Let the Fun Begin...

So this past weekend, I asked Steve to go ahead and get down the suitcases.  Because I work all week, it's hard to get any attention to anything except on the weekend.  I figured if we got the suitcases down now, I can get the non-clothing stuff packed as time allows.  Because, y'all...there is a LOT of non-clothing stuff!

My mom was definitely the planner.  And I got it honest.  I am my mother's daughter.  Weeks before vacation, clothes and shoes would go missing and turns out they would already packed away.  A fond memory of my mother.  :) 

I have a bag of toiletries that stays packed.  It has travel size shampoos, soaps, conditioners etc.  Along with a whole set of makeup, brushes, combs, bandaids, cleansers, deoderant etc.  Then when I get ready to go somewhere, I don't have to wait until the last minute to pack those very important to remember items!

When I hit hotels, I snag the travel size things there and bring them home to backfill my stash.  I even have separate travel toothbrushes.  So when I went to start packing, I was surprised to find how much stuff I actually already had.

That's my suitcase.  It doesn't look that big in this picture, but it's one of our largest.  You can see ponchos and plastic bags and over above the yellow poncho, you can see my plastic toiletries case.  The brush, deoderant, toothbrushes outside the suitcase are for the carry on. 

Ok, that black suitcase is Kylie's.  Its full.  And there are no clothes in there.  Actually, that box is the Ergo carrier I bought.  It will eventually trave without the box.  Then that plastic bag is the Moby backpack.  I think I have a pink jacket I got at the local consignent shop.  Oh, and there's a bottle or two that my friend Jill gave me.  That maroon rolling bag is Jenna's carry on.  It's full.  She doesn't quite grasp the concept of not taking everything she would normally have at her fingertips at home.  She's about to have a crash course though.  Not sure who is going to give it to her though since clearly I have a similar problem.

You can see the corner of Jenna's suitcase in the left side of the photo.  There's nothing in it yet except some critical items I have split up in case one of our suitcases gets lost.  I think I'm going to have to get another big suitcase down, give that to Jenna and use Jenna's bigger bag (which is smaller than mine) for Kylie.  I am pretty sure between the two of us we can check 4 total bags.  Can any of you BTDT (been there done that) confirm?  It's going to be a challenge for sure

But you know what???  I'm totally up for it!!!!