random thoughts

I'm trying hard to get back in the habit of blogging again...I do miss it. It's just an easy thing to put off, and then next thing you know weeks (months!) have gone by. So I'm just going to prattle on about our weekend a bit.

--I'm in the playroom with Henry right now. He is driving me crazy because he keeps popping the front door out of place on the dollhouse. He very much wants it on. But when I pop it back in place, he drives this big car through it and pops it back out. I have refused to keep putting it back in, so now he is fake-crying and looking pitiful at my knee, pink plastic door in hand.

--We went to mass last night instead of today. We rarely go on Saturdays. Usually if John needs a Saturday mass, he goes by himself. But Maria isn't here this weekend, so it was either go with John on Saturday or take everyone by myself on Sunday. We picked the kids up donuts for the purpose of bribery dessert afterwards. John and I were bummed about not having any, what with it being Lent and not yet Sunday, but then I had the brilliant idea of saving ours for breakfast the next morning.

--I am a zombie right now. Tess was up at 1am with symptoms of what looks like a bladder infection. She does this every once in a while, and it has resolved without a doctor trip, but I'm not sure this time. She was pretty miserable. Today is Sunday, so we are stuck watching and waiting whether we like it or not, at least until tomorrow. Anyway, it was a nightmare scenario. John was asleep downstairs because he had to work today, and so I was upstairs with Mary Claire and a weeping (loudly) Tess, and feeling mildly hysterical as I tried to help Tess and keep Mary Claire from waking. It didn't work, of course. All three of us ended up downstairs, all in tears. ..I was desperately afraid Henry would wake up and push me over the mental edge. John heard the ruckus (can you describe the ruckus, sir?) and...did something, I don't remember. Held Mary while I situated Tess? Situated Tess while I held Mary? It's all a blur. But I ended up laying Tess down on the couch with a blanket a pillow...this was after her symptoms finally subsided...and I lay on the other couch nursing Mary back to sleep. Eventually Mary and I migrated back upstairs, and eventually Tess did as well.

--Did Tess sleep in after all that? Oh no! No she did not! She was awake before 7, and seems to be feeling fine now. I am, however, as I stated earlier, a zombie. But then I remembered that there were donuts to have with my coffee, and that made me happy. Happy Zombie.

Large Family Road Trippin' part 2- a review of Catholic Familyland

Read the first post in this series here.

(((I hope there's no spelling errors because I didn't really check, and where is the spellcheck on here blogger???)))

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of the travel here, I wanted to share more of our familyland experience. I wish I had written this earlier when things were more fresh in my poor old brain, but....that can't be helped now I guess. Please click on the link there to learn more about Familyland and their apostalate.

Here's how a general "day at the fest" unfolded for us.

-Mass is at 9am. So a couple of hours before that we were up and getting ready for the day. Each of us big people was assigned a little person to take to the showers. John had Jack, Maria had Tess, I had Henry. But I had breakfast to make and kiddos to get ready, so Henry and I saved our shower for evening. So, anyway, John/Jack and Maria/Tess would go to the showers while I got breakfast together, got kids fed and dressed, etc., and then we would drive down to mass. Mass was just at the bottom of the hill, so many walked. We walked once. Usually we were running too late to try to walk with all our little people. I have to tell you, it was a moving site, to see all these people flowing down the hill and into the church every day!

-After mass, Tess and Jack went their own way in the "Saints Under Construction" groups, each with their own age group. Maria went with the teenagers. They all *loved* their groups. Think vacation Bible school, but lots of great catechism worked in, especially for the teenagers. And one morning during the week each group gets to go down to the pool to swim with their friends. They have formation programs for the adults too. Of course, John and I still had Henry and newborn Mary Claire! They have a couple of nursery areas with the adult programs streamed in though, so you can go hang out with your little people and (try to) listen.


