How Do We Entertain 5 Hungry Kids At A Restaurant: Doodlebugz Crayola Keeper

We were privileged this week to have favorite visitors in town. One of our favorite couples and their four fabulous offspring (ages 1 through 8) took a day out of their vacation to play with Ranger and I.

We started the 90 degree day at the zoo and worked up a big hunger for a late lunch at a great tavern/pizzeria. As delicious pizza takes time, we settled in with the 5 kids (ages 1, 3, 4, 6, & 8) for a bit of a wait.

Although I wasn't sure that coloring would over well with the older boys, they immediately felt at home with the crayons presented in a green camouflage Doodlebugz Crayola Crayon Keeper. The young artists worked on their masterpieces while snacking on a basket of crackers and lemonades.

There's nothing better than a great meal with good friends.

One of my young friends gave me a signed copy of his beautifully rendered Aquarium art. I offered him the Doodlebugz as a token of appreciation (you should have seen his smile!).

The Doodlebugz Keeper ($14) is a well-made carrier by Princess Linens. It folds into a compact roll with Velcro closure and a sturdy ribbon handle. They come with a box of 24 washable Crayola crayons. Wisely, there are more than 24 slots so those extra crayons lurking in my car finally found found a proper home.

Princess Linens is offering Baby Toolkit readers a 15% discount on orders (enter the coupon code babytoolkit at check-out) . We'll also be reviewing their First Scrubs this month.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Farm Teams, Minors, and Independent Leagues Offer Summer Fun

When I was growing up, I loved the nights when our family went to see the Evansville Triplets play. After those magic years of sitting in Dad's employer's box seats behind the dugout, I was sad to see the team leave town and the beautiful historic ball field fall dark on summer nights. My baseball glove (autographed by my favorite player Mark Fidrych) became a permanent resident of the hall closet, and thus ended my brief infatuation with baseball.

Twenty plus years later while I was pregnant with Ranger, my dear college friend and her baseball-loving family came to visit. Partially motivated by nostalgia, I planned a night at the Evansville Otters so my friend's husband could visit one of the locations from A League of Their Own.

While I spent most of that evening talking with my friend, the mesmerizing effect the game had on her children (and our spouses) was undeniable. The allure of ballpark hot dogs and CrackerJacks were irresistible, and, like the ticket prices, everything was pretty reasonably priced. The boys were most delighted to get on the field and run the bases after the game.

Almost three years after our friends' visit, we regularly head to the ball park on hot summer nights to cheer for the local team and soak up the Norman Rockwell ambiance. Ranger has loved baseball since his first visit, so much that Jim is actually learning the rules of the game after 30+ years of sheer indifference. Ranger loves watching the action on the field and reading numbers off the scoreboard to us.

I can't say that I watch that much baseball at the games; I'm more of a people watcher, so the crowds have more allure.

Between innings local businesses sponsor strange audience participation games (inflatable sumo wrestling and hula hoop tosses), so there's plenty to see even if you don't watch one minute of the actual game.

Ranger's grandparents often join us at games. My parents both have a love for sports that entirely skipped my brother and I, so I know they find in kinship in the next generation's sports enthusiasm.

So, even if you don't like baseball, it may be worth looking into affordable sports tickets in your area. It's funny how kids can help you appreciate something you've unknowingly been missing.

Our friends are coming back to town next week, and we're planning another night with the Otters. They'll get to see our favorite new inning switch game ("Pluck the Polyp," a tong and bucket game sponsored by a local colo-rectal practice).

This time an almost 3-year-old Ranger will get to the run the bases for the first time ever. I suspect it will be worth every minute of those 7 long innings to see the smile on his face.

Booster Seat Escapee? Flip that Seat Belt Buckle

Ranger outgrew his convertible car seat pretty quickly. Though we prefer 5 point harnesses for him during the toddler years, we bought a Britax booster seat for Jim's car. Ranger tends to ride in my car most of the time, and Jim needs a car seat that can fit in the trunk during carpool weeks.

We've been frustrated on a couple occasions to find Ranger releasing the seat belt while in transit. Toddlers simply don't seem equipped for the responsibility of booster seats.

Jim discovered that with our car and our seat (this may not be true for all car and booster combinations) that twisting the seat belt receptacle, he can prevent Ranger from reaching the release button. If you choose to attempt this, please inspect your seat and belt configuration to be sure that pressure won't inadvertently be placed on the release button when the seat belt is tightened.

Jim flips the belt receiver before buckling in Ranger and pulling the belt taut. It actually works well enough in our car that the other adults in the family take a little longer to get to the release button. Meanwhile, Ranger likes to direct the activity, "Press the button, Grandma!"

Clean as a Whistle: A Dishwasher Hack from the Land of Very Hard Water

One of the first things we did upon moving into this house was replace the avocado green dishwasher, not for looks, but for lack of function. The poor thing just didn't clean the plates or glasses.

Jim and my dad installed a new dishwasher, and I was pretty surprised when it didn't clean the dishes very well either. They came out with bits of food sealed to them rather than rinsed clean and the glasses (dark blue) looked like they had been dipped in milk and left to dry. After a couple years of rewashing many dishes per load and having glassware that I was embarrassed to show to guests, we resorted to handwashing everything.

Our still pretty new dishwasher became a giant drying rack. That lasted for almost a year before I got tired of seeing the perpetual backlog of dirty dishes on the counter. So, I started looking for solutions.

Our water (from the Ohio River) has very high levels of calcium and other minerals. The water here is actually so hard that I'm reasonably wigged out when we're somewhere that water is more tempered. On a recent trip I finally asked Jim what he thought was in the water that just didn't rinse off. He informed me it was properly softened water and that the unpleasant experience was merely liquidity without massive mineral deposits (as opposed to the normal pelting of tiny rocks one experiences here).

It turns out that the hard water was giving our dishwasher a hard time. Rather than looking at a whole house water softener, I looked for a solution localized to our dishwasher. A lot of people with hard water suggested a performance boosters like Glass Magic to solve these problems (but such products are heavy on phosphates which encourage algae growth downstream).

Someone in the Amazon comments for Glass Magic mentioned the use of vinegar instead, so I started experimenting. By adding 2/3 cup white vinegar to the bottom of the dishwater before washing, I've been getting splendid results.

It's nice to be able to hand a guest a sparkling glass now (that I didn't have to handwash).

I guess there's a little Stepford wife in me after all.