Friday, June 3, 2011

One More Day and We Are On Our Way!

 We are leaving for Michigan tomorrow morning and I couldn't be more excited!!  My sister, her hubby and their little girl (6 weeks younger then the munchkin) will be going with us.  We haven't traveled anywhere in so long.  Honestly, I haven't traveled much my whole life.  We went camping alot when I was a child, but we didn't have much money, so that was usually the extent of our family vacations.  We went to Florida once when I was in highschool, I have been on two cruises and we went to North Carolina for a week for my sisters' weddings, which was also our honeymoon since it was right after we got married (me and my sisters were all married within three weeks of each other). And that's about it.  There's been a few weekend trips to Chicago and Kansas City for concerts or other events, but I don't really consider those vacations.  Not exactly a world traveler, and it's not because of lack of desire.  So you can see why our little trip to Michigan has been extra exciting. The planning and anticipation alone, has really been half the fun.

We are traveling to a little harbor town in Michigan, which is about 8 hours from our home.  The plan is to leave early in the morning, then stop half way at a park we scoped out to have a picnic lunch and let the girls run around on the playground and burn up some energy.  Hopefully, they will then nap for a few hours after that, while we travel the rest of the way. That's the "plan" anyway, we'll see what actually happens. I have stocked up on some new toys for the car ride, which will hopefully entertain her and keep her less angry about being strapped down in the car seat for hours on end.  She hasn't been in the car for more then a couple of hours at a time, so I have no idea how she is going to do on a long road trip.  We are also bringing the portable dvd player and arming ourselves with dvds for her to watch.  I have a feeling she is going to do just fine.  Either way, we'll survive, I'm sure.

Once we get there, we haven't planned much.  This is totally out of the norm for me, but I am actually happy with it.  I am looking forward to relaxing and not having a schedule to adhere to. We have rented a house a couple of blocks from the beach on Lake Michigan.  There's a pier with little shops and restaurants, we can take a boat out onto the lake, check out the Farmer's Market or artist's market or hop on the trolley to travel around town.  It's a short drive to the neighboring towns where there is plenty of other things to do there as well.  Or we could just sit at the beach and relax, watch the girls play in the sand and get some sun.  I have a feeling we will be doing alot of that.  Hopefully the weather plays nice.

It was exciting getting off work yesterday and realizing I wouldn't be returning for 10 days!  I also knew I would get to spend the next 10 days with the munchkin and not have to send her to the sitter.  I love our sitter, don't get me wrong, and I know she does too, but I am really excited to spend more time with her.  Especially in the mornings, when she is the most fun and in the best moods. 

After work, I went to the grocery store and rounded up some groceries for the trip.  I just needed to pick up some things I wasn't sure I would be able to buy once we got there.  We will also be grocery shopping once we get into town.  We will be cooking most of our meals at the house, and eating out for a couple of dinners. 

I then got a much needed pedicure.  This was seriously overdue.

Today I am packing up all of our clothes and our belongings.  Cutting up fruit and snacks and getting all of the food ready for the cooler.  Tonight the car will be all gassed up, packed and ready to go, so that in the morning we can just get up, get dressed, eat breakfast and get on the road.  My sister and her husband are kinda freaks about getting on the road and heading straight there, with minimal stops and dilly dallying.  Me and Joe are pretty much the opposite.  Joe considers vacation starting as soon as we get out of the driveway and onto the road.  The road trip, he says, is part of the fun.  He likes to take his time and stop whenever he wants to stretch his feet and take a break.  Hopefully we can find a happy medium.

I will be bringing my camera and laptop, the house has wi-fi, so hopefully I can upload pics and updates as we go.  That's always much easier then trying to remember everything when we get back.  I guess I better get back to packing.... I have lots to do!

2 comments:

Sarah Smith said...

Have a great trip!

LWLH said...

Have fun love! :)