California Here We Come

Well technically we have 3 more sleepies, but we’re getting close, and I’m at the “all I’m thinking about is Disneyland” stage of the game, probably as much as Jake is at this point. Plus this will probably be my last post before we go.

Yesterday at work was so busy that I didn’t get a chance to think about much, I literally had conference calls from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. booked solid without a break (well I did have a half hour break when one got out early). I was going to try to take my morning calls from home, and then realized that if I did that I wouldn’t have anytime to actually drive into the office. So I took my 8:00 a.m. call on the way to work, and was shut in my office all day. In fact, um during one particularly boring call, I might have put the conference call on mute and quickly called Nikki to ask her something. It’s what I call “mult-tasking”! Seriously though there is nothing more frustrating than being the only person off property trying to listen to what is going on while the people in the conference room are having 3 separate conversations. The other fun thing is the way the phones work it will only work on one side or the other (so phone people can’t talk over each other), so the only way I can say anything is if everyone in the room is quiet. If I have a comment I have to just sit here waiting for a brief lull in conversation, and then say as quickly and loudly as I can “hey it’s Michelle just a quick comment”. Sometimes I do the “hey” part about 5 times before they actually hear me.

Not that I’m complaining too much because the only other option is for me to fly out there for all the meetings, and nothing about that is appealing to me. I’m 100% behind the company plan to cut business travel to a minimum, so I will live with having all my input have to come in awkward little bursts after we have covered that subject, and being able to “multi-task” (I don't ususally make other phone calls, but I might do a lot of internet shopping).

As it’s Wednesday and we are leaving on Saturday, I probably need to start packing, and getting ready. There have definitely been many disadvantages of knowing that Jake will probably be our only child, but family vacations are when the advantages of only one become glaringly obvious. I loved Jen’s travel tips they are good ones, luckily I just get to read the tips, this time, no need to actually apply them.

For us, the “traveling” part, basically if Jake can stay entertained in Sacrament Meeting every week, we’re home free on a 1 hour and 45 minute flight (Sacrament meeting has nothing cool to look out the window at anyway). So I will just basically dump the church bag (full of crayons, markers, paper, coloring books, random Happy Meal Toys, and a bunch of snack) into Jake’s carry-on and he’s good to go. My carry on will have my purse, camera, some Cadbury mini-eggs, and a magazine. Rob usually carries on his CPAP machine, so in case the luggage gets lost he can actually sleep, and all the necessary paperwork. Get someone to sign about 6 authorization papers, so whoever wants one can have one for whatever part of the trip they need it for. Hope no one forgets to pick one up from me if they need a form on the drive down, otherwise, put with paperwork in Rob's CPAP.

My packing list:

Rob- Give him a bag, and wish him luck.
Jake- Stack all the clean clothes on his bed and tell him to pick out 7 shirts, and 7 pairs of pants. He’s had all his Disney themed P.J.’s ready to go for a week. Get reverseable jacket that is rain coat on one side, regular jacket on other. Get swim suit and his favorite Buzz Lightyear towel.
Me- 2 shirts to every one pair of pants, if all else fails remember you purposely have a garanimals wardrobe, and everything you have matches your black pants. Underwear for everyday. Get make-up bag, and every conceivable thing you need for hair, face & skin is already in there, because you just spent 4 days at mom & dads, and never unpacked, throw in some sunscreen. Don’t worry about shampoo, ask for extra bottle when you get to the hotel, with the airline restrictions on liquids they are used to this request, and very nice about it. Plus Rob is bald and Jake uses very little shampoo, so you are the only one that needs it.

Misc.- Go to Walmart, get a 7 pack of socks for everyone in the family, we need new socks anyway, and instead of going through the “sock pile” you can just put nice new bags of socks in everyone’s bag. Also pick up new underpants for Jake, he needs some as well, and this is a good excuse.

Final thing: Address to nearest Target (which is conveniently close to the Marriott Suites which is where we are staying Thursday so you have to go there anyway), just in case you forgot something.

Basically we are all ready to go we’re just counting down the minutes. We will definitely miss all the family bonding that many of you will be doing on the 11 hour drive to California. Heh, Heh, o.k. not really but we will be thinking about all of you as we lounge around the pool, and catch a few rides at Disneyland waiting for you to arrive.

Please be careful!!! That’s an awful lot of the people I love most in the world on the road at the same time, so I will actually probably be a basket case waiting for everyone to get in safely.