Category Archives: packing

August 23, 2010 · 3:53 pm

Vacation

It was amazing. Beautiful condo. Beautiful pool. Gorgeous beach. Great food. Good company. Was it relaxing? There were definitely moments, but it was mostly like transporting our home routine to a really lovely beach backdrop. Still, the change of scenery was great, and I had some precious opportunities to lounge by the pool with my Kindle. (Still reading “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” by the way. I’m not a slow reader as much as I’m a constantly interrupted mother.)

I mentioned on Facebook that there were highs and lows. I’ll start low. In the course of seven days, we dealt with pink eye (Dylan), a sinus infection (Dylan) and laryngitis (Mike). Besides the pool bar, our most visited location was CVS. On the upside, as I mentioned above, I had some much needed time for myself. Mike and I took turns having alone time at the beach or pool while the kids napped in the afternoons. We even went out for drinks alone one night after the kids went to sleep. (Thank you Grandpa Tom and Grandma Barbara!)

And it gets better. The smartest thing we did all week was take advantage the hotel’s babysitting services. I’m not one to leave my kids with a perfect stranger – which is why I have such a hard time finding a Saturday night babysitter, and hence, why I often want to run away – but I knew if we didn’t have a few dinners without the kids’ restaurant antics then we would, quite frankly, implode.

I was very anxious (surprise, surprise) on the first of what ended up being three nights of babysitting bliss. When our doorbell rang at 5:45pm on Tuesday, my heart leapt. I opened the door and there stood Nadia, a young woman in her mid twenties, nearly seven months pregnant and oozing mommy-ness, and surrounded by a glowing, angelic light. Okay, maybe the glowing light was just the sun setting behind her, but I felt instantly that she was going to save our vacation. She did. The kids loved her as much as we did, and by the time we took them out again on our last night, they wanted absolutely nothing to do with us…or their high chair and booster seat.

On Saturday morning, we packed up the car and made our way south. We came home to a clean house and a happy dog and began the process of unpacking from vacation and preparing for school. I can’t believe my sweet Dylan is in nursery school, and my little Rye-Rye is starting the toddler program three mornings a week. Today is their first day at school and my first morning alone in 17 months.

To be continued…

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Filed under babysitter, grandparents, health, packing, pinkeye, restaurant, Uncategorized, vacation

August 13, 2010 · 6:21 pm

Everything AND The Kitchen Sink

Packing a family of four with two young children for a week long vacation, and traveling there in a car without the confines of air travel, is like packing to move. Regrettably, without the moving truck.

We’re staying in a three-bedroom condo (vs. a hotel room), so my packing list looks something like the math formulas BP’s engineers worked on to fix the Gulf oil spill. From diapers to dish soap, sippy cups to stain remover and books to bath toys, I’m ready for anything. The problem is that I just started packing and the car is already full with two car seats and a stroller in back.

In addition to supplies, I also have a bag packed with the kids’ favorite snacks – basically, anything I can think of that might be hard to buy and even harder for my kids to survive without for a week. Between you and me, Riley wouldn’t last 30 minutes without a fruit squeezer, and Dylan wouldn’t make it much longer without an orange cracker fix (any orange cracker will do).

We’re also packing Dylan’s potty seat cover, a stool, Riley’s highchair cover and Dylan’s travel aerobed (he has habit of rejecting traditional beds in unfamiliar places). Oh, and we’re surprising Dylan with a tent for the aerobed. We read in the local newspaper that kids do better while away when they have a special space that is all their own. We’ll see. After that, there are the toy baskets that each kid gets to fill plus movies and books. Then, there are the actual suitcases, and don’t forget the bag we’ll bring in the car for the four-hour drive north.

My dad understands my packing stress and always tells me, “Jenny (that’s what my family and anyone who knew me before 1993 calls me), you’re not leaving the country. I’m sure there’s a market there.” I don’t want to arrive in paradise only to have to search for the nearest Publix to buy diapers and Goldfish. As a kid, I would wear my bathing suit on the plane when we went on vacation so I could go straight to the pool when we got there. The buy-when-you-get-there philosophy just isn’t my style. So, I pack. And since we’re driving, I can pack a lot.

Am I outing myself as a Crazy Mama here? I have to ask, because I’ve been making lists and packing for this trip for more than three weeks. I have anxiety on par with what I was nervous about last week. Not only do I have to pack for the kids, but if Mike were left on his own, he would pack nothing but a bathing suit and a box of cigars. Me, I like to have a lot of choices, but I have to figure out how to pack five pairs of shoes instead of 10. I’m under a lot of pressure.

With 24 hours before we leave, I will channel a calmer, simpler version of myself and try to pack less. Thankfully Mike bought a Roof Bag (roofbag.com) in case my channeling fails. (FYI: He bought the Roof Bag, not me. Shopaholic Mama was not involved!)

So there you have it. Unless you hear from me again, you can assume we fit it all in the car and hit the road. I plan to disconnect at least a little bit while we’re away, but I’ll definitely be in touch if anything especially interesting happens. I’m sure it will.

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Filed under Crazy Mama, packing, vacation