My Pre-trip report
Heres the travelers. . .
Me 40 and planner of all travels
DH 39 and payer of travel expenses
DD15 quietly anticipating
DD11 not so quietly anticipating
DD9 (really 8 but going to be 9 in a few weeks and insisting we consider her 9 RIGHT NOW) planning assistant
Only have 11 more sleeps until its time to leave!! 18 months worth of planning has come to this. . . 8 more workdays and 2 weekend days. 8 workdays have me a bit worried because Im not finished with the BIG PROJECT Im working on and I need to be finished in order to relax and enjoy this MUCH needed vacation with my family. So, Ive prompted dh to expect me to work even MORE hours than Ive been working for the past couple months. I WILL get it done. . .Im the little engine that could. See, I have to travel 115 miles to get to the office where the BIG PROJECT is. So I have about 2.5 hours of round-trip travel each day. Because Im needed in my home office with week of 4/21, I have to have BIG PROJECT completed by 4/18. . . (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can). Then its a relatively easy 3 days (4/21 4/23) at least hours wise until 4/24 with is D-DAY!!!!
K so I mentioned 18 months of planning. . . then why do I still need things from the store?? Mostly we have purchased everything we need, but these little items keep popping into my head, hence THE LIST! DH is sooooo sick of the LIST that he cant stand it. As of today, Ive been informed that HE will finish shopping for the LIST and once he is done, THATS IT. . NO MORE LISTS! Weeeeell allrighty then. . .
Me, planner of the travels, has everything planned. We have a travel book. . . . for those of you who have OCD. . .you understand. For those of you who have special needs family members, it is likely you understand as well. Travel book is a 3-ring binder appropriately sectioned off with tabbed dividers. Reservations, budgets, receipts, meal planner complete with menus, tickets, itineraries, park day planners, contact information, vehicle rental. . .well, theres more, but you get the idea. . . .ok, so dont laugh at the pencil case full of pens, pencils, sharpies, highlighters, post-it notes, white out tape, paper clips. . . uuumm, yes, I completely understand my OCD issues (I left out scissors and tape, doesnt that count for something). . .nevertheless. So I probably shouldnt mention the folder with the trip tik turn by turn directions in case the GPS for some weird reason fails us. . . prolly should not tell you about the giant atlas I picked up either (you know, just in case the gps fails AND for some reason the trip tik jumps out the window) oh, and the calendar in case I forget what day it is. . . . enough already!!!
Seriously though. . .all the above is true. . . .ok, really serious, Im almost finished packing. As a matter of fact, I took a couple of pics for your enjoyment (go ahead, laugh till it hurts). Heres a bit of background for you. As mentioned, we are traveling as a family of 5 (yes, we have 3 more kids and a grandchild even who will not be traveling with us since they no longer live in our home). Both dh and I work full-time plus, so pulling this together cannot be last minute. . .well, because there arent many minutes to spare in our lives. 4 years ago we took all 6 kids on a wonderful vacation for 16 days. We have a great time and some beautiful memories to last a lifetime. What Ive discovered during the planning of this trip, is I didnt really plan that trip. I made reservations and purchased tickets, but really there was not much planning involved. . . I simply didnt know I needed to. Well, Ive since become a much better traveler and have definitely done my research this time. So, we travel prepared and with a special needs child, that is a must. Because we can not fly (special needs dd wont even consider it), we decided to drive straight through. . . 1,055 miles from central Illinois to Orlando, FL. To make that even better, we are driving through the night. This is mostly so dd will sleep a good portion the trip and not freak out because she is cooped up in a car for 18 hours (uummm, yeah, we are driving during the day on the return portion). So, on Thursday, 4/18 dh will pick the kids up from school at 1:00, bring them home for a quick change of clothes, pit stop and into the rental van they will go. On the road by 1:30 at the latest with meal and fuel stops all mapped out and programmed into the GPS. But, Im getting ahead of myself. The reason most of our packing is done is because we have to work every day (cept sat and sun) between now and then and kids have some after school events over the next week and a half AND next Saturday dh takes the kids to the dome in St. Louis for a Motocross event. Sunday is the celebration of my grandsons 1st birthday (a whole nother issue since we will be gone for his actual birthday). Plus theres got to be some time for cleaning the house since we will have a house sitter during our vacay to take care of the critters. Oh yeah, and did I mention dh decided to rearrange the furniture this
weekend?????