**Hanging in Noah's Nursery**



**The kids in their groups. See Tess there in the pink shirt, you know, participating? Then see the back of the big brown head in the green/blue striped shirt, ignoring everyone and staring off into space? Yeah, that's Jack. Just after this he sat in the grass, lol. He doesn't participate in stuff like this without a coach.

**This huge playscape is outside the auditorium where they have mass and the morning activities...the kids loved it of course!**

-Then we got back together with the big kids and went back up to the cabin for lunch. There is also a snack bar where you can buy lunch and other goodies. We did do this one day because it was Tess's name day. :)

***Eating lunch at Momma C's Snack Shack***


But otherwise I fixed lunch in the cabin. After lunch, John usually walked down the trail to Holy Family Park with Jack and Maria. This is where all the action is...the pool, sports, pony rides, etc. There are cabins in Holy Family Park too, as well as areas for tents and RV's. Our cabin was in St. James Field where mass and such were held in the morning. There is a trail connecting the two areas. Clear as mud? :)I stayed in the cabin with Tess, Henry, and Mary Claire and got them down for a nap. I know I had the better end of that deal, napping in the cool cabin in the afternoon. Such is the cross of breastfeeding. I considered it fair enough. John, after all, got to drink coffee and listen to talks with grown ups all morning while I hung out in the nursery! Plus, once they were both asleep I would clean up the cabin. It's a big enough place to sleep in, but that's about it, so we overwhelmed it with *stuff* pretty easily. It needed to be cleaned up daily, at least!

*At the pool*

-After naptime, I would load the babies up in the van and drive around the corner to Holy Family Park and try to find John and Jack. Usually they were in the pool or playing foosball. :) There's a nice little fenced in play area for little kids, and this is usually where I ended up.

**the St. Jacinta play area**

If there was time, I took Henry to the kiddie pool. It just kind of depended on how long they napped that particular day. Dinner was at 5:30 for those that paid for the catered dinner plan...we did.

**Dinner at Blessed Francesco's Shelter**
Keep in mind that I'm focusing on what we did with little kids. There's lots of stuff for older kids/adults too. Waterslides, frisbee golf, fishing, trail rides, tournaments for everything from softball to chess...

After dinner, there was always some kind of family activity, usually after a family rosary...a bonfire with marshmallow roasting, family banner night, family dance night, etc. Then we would head up to the cabin, totally wiped. I would put out a bedtime snack and go shower with Henry, then we'd get everyone in bed. Except Maria. The teenagers go out for more activities until after 11pm each night. Guess how much Maria liked that! This is where John got his reward for letting me nap earlier...I would wait up for Maria and let him go on to sleep.


**The bus that drives the kids around, and the shelter where the teens meet. They raise/lower those tarps as needed to warm/cool the place.**




**The teens show on banner night, and the little kids show on banner night. I wish I'd gotten a recording of the teens. I tried, but my camera didn't cooperate. Maria is in that teen group, though you'd never recognize here. See the girl bottom left in the blue shirt? Her head is behind her right shoulder, kinda turned...



**Here's MY little kid during the show. She wouldn't get up on stage. Sigh. Jack had already been taken out at that point because he was falling apart. So I didn't have anyone up there for that show! A friend warned me that the banner night was hard on the little kids...lots of sitting at the end of a long and tiring day. She was right. :)**

-All through the day there is always benediction/adoration, confessions with fantastic priests, a bookstore to peruse, etc. We did a little of each of these, though I suspect those without little kids make better use of those activities!

