Recently we took a ski trip with the twins (and brought a nanny – more on that later). Our return trip was a long travel day filled with delays. The girls did great thanks to a creative mom (see picture below – patting myself on the back here) and lots of snacks!
Photo Credit: parentingmultiples.net
I have been woefully truant on my blog – chalk it up to summer vacation, end of summer, etc. My apologies to all my readers (all two of you). Anywho – I want to pass on my most recent find, Stay-Put Inflatable Bed Rail Set by One Step Ahead. I had been looking for some sort of compact travel bed rail. Everything I found was big, metal, bulky, or only included one inflatable bed rail (umm last time I checked there were two sides to a bed). I initially had purchased some metal – “portable” bed rails – which SUCKED! One of the girls fell out of bed – just rolled the darn thing right over.
That's a 12 inch ruler for scale purposes
Then I found Stay-Put Inflatable Bed Rail Set by One Step Ahead on Amazon.com. (Chorus of Angels!) First what’s so great is the set includes two – I know a set should be at least two items. They have their own little pump and blow up in a snap. There is nothing big and bulky about them, the set and pump fit in a nice little bag. You just blow them up, put the rail (more like a speed bump) under a fitted sheet and it stays in place – there is some nonslip fabric on the rail to aid in keeping it in place.
Just so you know, no one is paying me to write about this product – all on my own research, trial and error, bought them with my own dime etc.
I’ve taken quite a few trips alone with the girls – but never any trips where it was just the three of us – alone – for the entire trip. We’ve driven from point A to point B and had help waiting (Grandma and Grandpa) but never any true overnights with just mom. I’m sorta “hellbent” you could say on having my children be good travelers. The three of us have tons of opportunities when Dad is out of town to do fun cool things as they get older. Plus my husband gets to go to a lot of cool places and well I want all of us to go if we are able to – so thus I’m breaking them in on how to be good travelers early.
My first solo trip – Water Park Mecca – the Taj Mahal of Water Parks – yes you guess correct, The Wisconsin Dells! We have had some peaks and valleys on our little get away, but overall it’s been great! My biggest problem that I should have foreseen is the sleeping issue. We have some issues getting to bed at home so getting them to sleep in a big bed in a hotel room should have been a huge red flag for me. Plus in the past when we have slept in hotel rooms they always have slept poorly in the hotel provided porta cribs – I know what was I thinking assuming that sleeping would not be a problem? On a whim a few days before we left I emailed the hotel (Great Wolf Lodge) to see if they had portable bed rails – which they did! Seeing as I was going to be alone the idea of having to schlep their porta cribs around was not appealing, plus they sleep in toddler beds at home. We stuck to our bedtime routine and then lights out – which translated into a WWF unsanctioned wrestling match. I tried everything I could think of to get them to sleep together – finally it just came down to having one sleep with me and the other alone. On a positive note they slept in until 7:30 am! WOOHOOO!
And nap time – ditto “You gotta keep em separated”