Preparing for Vacation

We are going to Disney World! I am trying to get myself excited for it. But as a mother preparing for a trip for 9 people to drive 25 hours each way and have loads of busy craziness while there...I am far more apprehensive then excited. My NUMBER ONE goal: to keep the children from fighting as much as I possibly can. I often wonder when I will actually get to enjoy a vacation...Hmmmmm...

Why are we going on this trip when I told the children 3 years ago when we went that it was a ONCE in a lifetime experience?  Eh, because they want to go again. And Beautiful and her husband will likely have a child sometime in the next few years and it will be much easier to go now than to go with an infant/toddler later lol! Yes, I am assuming that our married daughter and her husband will continue to go on family vacations with us. We are blessed that she hasn't run for the hills thankful to be rid of our chaos.  Actually she hangs out at our house a lot. She says that her house is too quiet and she isn't used to it lol! She babysits for an adorable baby and has had the experience for the first time of a happy non-fussy infant who is easy going. Not something she has experienced in this house...all she remembers are the effects of prenatal "stuff" on babies...

Anyway, My Plan To Reduce My Stress Level (and hope that everyone has fun): (yes, you may laugh at any point. I am quite certain that my best laid plans will go ridiculously awry, but I am trying;)

* lots of electronics! Each child as a kindle - and I have two extras in case one doesn't work. The more time they are engrossed in their electronic babysitter the more time it is quiet in the van. I downloaded a series of books written for their age (6 books - yes, SIX!!!  Woo hoo!!! I can't wait to see how long it takes to get through them...probably not 25 hours...;) that is a Bible allegory. I have two other series that Superman has read, but not the girls, to back those up. One Kindle can run text-to-speech at a time with a 3 way splicer to each headphone. That makes the Middles occupied at the same time so they won't (in theory) bug each other. Grace is far less interested in reading so we will see how it goes. One kindle at a time running will reduce the batteries being used (I have really thought this through!) and my brother got us external chargers for Christmas so we will have enough battery to get us all the way to evening, and we can charge up overnight for the next day with our ultra fast 10 dock electronics charger.

* We have 2 sets of double portable DVD players! Disney movies to prepare for Disney World when not reading (listening) to books.

* my biggest genius idea yet - are you ready? I have 2 huge bags of snacks. Every hour (yes, hour. you may think that is frequent but in our van an hour is a LOOOONNNNGGG TIME) if there have been no conflicts everyone will get handed a snack. Fruit snacks, oranges, granola bars, and even some sweets. Hour by hour we will get there!

* each child has their own rectangle canvas box (thank you Thirty One Bags!) and everything that they want to have with them for enjoyment has to fit INSIDE of the box and will sit on the back seat with them. EVERYTHING. That will keep Grace's hoarding tendencies in check:) Those boxes are set in the "empty" seat between Grace and James on the 4 person bench in the back of our 12 passenger van. Superman has always been placed between Grace and Faith to protect the girls from each other - and now there will be boxes as well.

* everyone has their own bag of clothes that I supervise packing. I tried to have them be responsible for themselves a few times but ended up one time with no swimsuits (unhappy kid), and once Superman brought nothing...  It helps when we get to the house we are renting that they are each packed separately so unpacking go smoother.

* We have 1 bag packed with everyone's things for the night we will be in a hotel on the way down. that way that bag and the toiletries bag is the only one that has to be unpacked when we head in.

* backpacks. Once we get to Disney World every kid will have a back pack daily with their water and sandwiches that they are responsible for lugging around all day.

* Beautiful is in charge of pictures. She loves it. Has a nicer camera than me. And I can focus on supervising children while at Disney World and not worry that I am missing once in a lifetime memories - she is on it!

* We rented a 5 bedroom 3 bathroom house. An absolute must. Having our family in a hotel room (or 2) is a recipe for no sleep and tons of fighting. Besides, getting this gorgeous house with a heated swimming pool costs much less than getting us 2 hotel rooms anyway (off season). It is a win/win. I am so glad that we have learned about vrbo.com!

* medication. Right now Grace takes 1/3 of her normal sleeping medication dose. We are bringing her whole dose just.in.case:)

* I have told the children that they are responsible for making sure that I do NOT leave my cell phone in a hotel room again on the way down so that I am without a cell phone for a week. 5 out of the 9 of us will have a cell phone so if we get split up it should be ok (from experience...that was not fun last time. Of course, I hope that I don't lose my cell phone at all...

* Beautiful and her husband are married this time so we don't have "chaperone" duty lol!

Well, off to continue packing and planning. Praying that God gives us travel mercies and that we can all extend grace and love to one another resulting in a vacation that will only have fond memories;)