Packing, Cleaning, Planning...Oh My!

"Mom, do you think I should take my pink flip flops, because you know I AM taking that one pink shirt that has the hearts on it and my other flip flops don't go." "Is it time to pack yet? I have to get all my clothes ready!" "Oh, when you are at Walmart, can you pick up some travel toothpaste and body wash?" Those are just a few of the quotes that we have heard for the last, oh I don't know, like 2 or 3 MONTHS from Courtney. She is such a planner at heart, and has like 3 packing lists. One for carry on items, one for things she wants to take in her luggage, and one to keep it all straight. I have told her so many times if she asks me one more time about packing, I'll have to leave her at home!! I think she has had her "airplane outfit" (yes, apparently in a preteen girl world there is such a thing!)planned for weeks now. Ryan has his music and his swim suit and talks nonstop about the airplane and the waterpark we'll visit. He has talked so much about the waterpark, but I'm really not sure that he will do as much as he thinks he will there. This is the same kid who when taking swim lessons last week said he couldn't get his hair wet in the water "because it might stain". I know he will have fun and hopefully get more comfortable in the water after all the time we'll spend swimming and playing in it. I'm glad that the kids are both so excited to go. They made a chain of paper links and have cut one off every night for the last month and now there is one little chain left that will get cut off tomorrow! Hard to believe that the time has come for us to go.

My Mom has bought (and returned!) about 5 or 6 dresses that she was checking out for the vow renewal ceremony. My Dad has at least twice that many Hawaiian shirts in every color and is ready for whatever her pick is. About two weeks ago, she settled on the perfect dress. My Mom and I went shopping a couple months back and found my dress and Ryan & Tom's shirts just sort of fell into place after that. And what about Courtney? Well, as you might imagine, we found her dress really early, before anyone else had their outfit. She is really pretty in it and it is just perfect. Dave, Rhonda & Jason's outfits came together in the last couple of weeks too, so everyone is set for the 12th. We'll have lots of pictures to share for that special day!

In the meantime however, I feel the need to clean the house, straighten my scrapbook desk (which has had numerous piles on it for months!), get the fridge cleaned out, etc. Why is it my house always looks best when no one will be here to enjoy it? There is something about coming home to a fresh, clean house and just feeling "home" when you walk back in the door though.

Tomorrow, Mom, Courtney and I will be getting a pedicure/manicure. Mom and I got a pedi about a month ago. I have indulged before, but she hadn't and thought it was really nice to have her toes looking good. Courtney is excited for her first mani/pedi and of course has it all planned out what color the toes will be. It should be a fun way to get relaxed and ready to depart.

This weekend we should be relaxing, doing some shopping at the International Marketplace, waving hello to all our friends and family on a live webcam in Honolulu, playing at the water park and generally having a great time. The endless planning and research will have all been worth it. We'll spend 4th of July evening sleeping at the airport hotel (although, I doubt any of us will really sleep!)

We will try to keep the blog updated throughout the trip, so until the next post, ALOHA!!!