Packing with Toddlers

It's packing day!

Yaaaaaaaaay! (we really need a sarcasm font)

As I compile the list on my iPhone of all the things we need want to bring on our vacation this week, I am amazed at how two toddlers can require so much stuff.  Nobody told me when I was pregnant that my weekend pack list would go from three things - bikini, sundress, toothbrush - to literally dozens and dozens of ridiculous gadgets and gizmos.  A 30 pound kid?  Lets be modest and say they "require" about 150 pounds of crap.  Now that there are two of these little 30 pound people, we might as well rent a U-Haul.

When John was deployed last summer the packing was one of the reasons I dreaded travel.  Getting everything washed and folded and organized is hard enough.  But when you don't have your man to organize it in the car and make room for your boxer dog (and prevent said luggage from falling on said dog) it becomes a marathon of a chore.  I'm sure my neighbors thought I had consumed way too much coffee watching me sprint between the car and front door. I was worried that in the 2 minutes it took me put the suitcase in the trunk that Kate would have transitioned from watching "Sesame Street" to drawing on the walls or climbing the bookcase. You know those people whose children get into trouble, get injured, make the nightly news and everyone is tsk tsking asking "where were the parents?"  Well, I bet you that dad is deployed and mom is packing the car for grandma's house.  Because I was sure I was going to be one of "those" parents many many times.

Inevitably the packing and loading takes longer than the drive itself.  Then, of course, you forget the most important thing on your list.  Like Connor's "bunny bunny" or my pocket sized wine opener. God help us if we forget bunny bunny.  Seriously.  Not funny.

I think we could create a fairly accurate equation to represent what packing for toddlers is on a family vacation: Child weight x 5 = amount of crap you bring.  Divide by 2 for the amount of stuff you will actually use. Multiply by 1.5 for the amount of room you will need in the car on the way home. Why does stuff take up so much more room coming home? Probably the mixture of dirty clothes, laziness, and that new pet hermit crab you picked up on the boardwalk.

So today I will systematically place all of our vacation crap in the foyer of our home and gratefully allow my husband to pack it in the car tonight.  John, Kate, Connor, myself and "bunny bunny" will be heading to South Carolina tomorrow!