Here We Go....

To quote Peter Pan... "Here We Go!". Our annual trip is a few short weeks away and I am definitely getting over the top excited. I love the few weeks leading up to our trip. It is so much fun to plan what I need to pack and I love buying our snacks for the trip. I have already started pulling out a few things and putting them in my backpack that I will be carrying in the park. I made it easier on myself a few years ago and created a list on my computer of things I would need for the trip and I saved it on my desktop. Now every time we go I just print a copy of it and it helps to make my packing so much easier. This year I was excited to be able to mark a few things off the list....such as a stroller and snacks for my daughter to have in the parks. Maybe we can get by with only 5 bags for a family of three instead of 6. Though I am sure I will find something to fill that last bag before we go :) That is one advantage to driving instead of flying this year, though no matter how hard I try, I always manage to take way more than we need.

So, as I am getting ready to go, what kind of bags am I packing? I usually pack one suitcase per family member full of clothes. I always start with enough for one outfit per person, per day. I then take about 3 or 4 extra sundresses for my daughter since they don't take up much room, and 2 more shirts. Then I add 3 extra shirts each for my husband and myself since it always seems to be "hotter than normal temperatures" while we are there. Sometimes it gets very hot, even in October so it's nice to have a back up shirt. Besides, I am a girl after all and I like to have choices while I am there. So, this takes up four suitcases by the time I add the extra clothes. I know that I could save myself a bag by taking half the amount of clothes and do laundry while I am there. However, that will not ever happen. First of all, I am on vacation and therefore I refuse to work while I am there. That means I will not be doing laundry, or cooking any meals. I'd rather pack more suitcases and tie them on top of the car if I have to...anything to avoid work while on vacation. My other excuse for not doing laundry is that I don't want to be seen in my pictures later wearing the same outfit on different days. That would be tragic in my book :)

So what goes in the other bags? One bag I fill with breakfast food, toiletries, and snacks. This one only includes items that will not be coming back home with us (when my daughter was small we filled one whole bag with diapers and snacks for her alone). Then, when we get ready to pack up to come home, I have a whole empty suitcase that I can fill with souvenirs. This way my dear husband can't give me the excuse of not having room to bring something home. I can sweetly remind him that I have planned ahead and I have room for lots of T-shirts, knick knacks and whatever else I just have to have while I am there. He loves this trick of mine!

One small bags is packed full of shoes. This is not solely due to the fact that I am a girl I promise. Since we go for 10 days at a time, by the end of the trip my feet have walked a lot of miles. I have to switch out my shoes every day, and sometimes twice in one day if we take a break to the room. So, we each have at least one pair of tennis shoes, one pair of shoes to wear to the pool, and some flip flops. My husband has two pairs of flip flops while my daughter and I have, well, a few more than that. Again, we are girls after all and have to coordinate with our daily outfits :)

One other bag is packed for the parks. I have tried several different bags through the years, and I think I have finally found a style that works really well for me. It is called a cinch sack. I bought mine from a friend who sells Thirty One products, but there are many companies who make these. A cinch sack is a nylon bag with rope on the top and bottom that you put over your shoulders. I LOVED this bag last year for a few different reasons. First of all, it was super light, so no matter how much stuff I had in it, I truly often forgot I even had it on my back. The weight was somehow perfectly distributed across my back. There were a few times I would sit down on a ride only to realize I forgot to take it off my back. Which leads me to my other reason for loving this bag. It was super easy to slip off of one shoulder as I was boarding a ride and I was able to hold it in my lap on almost every ride. There were a few rides that I didn't quite trust myself to remember to hold on to the bag while we were riding (Expedition Everest, Big Thunder Mountain, etc). In this case, I would simply wrap the rope around the lap bar a few times and then lay it in my lap. It was extra insurance that it would not end up in the center of the ride with all of those other "loose articles" that they tell you to hold on to.

So, I have raved about my backpack for the parks. Now here is a quick overview of the items that I carry in it.
1. My camera of course
2. My id wallet (with my license, VISA rewards card, insurance card, photo pass card and room key only)
3. A bottle of hand sanitizer
4. Some Wet Ones travel wipes to clean up a messy face after someone eats a Mickey ice cream bar
5. A copy of my daily itinerary
6. Some ziploc bags for protecting valuables on a water ride or for taking along leftover fruit or cookies from lunch
7. Travel size sunscreen
8. A sundress for my daughter just in case of an emergency
9. Sunglasses for myself and my daughter
10. Travel poncho we purchased for $1.00 that we can throw away if we use it or that we can use to help save our spot while waiting for a parade

I think that about sums up what I am planning on taking with me this trip. One other thing we will take is birthday gifts and room decorations for my sweet baby girl who will once again be celebrating her birthday while we are on our trip. Happy almost seventh birthday to my sweet angel!