I have to add a note to say how friendly and warm everyone was...the staff, and the other families. The most remarkable thing we noticed was how....normal we were there, lol. Everywhere you looked were moms with nursing babies in slings, dads with several little kids hanging on their knees,,,,there was even a surprising number of special needs kids there. Not everyone had a large family, but many did. Not everyone homeschooled, but many did. Certainly, it was lovely to be in a place where no one batted an eye at our usual weirdness. :) Mass was full of fussy toddlers, dinner was full of loud kids, it was all good. They go out of their way to welcome new families. At one point, I was talking with this one dad, and I made a comment about Jack bothering people with something,,,I don't remember exactly, but Jack had a hard time with some things, especially the first day or two. And he looked me in the eye and said very seriously, "No one cares about that here. He's not going to bother anyone, not here. This isn't like everywhere else"

We left there so lifted up and recharged. We tried to take some of that peace with us, milk it for all we could. The whole time I was there, I thought, what would the world be like if everyone always treated each other this way? What would it be like if all of our lives centered so strongly around God and the sacraments and the rosary every day? And I looked hard at myself and at my family to see what we could bring back, what we could change in our own lives. And that, I think, is the whole idea of the apostolate and of the Family Fests, giving you grace to take home and spread around. John and I are reading the consecration this Lent (we have both started it a couple of times and didn't finish!It's very meaty). We plan to consecrate our family by Easter. We really, really loved our trip and have registered for this coming August already. If you are at all interested in going, some of the fests fill quickly, so don't wait!! If you are there for fest #5, I'll buy you an ice cream cone at Momma C's! :)

Coming next, the logistics of living in a one room cabin with 7 people, and then the actual rode trip. There are so many things I wish I had taken better pictures of! Ah well,,,next time!

Habemus Papam!

I have nothing to say in particular, except that our hearts are full. We have stalked the TV for two days and done very little else. We had to go out for piano lessons yesterday and got back just in time to see the great news. This is our superbowl.

sickies

Well, literally right after I posted my last post, I heard a ***wretch*** and then a ***splat***, and ran to the living room to find Tess vomiting on the floor. So, we didn't make that mass, or that park day. Let's see, that was Friday morning...later that day I noticed a plugged duct on myself, and then Saturday morning woke up sick as a dog with mastitis. The weekend has been one of high fevers and sweaty naps and I finally feel much better today, though still taking it easy, relatively. Tess's little bug just seemed to last through Saturday. Henry had a touch of it too. Right now, all is quiet and everyone seems healthy. Things are behind around here though, especially laundry...it was behind before I got sick, but this morning we reached emergency behind-ness, the type where you are digging through the dirty hampers pulling out the most crucial stuff to get washed so that everyone has something to wear? Yeah, that kind of behind. I *never* get that behind! Anyway, just thought I'd pop in so I can keep up my bloggy habit. I still have those pictures to post! I am trying to get a picture of Tess and her toothlessness but never think of it at a good time. Maybe I can do that now...hmmm..where's the camera, anyway?...

Cough, cough. Uh hem. Is this thing on?

Hello? Hi there! I am not dead! Let's just leave my long absence at that and jump back in, shall we? Gosh, been a long time! Have you lost weight?

So, blogger changed it's format. Blogger, I hate it. Truly. This is just ugly. I hope it posts better than it looks here. Also, where the heck is spellcheck???

So, how 'bouts an update of sorts? I still want to finish my Traveling with a Large Family posts....especially since time has come 'round to register for Familyland again. I have been thinking about that. But we have lots going on today, daily mass and then a park day with friends, so first,,,an update and new pics of the gang....

Here's our Christmas pic!



Of course, that's old news, it's MARCH!

So, I will post a little update on us all, and then maybe take some new baby pics at the park today, how's that? Because, you know, the big kids haven't changed much since December, but the baby has of course changed a lot!

Maria....

She hates this picture. Ah well,,,she hates pretty much all pictures of herself. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be a self-conscious, navel gazing teenaged girl again, NOT! What can I say about Maria that won't EMBARASS her greatly...see, she's a big kid now, and can read all by herself, so I have to be aware of such things. Well, she's 16, and she is ready to (finally) take her written driver's test, which we really need to get on with because I could sure use another chauffer around here! She's wrapping up tenth grade this spring, and doing really well. She's still very involved in Life Teen and is just growing up to be a wonderful young lady. Oh SORRY, that is soooo embarassing to say. What I mean to say is that she is really cool and stuff, and uh, like, whatever....

