Packard Family Vacations

So we are three months into planning our family vacation this year.  That's right folks it takes this family months to plan a vacation.  This is fast by our families standards we usually begin planning vacation at least six months out, sometimes even as far out as a year.  Now I always knew that vacation planning took time, but I was never really an active part of the process until I married Sam.

Let me give you a little background.  Sam is a planner, down to the very smallest of details.  Had I known that our honeymoon would be planned down to the minute, every detail of every day, it may have been a game changer for me.  Okay, well probably not, but it was a shock to say the least when my brand new husband presented our itinerary to me on the plane at 6:00 a.m.

We skipped family vacation last year for various reasons, but mostly because we were building our house and living with my parents.  It was too much to handle to plan a vacation, not to mention pull off getting ready for it while not even in my own home where I normally would spread everything out so I can pack everything.

I have come to appreciate the planning of each day, it takes time and a ton of research.  Every detail gets talked about until I want to scream.  But I must say that my husband does a very good job.  He no longer plans every single minute, it is more a general guideline, he plans each day carefully so we are most efficient with our time and gas, but has come to realize that planning down to the minute is not ideal and we never stick with the schedule anyway.  He even thinks to plan a rainy day schedule, with mostly indoor activities or driving days.

We only have about three weeks until we leave and while Sam has almost every detailed planned, I am already behind.  It takes this mom about a month to get everything organized and ready.  When I say everything, I mean everything.  I prepare for almost any situation that could occur while traveling.  I count out the exact number of diapers, prepare the snack bag, get a kid bag ready for each kid, and prepare "I'm bored" activities for the car and the hotel.  Can you see why it takes a month.  I have been really busy this past week helping friends and trying to get organized for vacation.  Then last night, okay well really early this morning (chronic insomnia) I had a great idea.  I would look for a logo bingo game for my oldest.  I searched and I searched and guess what I found....NOTHING!  So I have started making one for him.  Every year since he was two years old he has told us what stores were coming up as soon as he could see their signs, so I thought this might be fun and I have some little prizes for him, when he fills his card.   Hoping this will keep him pretty entertained.

I also am putting the finishing touches on a custom coloring book for the boys.  I found some fabulous coloring pages at crayola.com about the states we will be driving through and visiting as well as some pictures of families on vacation.  Hopefully between the movies, bingo, car games, snacks and coloring we will be able to avoid the dreaded, 'Are we there yet?'.