“A vacation frequently means that the family goes away for a rest, accompanied by a mother who sees that the others get it.” ~Marcelene Cox

Oh the joys of packing.

What a pain in the rear end.

It is almost virtually impossible to pack for the children and care for them at the same time.

Right now, it is as if there was a bomb placed on the second floor of my home and it was filled with clothing and the mess of which I am practically knee deep in is all that is left. And the children, love climbing it, and burying themselves in it, unbeknownst to them, I am just about ready to claim insanity.

I am a picky packer.

I make lists and lists, and then I make some more lists.

I then pack an outfit for each day of the week and two additional outfits for everyone in the house.

I then pack 2 chilly weather outfits for each person.

An extra pull over for each.

Pool attire outfits.

It goes on, and on, and on...it takes hours...it is so tedious I tell you.

Despite what the photo is of, I also do not use suitcases anymore. I pack in laundry baskets, two small, one large. I then just drop them all in the baskets at the end of the vacation sorted by color or whites, and towels, and we are ready to do laundry when we are home.

What am I saying, 'we,' for? I am the only person who does laundry around this joint. Unless of course you count Ethan taking from the folded pile, rolling it in a ball, and placing it back in the pile, helping. I ask him again and again to please stop, and he just replies, 'Doin' wash Mommy.'

And since we are on an 'I,' roll, I am the only one who packs and unpacks for vacation, leaving me to believe in this quote for sure:

'By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class'

~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Ain't that the truth...I think I ought to look into planning a 'Mother's Only,' spa vacation or cruise. You know, when I win the lottery or Obama decides to send out a Mother's Only Stimulus Check. What a good idea...the catch is that this can only be used for travel by the mother of the home to be used in America, that way the economy is stimulated. How about it Barack? I voted for you! Do you hear my voice? I think I have a pretty good idea going here, because I can pretty much guarantee that with the following stipulations, every mother in America would use their check....economy stimulation, congress. Maybe I should run for something. I've got your vote now, don't I Mommies?

However, the twist is, is that with this vacation, someone else packs your things as you instruct them to, and then unpacks them, washes them, and puts them away upon your return. And while your away everything goes off without a hitch and you don't have to leave hour by hour instructions for care.

You know you leave notes for your husband when you either go to your part time job, or to simply run errands, alone, because shopping for other is the only time off we get.

Some of mine are detailed, it really depends on how I feel the last Daddy's on Duty Time went. Oh, come on, I give him credit...get off my case. You know you do it too. Last time I was running late, it said the following:

'Don't forget to feed the kids. Kendall will poop today...watch for it.'

I sound totally ungrateful and/or unenthusiastic for this trip. Which really I am not. I am looking forward to it. I am looking forward to Andy getting a break...he is a grumpy beast lately. However, it is hard when in the throes of packing to do cartwheels about the whole thing. Tomorrow I will, when the van is stuffed and ready to explode. I will do a cartwheel for you. Maybe not a cartwheel. How long has it been since I did one of those? I might break my neck. Never mind, I will just dance a little jig for you, or sing a little made up diddy.

We are headed to the mountains for the week. We are headed there with some friends and their kids. There will be 8 children for the most part of the week, and for 2 days there will be 12. Yeah, we've gone and lost our minds.

Although I am certain there will be tons of fun had, I will also be breaking up fights, crowning a tattle tale king or queen at the end of the week, saying 'knock it off,' at least 746 times, and threatening my darling children that we are going to pack up and go home, more than 20 times. However, in 30 years we will for sure be sitting around saying, 'Remember that one vacation we took...'

This my dear, dear readers, will be blog worthy, I am sure of it.

I packed my strongest observation goggles.

'Those that say you can't take it with you never saw a car packed for a vacation trip.'

~Author Unknown