When I See You Smile

"When I see you smile, I can face the world, Oh Oh, you know I can do anything." Bad English – When I See You Smile 

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Now that I have gotten through some of the introduction phase, I am going to switch gears and talk about the McKiddos.  You’ll find that one of the things I try to be intentional about with my kids is to do unusual activities. We do participate in your run of the mill touristy things, and have a ton of fun doing them,  but I tend to look for quirky shops to go to, fun playgrounds and parks, and little hidden gems to visit when we travel.  Just like the rest of the world, we were really bummed to find out that all the things were cancelled this summer. It has been a bit of a rough go, since the hubs and I work full time. We have done an okay job of working together to make sure they have some interaction with us during the day and Luke make’s sure we don’t forget his meals-LOL, but they have to basically fend for themselves throughout the day for entertainment. I have tried my best to find a few things that could occupy some of our time and that we can do as a family. One of the things I ran across was Yum Box, there are a few other similar companies and I did not do a ton of research, but I assume you can expect similar experiences. I just went with the first one I came across. I figured

just getting mail and packages is fun for the kids, but they really get excited when our box shows up. If you have not heard of Yum Box, you are about to!

Yum box is a monthly subscription that comes to your house. It is full of snacks from another country along with some facts about the culture, the food. They provide some little games, recipes and a form to rate your snacks. I’ll make sure to share our monthly trip to far away, magical places when they come. This month we ‘traveled’ to Thailand.  The sticker on the box let us know that Thailand is ‘The Land of Smiles’. I sent the kids to do some quick research and they found that in Thailand, there are known to have 13 different smiles and each has a different meaning. At first, I thought this to be a bit of an exaggeration but then I thought to myself, I have about 60 facial expressions (that I cannot control), and they all have a different meaning, so I can see how it is true-LOL. Anyway, back to our box. This box was not a fan fav, it was filled with some interesting flavors though! I always make sure to have paper towels and some water to drink close by. Lemon and salt chips, garlic wheat crisps, and a mango rice glob (Gross). Some of the things they all did like was gummy strips, flavored with sweet lime with a hint of salt. Luke was oddly a fan of the fried shrimp and mayo flavored potato puff stick (disgusting), but his favorite was a banana coconut roll and Ben only liked the pineapple hard candies. So, if you are looking for a fun little adventure each month, I highly recommend! I am always on the hunt for cool virtual programs or games! Drop any of your fun experiences in the comments below! Tell me, what's making your kids smile this summer?