Keeping Kids Busy

It is hard to keep 5 children busy and quiet (my dad is supposed to avoid excessive noise) especially when you are not at home. One of the things we did to keep them occupied was to buy some games they have never played before. Don't Break the Ice and Ants in the Pants are two games that all of the children (except Christian) can sit and play together and they are easy to set up and put away. Since they are new the children have been playing them quite a bit over the last two days. We also got the new Monopoly Electronic Banking which is a lot of fun! It is a little harder of course, but Chelsea and Nick can play easily and Alex can play with help.
My mom has a Nintendo Wii, so they have been bowling, playing baseball, golf, and tennis on it but I limit their video game playing to 30 minutes a day. We brought brand new coloring books and crayons with us also, and Nana and Papa have some puzzles, so we are keeping busy.
I also took the children to the library today. There is a wonderful library here with a huge Children's Department. We borrowed some computer games, DVDs, and of course some books. We also played on the playground for a little while before we had to head back and make lunch for my dad and the kids.