Grand Vacation 2011 pt 1

I am taking a break from the 7 meals that I promised to come up with. Reason being I have been far too busy to photograph the meals that I plan to. I promise I will get back to it once things are less crazy.

Things are crazy now because we are a day and a half away from embarking on a mega 24 day long vacation with the extended family. This has meant the desperate rush to tie up loose ends, picking up stuff to pack (we are going to different states in the USA with different types of climates which has meant massive, massive packing) and the actual packing for 5 people, 3 of whom are under 5 and require a large number of things, ranging from diapers to formula to milk bottles.

Thankfully, the twins are hyped up about it in a good way. They really cannot wait to go. Every morning, Evan asks what day it is and has figured out how to count down to Tuesday. I have managed to convince him to go easy on ginger bread cookies because he doesn't want to be fighting a cough on the plane. He willingly traded a ginger bread cookie for a bowl of apples after confirming that apples were good for him.

Jordan hasn't taken quite as academic an approach to counting down her days as her brother but she asks every morning if it is the "twenty- two of November" yet. She has taken very seriously the preparation for it. In a bid to get them involved, we brought down their trolley bags. Evan will just run around with it but is quite content to board the plane with an empty trolley, just as long as he gets to board the plane and the plane takes him to the US. Jordan however has obviously given packing a lot of thought and packed and unpacked several times.

This evening, when I decided it was time for me to actually pack her trolley bag, this was what I found in it.
1. A jacket.
2. A beanie
3. Some of her art work.
4. 2 books - That's Not My Fairy and Fuzzy goes to the Moon.
5. A box of flash cards.
6. A Princess Pillow Book.
7. A stuffed toy cat which she can decorate with the relevant fabric markers.
8. A pair of binoculars.
9. A Barbie cell-phone.
10. A whistle.


















It really does make me smile because when you ask her, she explains very clearly why she needs everything. The cell-phone is of course for emergencies. The whistle, so that Mommy will know where she is. The binoculars, to see into the sky and see America from the plane. The drawings are to show Princess Aurora and Cinderella when she sees them in Disneyworld.

Packrat asked me to respect what she has packed. I would love to and have kept some of the things in, but the toys and stuffed cat and pillow have had to make way for extra clothes (which she didn't think to put in).

Now, that was the fun bit of the packing. The real packing is not as entertaining and considering the fact that internal flights charge luggage per piece and it is beyond me to pack light; I am stressed beyond belief.

All those out there who believe in prayer, please pray for us! Nobody gets sick, Muffin doesn't cry from Singapore all the way to San Fran and cause himself and his family to be put on the black list and we come back with the same number of people (12!) we left with. No more, no less!


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