Taking Toys on Vacation: The Lion Guard and Shopkin Kinstructions

I'm grumpy today.  Mostly because I'm back at work after my amazing week long vacation. Once again, we spent April vacation down the Cape in Provincetown. We've been going for years and it is seriously, one of the most relaxing weeks of my whole year. Beaches. Gelato. Time with my family. It's perfection.

I will admit, I was a bit nervous about this year's vacation.  Tyler is super mobile and a rambunctious almost two year old, and Emmalee is a moody, almost five year old going on seventeen.  They love each other but bug each other so much. Tyler will bop Emma with a toy, she'll start crying. She'll yell at him, he'll start crying. It's a vicious cycle broken up by laughs, kisses, and snuggles.

I knew I would want to be able to relax at some point with my husband so we packed up a couple surprise toys for the kids.  Pro tip: this wards off all sorts of toy requests because there is already something waiting for them back at the hotel room! :)

For Tyler we packed up a couple Lion Guard toys.  Have you seen The Lion Guard? It's about Simba and Nala's son, Kion and his friends learning to use their unique talents to solve problems.  What mom doesn't love that message?

The kids are obsessed with blind bag toys (see here, here, and here) so we grabbed a couple for them to open, as well as a talking Kion stuffed animal.

They kids were super excited to open their blind bags and find Kion, Ty's favorite, and Fuli, Emma's favorite! They immediately began running around the room, making their animals roar and "go on a hunt". I love imaginative play toys!

The Kion plush is especially cool because he talks! When you press the "Mark of the Guard" print on his arm, he lights up and makes sounds, including 4 signature catch phrases from the show! Since Tyler doesn't speak much, he would press the button and just start laughing while chasing his sister around.

At almost 5 years old, Emmalee is much better at some quiet time toys, really spending lots of time drawing, coloring, using playdoh, making bead jewelry, all sit down quiet type activities, so when we saw these Shopkins Kinstructions, we knew they would be perfect for her to sit quietly and use while Tyler was taking a nap.

The directions were a bit tricky, but the company has released all new directions on their website that are free to download! Emma's favorite part is that each Shopkin is actually two pieces so she can mix and match the little pieces! She must have sat at the table for a full hour, making the Shopkins go shopping for each other!

I really loved the idea of having a couple new surprise toys in the room for the kids.  It gave them something new and exciting which gave me time to actually sit and relax! Bonus was that since they just got the new toys, they weren't asking for anything while we were out! I love them both and think I need more blind bags, the other talking characters, and more Shopkins toys! Which do you plan on grabbing?