.... and then it is time to pack ....

it was two days before i was flying to the galapagos ... i had not started packing yet .... i was playing tennis instead ... one of the women, after the match, said i have to rush off ... i haven't started packing for my trip .... she was leaving the day after me for alaska  ... with her family .... i told her i hadn't started packing yet either .. and probably wouldn't til the next day ... i'd do laundry that afternoon as my prep ... and maybe errands (that day i did buy what i needed ... except for the glue sticks i forgot .... ) ... i asked if her family packed themselves or if she packed them ... she said she'd pack for everyone ... not me ... i pack for me ... i told her that ... even the kids? yup ... they've packed themselves for years ... i just give them a list .... if i forget to write socks on the list, EVERYONE forgets socks .... she said she could never do that, that she was a control freak and wanted it all to be just right ... and, she was a big photography buff and wanted them in her choice of clothes for pictures .... i laughed ... i get it ....

when i used to make my packing lists for the kids it would say orange tshirt, red tshirt, yellow tshirt .... cause it helped me to see them in matching clothes ... easier to NOT lose anyone .... we once walked into busch gardens tampa and a man on stilts greeting the crowds said, HELLO, organge family ... because we were all wearing orange shirts .. the kids were little ... someone darting off could be easily spotted over there with the enormous bouncy balls in the gift shop .... the time we lost julia in disney world, she (and all of us) were wearing red shirts ... i spotted her standing on a bench waiting in the spot where she had realized she was lost .... our rule at theme parks: if you think you are lost, stand up on something tall ... bench, table, trash can ... the more worried you are, the higher you should try and climb! .... there were directions for past that but we've never used them (find a calm looking mom) ... we always found missing kids on benches .... after quickly looking down at your shirt to see what color they are in ...

but we've outgrown that ... my kids don't get lost ... one of them is six feet tall ... he leads the way through crowds for me instead of vice versa .... two of them have cell phones ... the cell phoneless child is the least likely to get lost .... we've grown up ... and now we are going to the galapagos ... and we aren't wearing matching shirts ....

here's the list i gave the family ... all five of us are working from it ....

i think we're set ... two out of five of us decided at the last minute that they needed to go out and buy more underwear ...that's good, they can pick up the glue sticks that i keep forgetting to get ....

i have a separate list for some of my stuff .... like, kindle, kindle charger, phone, phone charger, camera, camera charger, flip, flip batteries ....

i also have a list for first aid stuff ... tums, pepto, bandaids, antibiotic ointment, cortaid ....

all our liquids have been poured into 3 ounce bottles ... that's kind of weird for the sunscreen ... but sunscreen is one of the most important things we are taking, all five of us are very fair and we'll be haning out at the equator, ya know ....

last minute things ... sophie packed some goggles ... we discussed them being misconstrued as a sling shot weapon in her carry on (since it's all carry on) .... i packed an extra set of headphones cause it seems like my kids all have weird shaped ears and are never happy with the headphones they have ... andy JUST said, i'm really hard on headphones ... he just came back from a run and is charging his ipod shuffle for the trip .... we have kindles and cameras and ipods all charging all over the place .....

the dog has gone to her babysitter's house ...
the house watcher has been instructed in the fine art of mail collecting, plant watering, and alarm don't stet it off ing .....
it's real, it's here, it's almost time to go get dressed in the well chosen travel clothes (not too hot, not too cold) .... it's time to cross the fingers and hope all the luggage zips ....
it is time to go ....

in case you haven't realized it, this blog is not in real time .... i'm not going to blog from the galapagos ... by the time you read this, i will be back from the galapagos ... eek!! squeeeee!! can you imagine how much fun we had?

the posts thus far were all written prior to leaving ... the next post will tell you about our flight to ecuador ... and i'll keep telling the story til it's done .... it might be only my mom who hangs in there and reads every post ... but i know she'll keep reading all the way through the flight home ....

happy trails ...