Beating Cabin Fever

Oh cabin fever.  How I loathe you.

In the wintertime, myself and many of my friends with small kids have a hard time.  It’s too cold to go outside so I end up stuck in the house.  Then boredom sneaks in.

In my house bored kids = kids getting in trouble which then = stressed Mommy.

Thankfully during Christmastime there’s so many family friendly activities to do.  And some of them are free!  Today I thought I’d share about a recent adventure we had.

My Mom and I took my 3.5 year-old daughter and my 1-year-old son to a mall about an hour away from our home…all because of a train.

My daughter LOVES trains.  In this cute little train adults and kids can ride together as it drives through the mall.  Something like this is a BIG deal to my 3.5 year old.

So we packed up the kids and drove the hour-long trip.  My son (aka sir-screams-a-lot) screamed 95% of the trip.   Taking a nap in the car was not on his agenda.  Oh well.

We got to the mall and realized the train rides didn’t start for another hour.

Bummer!

So we had to think of some other fun things to keep the kids entertained while we waited…

My daughter got some reindeer antlers from a mall employee.  She was excited to wear them as they matched her reindeer leggings and shirt!

This was a free item that kept her entertained for hours.  That’s always good in my book!

She had a blast looking at herself in the mirror with her new accessory.  I was happy looking through the purses.

My son was happy sucking on his sock.  By his choice.  I’m going to need socks with suspenders to keep them on his feet!

Then after lunch the train was ready!

She had an absolute blast!  She’ll be talking about her train ride for weeks!

I’ve learned over the years that no matter what you’re doing, make it fun.   This day it meant finding fun things to do while waiting for the train.

So…what do you like to do with your family to fight cabin fever?  I’d love to hear your ideas!