Vacation Prep

Vacation prep is in full swing around here. Groceries have been bought. Checklists have been made. Outfits have been determined. Puppy dogs have been groomed. And a load of big, important, bulky things have been sent to B'ville by way of my sister to be stuffed into our nifty storage bag in the back of Frankie's truck bright and early Saturday morning when we meet the fam at my parents' house before hitting the road. Phew. Longest sentence ever.

Oh yes, we are definitely getting ready for our week at the beach and the vacation we've been looking forward to since January. It's been fun and exhausting, lazy and busy. We've been busy cleaning (so we don't come back to a messy, dirty house), busy doing laundry, busy buying all the things we'll need, busy making sure the yard is nice and trim, and busy planning and organizing.

Yet in spite of the busyness the boys and I have still found ourselves with time on our hands... which is usually a bad thing. We have to stay busy and active around here or things tend to go downhill. The good thing about this down time is that I've actually given myself permission to lay down, rest, and relax during naptime. SO nice. The bad thing about the down time is that things tend to go downhill. Haha. Thankfully the boys love to play together and they entertain each other really, really well most of the time. Of course yesterday while AnAn was here she got to witness fighting and screaming and time-out and drama. Why does that always happen? Whenever there is an audience the love and sweetness just sort of disappear. Ahhh.

The other bad thing about all the down time is that this week is crawling by. We've been doing the countdown on our chalkboard and today we've finally reached the number 2. Feels like it's taken us forever to get here. Hopefully that's good news for next week though. =)

Now is the time when the stress factor settles in too. We're 2 days away, there's much to be done, and I'm a planner. With 2 small kids. A definite recipe for a bit of stress. Since having babies there has always been a slight measure of stress associated with traveling and vacationing. But there's also double the excitement and fun because of the kiddos. I wouldn't have it any other way.

This year I'm mainly nervous/concerned about my baby boy's sleeping habits. For the past week or so he's had a hard time going to sleep each night and he's woken up during the night almost every night. It's been sort of strange and something we can't quite put on finger on. Nothing has changed with his routine so we're thinking it's either teething related or the fact that his matress isn't elevated anymore.

(He attempted to climb out recently so we had to make it flat again. He's slept on an elevated matress for quite a while though so it's definitely possible that's related to his lack of good sleep.)

We're hoping he'll be so tired on vacation that he'll sleep good no matter what. But then there's the fact that he'll be sleeping in a pack n play... which he hasn't done in FOREVER. Soooo, I'm nervous about that too.

The other thing I'm really trying to plan for and be prepared for is the actual traveling part. My boys typcially do great on road trips. Such a blessing! (And we are probably the ONLY parents out there who don't use a portable DVD player on road trips.) But this trip, Austin is older and may sleep a little less, and the anticipation of arriving and starting our vacation is super high this year. Maybe the highest ever. Garrison is soooo excited and ready I'm afraid he'll ask when we'll be there about 5, 000 times. Sooo, I'm planning to pack 3 goodie bags each for both boys. They'll be filled with a small snack and a few toys or books. I'm hoping they work. I did something similar going to Gatlinburg and last year's trip to the beach and both times they've worked wonders til the very last we're almost there stretch. Then it's just survival mode.

Today I'm focusing on getting a good start on our packing...which means I'll spend a TON of time staring at the clothes in my closet and eventually trying things on and then staring some more and then weighing the pros and cons of each outfit and then maybe, hopefully, eventually making a final decision. I'm also going to be labeling the boys clothes for easier prep time each night we're going out. They're going to be adorable. But I may be just a tad biased. =)

We can't wait to get our once a year summer vacay under way! We're praying for safety, good health, good weather, and lots of fun family time for a whole week at one of our favorite places ever. =)