Jack...

What can I say of Jack? Jack is awesome. I hesitate to say that because those of you that see him in PUBLIC don't see the Best of Jack, because Jack doesn't always handle PUBLIC very well. But he is, really, such a great kid. You know, like 98% of the time. Or, maybe, like 90% of the time. Or,,,no less than 85%, surely. heehee. Really, he is so funny, and loving, and really fun to be around. Except when he's not. And that's Jack. He will be just fine and wonderful most of the time, but he has those days....those days where everything is just WRONG for him and we don't really know WHY. So we just buckle up and muddle through. He is doing so much better with his school work this year. His reading comprehension, though, is atrocious. He reads really, really well. But understanding what you read is a totally different thing than just physically being able to read it. I am learning that. He is obsessed with geography and is the resident expert. Our second grade curriculum has him learning the state capitals. Well, he did that in the space of a few weeks, and now has memorized the state birds, and trees, and nicknames, and most of the world capitals, and their flags, and....obsess much? So if you want to know the state bird of Utah, he's your man. (He tells me it's a seagull. Would a landlocked state have a seagull as their state bird? Beats me.)

Tess...

I can say this because Tess can't read yet. Tess is my wild child. That's right, in a house with a teeenager, an autistic boy and a 2 year old, the sweet and angelic looking four year old girl is my wild child. When I say that to people, they say, "Awww, but she's soooo sweeeet!" And she is! She is very sweet. Until you cross her. Look out, that's all I can say. This one turns on a dime. She was a very easy baby and laid back toddler, so I'm hoping this is maybe just general preschool-ness and that her sanity will return. She is not at all unlike Maria at this age, and she turned out ok, hehe.

Henry...

now this one...this one is easy-peasy, sweetness and light. Eerily obedient for a two year old most of the time. Until he's overtired. But most of the time, Henry is gentle and sweet and eager to please. And oh, so darned cute. We have cut his hair since this picture, btw. All those lovely locks are gone.

And baby Mary Claire...

She was six months old when these were taken, and is 9 months old now...and there's a big difference, isn't there, between six and nine months! Also, she has just woken up and is crying for me as I type. So I think I will give an update on her with some new pictures later today. In the meantime, you can reassure yourself with the knowledge that in spite of her frail, thin appearance at Christmas-time, her appetite has picked up and she has filled out nicely. (snort)

"The Latin Mass for Dummies"

Or, "How to Not Look Like a Dummy at Your First Latin Mass"....this post is intended to be just what the title (and subtitle) say,,, first impressions after attending our first Latin mass and things it would have been good to know going in. I looked for info like this online and everything I found was very lengthy commentary on the form of the mass...lovely and theological thoughts, but not what I was looking for at that moment. That is not what this post is about.

John and I attended our first Latin mass this past weekend. We went into it pretty raw...neither one of us really knew what to expect at all. I knew from my mother (who grew up with the Latin mass) that the priest faced the altar, with his back to the people, and I knew that, duh, it was in Latin. That was pretty much it. So, here's a collection of tips should you find yourself attending your first Latin mass! Also, a caveat...that's a Latin word, btw :)...this is just based on our own extremely limited experience. I don't know if there are differences from diocese to diocese. I imagine that differences are few...but I'm just saying. I wouldn't know.

So, tip number 1...leave your kids at home. Ha! Well, I realize this may not be possible, but if you can, or if you can leave some at least, it will help, especially if you have a lot of littles....we all know that mass is hard enough to get through when you have a mess of little kids. This is different for you and for them. It will be easier if you can at least get an idea of what to expect before you bring the whole gang. We planned our first visit carefully. Maria had Lifeteen mass that evening, so John and I took Jack and Mary Claire with us and left Tess and Henry at home with Maria. Taking Jack was less than ideal, seeing as how he dislikes different experiences so much, but he is old enough now to have the obligation of going to Sunday mass, and I wasn't going to two!

