Let's Get Packing!

Well, it has officially started- the packing for our trip to Europe. Those of you who have gone on a trip abroad know exactly what that involves, and you also understand why we are packing now, and not the day prior to our departure.

Planning for a trip overseas, especially with children,  begins months before it is even time to go. There are the passports to either get, renew, or in the very least make sure you even have! Thank goodness I checked ours early enough in the game because it was brought to my attention that two out of the five of us would need to have them renewed before we left. To make things even more exciting, our little guy's passport would only have a few months left before expiration, and according to the "passport laws and regulations" you may not travel with a passport that has less than 6 months left. So, now we were up to three out of the five of us. We ventured out early one morning, the five of us and our giant folder full of anything and everything that would prove our childrens' identities, and that indeed they really are our children. My naive brain again was under the impression that if your children already were issued passports, you could just bring those and it would be a "walk in the park". But who said anything would be easy??? Like I mentioned though, I was prepared with the giant folder and I could almost hear the sigh of disappointment come from the clerk at the passport office, as I was able to produce each and every item she requested.

 

Nine days and counting- that's it. It seems like we had so much time to prepare and get ready, and now I find myself in this mad sort of dash to get everything done that I would like to,  before we leave! I wake up during the night with more and more to add to my ever-growing list of things to do.  I have so much to still do to prepare for our new school year, which won't officially begin until October. I actually contemplated bringing my laminating machine with me on our trip! Our oldest daughter didn't think that was such a good idea. Yea, I guess that would be a little much- the homeschool mom who just can't leave the laminator behind. Did I mention how much I LOVE my laminating machine??? Oh well, it will just have to sit and wait until I get back.

 In the mean time, I have lots of bags to pack!