Our Little Travelers

If you ask K & O what they want to be when they grow up they say, "Travelers!" If you ask them what their favorite thing to do is, they'll say "go on trips!" Their love of travel comes through loud and clear in their daily play. I mentioned in this recent post their obsession with playing "Travellers." According to their teacher from this past year, they got their entire pre-school class wrapped up in this at school every day -- I wrote about that in this post from last March. This summer, with them at home, I've had a chance to watch the two of them play 'Travel' on a daily basis. It is always a variation on a theme. But it is always elaborate, dramatic, vividly imaginative play. They make an airplane with blankets, pillows, chairs, etc. They work hard to construct the airplane's wings, jet engine, cockpit, etc. They discuss in great detail the trip they are on, where they are going, which airports they are flying through, etc. They pack up bags, bring their carry on's through security (including taking their shoes off), etc. Snacks are often involved (for eating on the plane). Recently maps have become a regular addition to their Traveling play. And in the past few days they've been adding Meera to the whole thing too - they put her Bjorn chair in between their seats so that they are all sitting together in the same row on the plane. They will sometimes wait for hours (literally) for Meera to wake up from a nap so that she can join them on the plane before taking off. They seem to always be jetting off to some fabulous beach for a glorious vacation. Watching all this play everyday has me reminiscing about all the fabulous beaches we've been on with K & O for glorious vacations... and all the amazing trips we've had (even when they haven't involved a beach). So far they've been on 14 trips involving air travel, and numerous other road trips. I was inspired to look through some of the photos from our early vacations with the boys. Here are a few of my favorites.