Next up. . . packing and pics
Heres the travelers. . .
Me 40 and planner of all travels
DH 39 and payer of travel expenses
DD15 quietly anticipating
DD11 not so quietly anticipating
DD9 (really 8 but going to be 9 in a few weeks and insisting we consider her 9 RIGHT NOW) planning assistant
Only have 11 more sleeps until its time to leave!! 18 months worth of planning has come to this. . . 8 more workdays and 2 weekend days. 8 workdays have me a bit worried because Im not finished with the BIG PROJECT Im working on and I need to be finished in order to relax and enjoy this MUCH needed vacation with my family. So, Ive prompted dh to expect me to work even MORE hours than Ive been working for the past couple months. I WILL get it done. . .Im the little engine that could. See, I have to travel 115 miles to get to the office where the BIG PROJECT is. So I have about 2.5 hours of round-trip travel each day. Because Im needed in my home office with week of 4/21, I have to have BIG PROJECT completed by 4/18. . . (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can). Then its a relatively easy 3 days (4/21 4/23) at least hours wise until 4/24 with is D-DAY!!!!
K so I mentioned 18 months of planning. . . then why do I still need things from the store?? Mostly we have purchased everything we need, but these little items keep popping into my head, hence THE LIST! DH is sooooo sick of the LIST that he cant stand it. As of today, Ive been informed that HE will finish shopping for the LIST and once he is done, THATS IT. . NO MORE LISTS! Weeeeell allrighty then. . .
Me, planner of the travels, has everything planned. We have a travel book. . . . for those of you who have OCD. . .you understand. For those of you who have special needs family members, it is likely you understand as well. Travel book is a 3-ring binder appropriately sectioned off with tabbed dividers. Reservations, budgets, receipts, meal planner complete with menus, tickets, itineraries, park day planners, contact information, vehicle rental. . .well, theres more, but you get the idea. . . .ok, so dont laugh at the pencil case full of pens, pencils, sharpies, highlighters, post-it notes, white out tape, paper clips. . . uuumm, yes, I completely understand my OCD issues (I left out scissors and tape, doesnt that count for something). . .nevertheless. So I probably shouldnt mention the folder with the trip tik turn by turn directions in case the GPS for some weird reason fails us. . . prolly should not tell you about the giant atlas I picked up either (you know, just in case the gps fails AND for some reason the trip tik jumps out the window) oh, and the calendar in case I forget what day it is. . . . enough already!!!
Seriously though. . .all the above is true. . . .ok, really serious, Im almost finished packing. As a matter of fact, I took a couple of pics for your enjoyment (go ahead, laugh till it hurts). Heres a bit of background for you. As mentioned, we are traveling as a family of 5 (yes, we have 3 more kids and a grandchild even who will not be traveling with us since they no longer live in our home). Both dh and I work full-time plus, so pulling this together cannot be last minute. . .well, because there arent many minutes to spare in our lives. 4 years ago we took all 6 kids on a wonderful vacation for 16 days. We have a great time and some beautiful memories to last a lifetime. What Ive discovered during the planning of this trip, is I didnt really plan that trip. I made reservations and purchased tickets, but really there was not much planning involved. . . I simply didnt know I needed to. Well, Ive since become a much better traveler and have definitely done my research this time. So, we travel prepared and with a special needs child, that is a must. Because we can not fly (special needs dd wont even consider it), we decided to drive straight through. . . 1,055 miles from central Illinois to Orlando, FL. To make that even better, we are driving through the night. This is mostly so dd will sleep a good portion the trip and not freak out because she is cooped up in a car for 18 hours (uummm, yeah, we are driving during the day on the return portion). So, on Thursday, 4/18 dh will pick the kids up from school at 1:00, bring them home for a quick change of clothes, pit stop and into the rental van they will go. On the road by 1:30 at the latest with meal and fuel stops all mapped out and programmed into the GPS. But, Im getting ahead of myself. The reason most of our packing is done is because we have to work every day (cept sat and sun) between now and then and kids have some after school events over the next week and a half AND next Saturday dh takes the kids to the dome in St. Louis for a Motocross event. Sunday is the celebration of my grandsons 1st birthday (a whole nother issue since we will be gone for his actual birthday). Plus theres got to be some time for cleaning the house since we will have a house sitter during our vacay to take care of the critters. Oh yeah, and did I mention dh decided to rearrange the furniture this
weekend?????
Next up. . . packing and pics