito time).

We should be arriving to a nice cozy bed at my mother-in-laws by about 12:00 a.m. (2:00 a.m.).

It should be a super fun day.

(If you didn't already, read that last sentence with as much sarcasm as you can possibly put into it.)

I am trying to prepare.

Today I got a bunch of markers and crayons together.  Tomorrow I'll print off some coloring pages and pick some movies to watch on the computer.  I'll be going to the store to get some snacks and maybe a small toy or game.  

And I made a game today.

I found a bunch of random little objects around the house.

 Bobby pin, hair band, googly eye, marble, pompom, hair clip..... that sort of thing.

I filled an old peanut butter (imported, of course) jar with rice and these trinkets and mixed them up.

Then I taped the top.

 I also typed out a list of all the things that are in the jar (excluding the rice - I didn't think that needed to be on the list!).  Then I got really smart and taped a copy of the list right on the jar.

Now we'll have a little travel game - rolling the jar around and around looking for all the objects buried in the rice.

I am hoping that this little search for treasure will keep Lucy occupied for a good 5 or 7 minutes.

Then it will be worth the full 1/2 hour it took me to put it all together!

Maybe we'll even take it on our four day car ride, too!