I have started the packing process, and have one suitcase out in the living room but........we just discovered after a frantic search that MY big suitcase is in Colorado with our daughter. ARGH ! She graduated from university last spring, on the east coast, and we flew back for graduation, taking many suitcases to bring back home stuff she didn't want at her new job in Colorado. I also had flown to London to see her in April, and we did suitcase juggling there too for me again to bring back to the Staqtes stuff she could not bring with her. So somewhere in one of those juggles, my suitcase remained with her. So to add to my looooong list this week will be an after school dash up the freeway to the next town to Ross to buy a new suitcase. We have no where here to shop, no
WalMart, no Target, no nothing....so I'll have to grit my teeth and drive the the half hour.
The thread about "going home" clothes strikes a chord with us big time. We always fly down in jeans and sweat shirts, so we have them in Forida if it gets chilly. But one year we KNEW we were in big trouble when at the airport all the TV's were blasting away with CNN's report of a Washington State blizzard, and we saw pictures of our home town. So we flew into the blizzard of the century, drove the two hours home (took us 7 hours for the two hour drive) in a blinding blizzard, no where to stop, nothing open to shelter in. We finally pulled off the freeway in Bellingham, and my skillful husband got us within 10 blocks of the house...but no farther. He dropped us off at the end of our street, and went back another 8 blocks to find a place to leave the car. Dressed in jeans and sweatshirt and loafers, wrapped in two quilts that happened to be in the back seat, my daughter and I set off. I then knew why people just give up and die when exposed like that. Meg, a STRONG competitive swimmer, was breaking a path through waist high snow. I knew in my heart we would not die because we were in our neighborhood and we could knock on doors......but it was 3 am. I sat down several times and was in shouting arguements with the daughter...it was awful. And we were so worried about Kent, with even longer to go. But we got there, and he got there a bit quicker since we had broken a path.....but then we had to try to get in the house. Our son had flown and driven home 12 hours before us. So we looked like idiots shouting up at his window to wake him to help us get inside our totally difted house. We finally just used the fire escape ladder from one of the seocnd story windows, fell asleep exhausted and it took us hours the next day to shovel our way OUT of the house. So now, yes even on this trip next week, always leave boots and gloves and heavy coats in the car at the airport in case anything like that happens again.
Sorry so long.....I was just remembering.
Marilee
!! My DS and I are both getting hair cuts this week. Haven't started to pack as we have been wearing our shorts and t-shirts this last week (weather turned). I'll do up laundry and pack up closer in for the clothes. I have everything else in big rubbermaid tubs and plan to get them in suitcases tonight. We fly out to the UK the day after we get back from the cruise, for a week, so I'm setting aside things for that trip as well. Happy packing everyone! 
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I have finished the packing process and all luggage is in the living room ready to out the door into the RV. I have to finish up at work on Monday and then the Slings' Family Vacation will have begun....Sun, Sand, warm winds, tropical music....oh but to get there I have to withstand several days in an RV with four fighting excited restless screaming kids! I know it is going to be worth every minute of it. Can't wait to meet all of you.
. The only cruise I didn't experience that was when Dave surprised me with a 7 day on Celebrity and we left two days after Christmas. There was no time for anticipation and no weeks and weeks of waiting but just panic packing 
. That cruise seemed to last forever, which is a good thing.
).
Looking forward to meeting you.