Tip number 2...dress for mass. People will be dressed conservatively. The women will be in long skirts. The men will be dressed in slacks and collared shirts. Clothing need not be fancy. It's not Easter Sunday type dress really. But modesty is key. It's not that pants aren't allowed...the skirt police aren't checking the door. But this article is to help you to know what you are doing, right? So there you are. Wear a skirt or dress, or be ok with being the only one in pants. I don't remember seeing any females in pants, though I can't swear that there were none. Overall I already dress the girls in skirts and the boys in slacks/nice shirts, so this wasn't a change for us. But Maria has taken to wearing a couple of dressy pants outfits from time to time that probably should stay at home for this mass. Mantillas (veils) are not necessary. Probably 2/3 of the women were wearing them, but not all. I didn't wear one. I don't own one, and I don't really "get" the mantilla thing...maybe that will change someday, but I just don't feel a personal conviction to wear one right now. I dress for mass out of respect for our Lord, and he is the same Lord in the Latin mass as in the Novus Ordo mass, so to cover my head for one and not the other feels inconsistent to me. If someone has an explanation for this that makes sense, I am totally open to hearing it though! :)

Tip number 3...enter through the front entrance of the church. Though we had never been to this mass, we were very familiar with this particular church. We came in through a side door and realized later that there were Latin missals to be had if we came in through the main entrance. We did ok...the mass responses from the people are minimal anyway. But it would have made it easier to keep up with what was going on.

Tip number 4...pay attention! It is easy to zone out when you don't understand what is going on. Some of the order of the mass, as well as when to kneel and such, are a lot different, so watch those around you. We sat in front and to the side, so no one was in front of us. Father processed in as a hymn was sung, and so I was following along in the hymnal and didn't even realize that everyone was kneeling before the hymn was even over. And they stayed kneeling. For a long time. Prepare your kids for that, lots more kneeling. Also, sometimes they genuflect in the pew and do not really kneel. Your husband may not get this and repeatedly throw down the kneeler and get on both knees only to realize (yet again) that it was only time to genuflect. ;)

Tip number 5...babies. Don't even sweat the fussy baby thing. The Latin mass attracts a lot of young families. Large ones. Children easily outnumbered adults at this mass. The children were very well-behaved, but fussy babies and toddlers being taken in and out was very common. No one will give you the evil eye for a fussy baby like they do at your regular mass,,,it's that expected.

Tip number 6...communion. Ok, now this totally caught me off guard. *Way* different. We did pretty well since we had a line of people in front of us to watch. You've probably seen old churches with a communion rail around the altar, right? The church I grew up in had one. Anyway, if your church doesn't have one, they will have something rigged up. This church doesn't have one, so they used two of the very front pews. As they got to the front of the line, people filed into those pews and knelt down. Father went up and down the line giving communion. After your little pew of people receives, you file out and back to your seat, and the next few people in line move in. Also, receive on the tongue. Everyone else will be. If it feels weird, you will get used to it. I have been receiving this way for quite some time now. I didn't grow up doing it and thought I would never get used to it, but you do. The nice thing about this mass is that Father is expecting it, unlike the Eucharistic ministers at other masses that sometimes look a little alarmed when you come up in line and stick your tongue out at them. :) I really liked receiving communion this way though. This was easily my favorite difference.

Tip number 7...language. Most of the mass is in Latin of course. All the mass prayers, and think that Father did the readings and gospel in Latin too? I'm not sure, but it seemed that way. Then he went up to the ambo and did the readings/gospel/homily in English. Most of the responses are done by the altar boys. Being an altar boy in the Latin mass is much more complicated! This was beautiful though. I was kind of fascinated by it all. Being so close to the front, I could hear a little and spent a lot of time trying to pick out what was being said as best I could with no missal. ) I do know some Latin...not tons, but I took three years in high school and have been re-learning as I've taught my kids. I'm assuming having a missal would have helped me follow along, though I haven't seen one yet!

