Packing....

The final countdown is on for our family's long-awaited East coast vacation.  We've gotten most of the details ironed out.....foster homes for the animals, someone to watch the house, water the garden and feed the horses. It's all coming together.

Determined to be ready to go early and not stressed, I spent one whole day packing. The boys were first and I was feeling pretty good about the adventure.  I asked them for input on what they wanted to wear and Buck had but one request, that I pack his favorite pink shirt. Buck loves pink. There's something about him feeling manly enough to pull off pink and he does it well.  Along with his pink t-shirt, he also has a hot pink ipod and says if he ever needed a cast, it would be pink. I'm sure if I found a pink Tony Hawk backpack, he'd proudly wear it to school. Funny boy!

When I finished packing Buck's clothes, I turned to Colton who was laying on his bed playing his Playstation baseball and asked him if he'd like to help with his clothes. Without looking up, he said, "I don't care what I wear. You can pick it for me and I don't want to take any underwear."  I should have seen this coming, but I didn't.  Colton has been gradually weaning himself off of underwear for some time now.  It started, harmlessly enough, at bedtime about six months ago. Fresh from his nightly shower, he would ask if he could just put pajama bottoms on, sans underwear. He would explain, it's so much more comfortable without them.  I was fine with this and we discussed it no longer. Then, one morning as I was getting his soccer cleats on, I noticed, ahem, that there was nothing between him and his transparent white soccer shorts. To this he explained, "I've decided that it's a lot more comfortable without them all the time."  It was hard to disagree with his logic, but I made him undy up despite his rebuttal. Recently, in all seriousness, he declared that if he must wear underwear, they have to be Jockey boxer briefs. He's 8. How could he know what kind of underwear he prefers?  

Moving on to the girls' rooms, I started with Sierra.  She was quite organized with her stacks and explained each outfit as it went in. Our only disagreement came when she tried to pack four swim suits. I told her that all she needed was one and after a lengthy debate, we compromised with 2. Audra was a bit less organized, but knew exactly what she was taking. Our big disagreement came when she tried to explain why she needed to pack six pairs of shoes. Six. After some negotiating, a little eye-rolling (me) and more debating, we settled on three.  

After zipping the suitcase closed, I realized that because I couldn't lift it, it must be close to the 50 pound limit. I dragged out the bathroom scale and hefted the bag up onto the footrest. 46 pounds, I was safe and one bag was ready to go. I managed to get the final suitcase packed and all that's left is everybody's bathroom stuff, which I'll do the evening before we go.

It's an exciting trip and one we've been planning, or at least talking about, since last summer.  We'll be flying into Baltimore, spending the next day exploring the Inner Harbor and taking in a baseball game at historic Camden Yards. (Never mind that Colton piped up about the Orioles having the worst record in baseball. We reminded him we were going for the history.) The following day, we'll be traveling to DC to explore some of our country's rich history. The kids have each picked out a couple landmarks they'd like to see there, so we've got a loose itinerary to keep us on-track. Once we've gotten DC covered, it's off to Philly for some further exploration before making our way to NJ where we anxiously await our special time with my sister, Kim, and her family.  We will be staying with them for the rest of the week before heading into NY city, where we'll stay in Times Square.  We've got tickets to see Wicked on Broadway and will enjoy two days in the city.  We'll head back to my sister's house for our final day and a half of vacation before flying home.

I'm hoping to be able to blog and post some photos while we're away.  We are expecting a great trip.  Now, it's time to get back to packing....