Vacation

Yippy!

We got back from 9 days vacation on Sunday night and here it is (wee hours) Thursday morning and I still haven't fully unpacked/caught up with laundry. In my defense, nearly everything is done. I just have a few more things from the suitcase to put away, fold one load of vacation laundry and catch up on ironing.

We went down to FL and stayed in a rental house like last year. We spent most of our days playing in the pool and relaxing with one day at the Orlando Science Center (kids' favorite) and one day at the beach. After a week in FL, we headed up to Atlanta for my niece's graduation before heading home.

Another blogger was asking about what to bring for a baby while traveling and that got me thinking. I probably travel a lot lighter than most people. All of the clothing for the trip for 7 people fit in 1 large duffel bag. (The house has a washer and dryer so I only had about 4 days worth of clothing for each person plus an outfit for the graduation.) We also bring our own sheets, towels, blankets and pillows. The sheets and towels all fit into a large carry-on size bag. Blankets and pillows were grouped into big garbage bags to fill out the car top carrier. Each person also had one pair of sandals and one pair of sneakers. Sneakers were in a garbage bag up on top as well. Inside we had 2 coolers (1 medium, 1 small) and two small boxes with drinks, food for breakfast and lunch on the way, a few frozen meals, snacks and things like napkins and garbage bags. I also brought the diaper bag, one bag of diapers and wipes, a small bag of activity books for the kids and a small tv and portable dvd player with one case of dvds. (These last few items were essential since we decided to try to make the drive down in one day without stopping for the night like last time. Mapquest says the trip takes almost 14 hours of driving; we made it in just about 17.)

So, anyone else out there take long car trips with kids? How do we compare?

I've traveled 3 times now internationally with children (always with an infant) so I've learned to travel a lot lighter than I used to. The last overseas trip we took for three months was done with just 3 large suitcases, the diaper bag and a backpack (had to add a small suitcase on the way home).

Tomorrow/today is my birthday so I plan to do as little as I can get away with while still keeping up with my kids. All errands were run today and chores will wait. The ironing's not going anywhere. :)

I hope everyone has a great day.