Tip number 8...the closing. After Father finished mass, at least looked as finished as I could tell, everyone kneels and says more prayers. I'm trying to remember...I think there was an Our Father, a couple of Hail Marys, and a Hail Holy Queen...this was all in English. Then after he processes out, everyone kneels again for a moment before exiting. You might prepare your kids for this...especially if you have any autistic ones that insist that mass is over once the blessing is done.

Tip number 9...do go to a Latin mass! Even if you have no desire to make it a permanent thing, this is part of our Catholic heritage and history. The mass we attended was a low mass. I am looking forward to trying a high mass, which I guess is for special holy days? Maria is taking lessons in Gregorian chant, and hopefully they will be chanting for some masses soon, so that will be really neat.

Will we make this permanent? Our inclination right now is to say yes though I am leaving the final call to John. We love our current parish and priest and we have been there a long time. Maria received her first communion there! There are some wonderful people there! But we have a lot of friends at the Latin mass, a lot of homeschooling friends, and we would like our kids to see these kids more often. We are pretty lonely at our current parish. I don't feel like every friend my kids have needs to homeschool, but one or two homeschooling friends is nice, especially for teenagers. There are some homeschoolers at our current parish. But we are lacking a community feeling there and really feel like we know very few people. I think this is because our parish is very large, and maybe also because I don't have the time to volunteer as I used to...it's hard to get to know people. I think most people are content with this. They just want to come to mass and go home. But when we went to Catholic Familyland, we got a taste of what it would be like to have a real Catholic community experience, and we are trying to find that at home. This group of people has that feel. Many are homeschoolers,,,maybe all are, I don't know...and they stay afterwards to socialize and let the kids play. We find this attractive. A long time ago, churches were the social center of whole neighborhoods and towns. Now, school and work seem to have taken that place for people. They spend all day socializing with other people and maybe they just don't need that at church. Well, we homeschool, and I don't work. :) So we appreciate the interaction. We will always be at our current parish in some way, unless we move some day...it can't be beat for daily mass 2 miles away! But we will very likely attend Latin mass more and more. Right now Jack's sacramental prep classes are at the same time as the Latin mass, so for now we will probably just be attending when he doesn't have class. And Maria loves Lifeteen and wants to do those masses. So until she graduates, we will likely have feet in both worlds.

I don't feel, for me, that this is a Novus Ordo vs. Latin thing. The Latin mass was beautiful. I'm sure the high mass is even more so. The Novus Ordo can be beautiful and reverent too. But I think it has lost too much of that reverence. We tend to think of the priest as influencing that angle, and he does....so do teenagers that text during mass, and women dressed immodestly, and the people that sit behind me chatting about where to go have lunch when mass is over. I guarantee you that *does not* happen during the Latin mass. :) The general feeling of reverence and awe is very attractive to me. That is the most obvious difference to me between the two forms...not what the priest is doing, but what the people are doing.

shopping

Jack: I want to buy a game on the Wii shopping channel.

Me: Ok, well, you need to show it to Daddy and let him see what he thinks about buying it.

Jack: I can buy it myself. I just need my credit card number and security code.

Jack said

to Henry,,,,"Let's play 'Whack'. I'll ride my bike in a circle, and you try to hit me with a stick."

Large Family Road Trippin'

We are leaving on Friday for a trip to Catholic Familyland. This is our first time attending, our first vacation to anywhere besides visiting family, our first trip with this long of a drive, and for this long a period of time away, our first long trip with five kids. We will have a two-day/15 hour car trip each way, and a week at the actual campgrounds. I have been searching online for tips and ideas to make this run as smoothly as possible. I really haven't come across much, not a whole lot of specific helps. So I'm going to share our trip in detail here...what worked, what did not work, what I can do better next time....maybe it'll help someone else. At the very least, it'll help ME if we are crazy enough to do this again. ;)

Why Familyland? Especially since it's so far away? Well, first of all, even with our limited vacationing experience, I can tell you it's hard to plan a trip and meet everyone's needs in a large family. We have little kids that need some downtime, Mom and Dad that want some good unplugged family time, big kids that want lots of fun, a teenager that wants to spend time with other kids...it's difficult to even plan a day trip that appeals to everyone. This place provides a little of everything. The kids will be with other kids in the morning, we can take our pick of family activities in the afternoon, and we get together with other families in the evening. The teenagers even go off for more fun late into the night each night. It doesn't hurt that it will be a great Catholic environment, that there will be plenty of other big families, some homeschooling families,,,,it'll just be a nice shot in the arm before our new school year starts. That's my hope anyway. So, back to the planning tips, starting with loading the van....

First, I am planning on paper. I have a notebook set aside for the sole purpose of planning the trip, and I am emptying my brain into it. I have a list of everything we need to take and where to put it all in our van. Our van, btw, is now full up. We have a seven passenger, and we now have seven passengers, three of them in carseats. It's a tight fit. We have had a trailer hitch installed and we borrowed this platform that attaches to it...I have no idea what this thing is called, but I will get pictures of it. But you basically stack everything on it and bungee cord it on there. We thought about renting a trailer, and I might wish we had by the time it's all over, but the platform thing-y was free, borrowed from friends...I'm all about free. Once this thing is packed up, we can't open the back of the van. Since we are staying at a hotel on the way there, some bags I will need access to during our drive. So placement is important. Things included in my list....
-drying rack for swimsuits and towels and such
-microwave, coffee maker, toaster ( we are staying in a cabin and we will have electricity but no water)
-bedrolls and towels, of both the pool and bath variety
-training potty, potty supplies, extra clothes and diapers
-two hotel bags, one for the trip there and one for the trip back
-car snacks, water bottles, toys and books, little goody bags to break out during the trip, dvd players and movies, car blankets, e-readers, maps, and my notebook all in easy reach.
-camping chairs, six of them
-stroller, ergo carrier
-clothes, diapers, and all that stuff for a week-long stay in the cabin
-large cooler full of car food, and also food for the cabin. Our dinners are provided. We will bring breakfast, lunches, snacks...
-pool stuff, board games, jackets and ponchos

On this list I have written where to put each thing in the car...what can go in the back, what needs to be in reach and where to put it so it will be in reach. Every small space is utilized. I am using those super-sized ziploc bags instead of suitcases...I realize that's probably not the classiest of travel bags, but 1., I don't have enough suitcases to pack up seven people for nine days, and 2., the ziploc bags will wedge under seats better, and they can be stacked in laundry hampers for loading onto the platform. Once we are fully loaded, I'm sure we will look like the Beverly Hillbillies on the move.

There are more lists--a list of food and kitchen items to pack, a list of meals for the week, a to-do list for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning...these include every detail I can think of, like washing out the cooler, returning library books before we leave, having clean pajamas at the ready for the night we return, and having food in the house enough for the first day or so after we return so we don't have to run immediately to the store. I have traveled enough to know that we will all be fried and cranky when we get home and need a day or so just to relax (and do laundry).

Our general plan is to leave Friday as early as we can and drive about 9 hours, stay in a hotel Friday night, and drive six hours on Saturday, arriving at a decent enough hour to settle into our cabin before orientation Saturday evening. We will leave the camp the following Friday afternoon, drive six hours that day, and arrive probably way too late Saturday evening, dirty, exhausted, and with lots of dirty laundry.

Next up...how to survive the road trip.

PS- For some reason I can't get that link to work. Go to familyland.org and click on the family fest link.