How Do You Do It? Travel Edition, Packing For a Crowd

When talking with others about vacations or camping or traveling with a large family, I often hear things like "How do you pack for everyone?" "How does it all fit?" "I don't know how you do it!" In the early years, we had 4 children ages 6 and under. It was work. But honestly, it is getting easier. The kiddos are all growing up and getting pretty self-sufficient. I am going from being a Mom-of-Many  to being a Mom-of-Not-So-Many-Anymore. OK, that isn't exactly true (once a mother, always a mother!) But my children don't need me to do as much for them as I used to do. I now can provide a list of items needed to be packed and then just need to double-check that no important items are overlooked. Once they know what is needed, everyone brings their 'stuff' to an assigned place (the living room floor, couch, etc) I have them compare their pile to the list.

For several years, I utilized a marvelous system for my 'Littles'.  A set of those plastic stackable drawers. Each drawer is about a foot tall and about a foot and a half deep. Perfect for baby- and toddler-sized clothing. I filled one for each of my kiddos, and one with diapering supplies. Each night while pulling out pj's, I would also set out next day's outfit, leaving the drawer unit in the back of our SUV-type vehicle. It was easy to fill up in the house, light-weight enough to carry easily to vehicle, and easy to reach and keep in order. But then they grew. Or maybe I should say the OUTGREW my ingenious system. Their clothing just wouldn't fit.

These days I have 11 year old Esther and 6 year old Bekah pack their clothes using a 3-step method. Each of the girls uses a large canvas tote. Below you can see what Bekah packed for a weekend trip last summer:

1. Layer 'em.

dress or jumper/top, shorts/bloomers, undies - whole outfits together

2. Roll 'em.

each day's outfit is a snug little pack

3. Line 'em up!

each night, she takes out a "roll" ready for a new day!

For the boys, now 9 and 8 years old, we still pack up one good-sized suitcase. They wear the same size and basically share a wardrobe, so it's easy to stack, fold and roll like things together. The pictures below are from a week-long camping trip we took this spring.

You can see in the upper corner they each get 2 pair of jeans, next to that I lined up t-shirts folded compactly (I picked up this little tip from a post over at Organizing Made Fun), across the front I stacked shorts and pajama sets. In the empty corner, I placed a couple of sweatshirts, in case of cool nights. In the little pocket at the back, all lined up nice and neat, I placed their rolled up underwear. The pocket in the lid held socks. That's it! 2 boys, 1 suitcase and a week's worth of camping fun. 

FYI -- dirty laundry gets tossed into a laundry basket in the camper, not back into the suitcase. However, they somehow find plenty to fill the suitcase for the trip home -- things like dirt, rocks, sand, insects. You know, souvenirs.

For trips when we have a special occasion or event to dress for, I have packed a separate bag, with one nice outfit for each family member, separate from our everyday play and travel clothes. This stays stashed away until the appropriate time, so we don't have any cross-contamination, if you know what I mean.

So, how do you pack for a crowd? I'd love for you to share tips and tricks that make traveling easy for you!

Linking up this post to Works For Me Wednesday  and Big Family Friday.

Suburbanite Turned Country Girl Visits the Big City

A week ago Thursday, my friend Lisa and I did a most daring thing and hopped a train in the WEEEEE hours of the morning and arrived at Union Station in downtown Chicago before lunchtime. My daughter-in-law Melissa picked us up at the station, served up a light lunch and then carted us around town (what a sweetie!) She laughed at our silly jokes and didn't laugh at our silly questions. I couldn't have asked for two better partners in crime shopping companions. Our destination? IKEA, of course!
Oh, my - Oh, my - Oh, my! We spent 3 hours ooooing and aahhhhing and dreaming and planning.

 An escalator just for the shopping cart. Who knew?!

I did not get our school room finished last week as I had planned, but I did get plenty of motivation and ideas from our whirlwind shopping trip. Oh, the possibilities! Oh, my wish list! Esther and I have been pouring over the catalog I brought home.

 

When we finally pulled ourselves away from IKEA, we made our way to The Container Store. Another shop full of dreams and ideas and oh-so-many possibilities. It really was an inspirational trip.

Melissa carted us home, picking up Chicago-style pizza for supper. Yummy! (You'll have to take my word for it. I was way too tired and hungry at that point to even think of snapping pictures.) It was fun catching up with Brent and Melissa, but we all turned in early - to be ready for a trip downtown on Friday!

Next morning, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and then took the Metra (Chicago city transit, "L", train, subway, whatever) to Downtown Chicago, where we met Brent for lunch and took in some of the sites and did some window shopping. OK, a little tourist-gawking and picture snapping, too.

Melissa (daughter-in-law/chaperone/tour guide) and Lisa (great friend and travel companion) riding the train downtown.

 

The 'L' - The Loop Downtown - it really is e'L'evated

  You know your son has 'made it' when he gives you a tour of his very own cubicle. 

Proud of you, Brent!

We walked and walked and walked. It was a beautiful, sunny day (cool, breezy but gorgeous all the same!) We saw amazing sites like the Giant Bean (pictured above) - a mirrored ball thing shaped like a kidney bean (I have no idea why, don't ask) - look close, you can see Melissa (in blue) in the mirror taking our picture - cool view of the skyline, too. We saw groups riding Segways through the park - how fun would that be?! Why did we not think of that? It's on our to-do list for next visit.

The amazing architecture, beautiful parks, a coffee shop on every corner - it was a blast! The trip was way too short. There was not time for museums or planetarium or aquarium or many other things - guess we'll have to visit again sometime soon.

Lake Michigan stretches out behind us

 This will sound crazy, but another highlight on this trip was a trip to Costco. Everytime Brent and Melissa visit, they pull something out of their bags, or share a treat of some sort and I'll comment "Oh, I love that! . . . or . . . that is so cute! Where did you get it?" Then answer is always - "Costco".  Brent promised me a visit to their favorite store the next time I visited - so I took him up on it. And it was everything he promised. Another shopping/wish list was born - they may need to get a bigger vehicle before their next visit!

We ate spinach every.single.day on this trip - had to restock

too bad this cute little Chicago Bear wouldn't fit in my suitcase

One last item on our agenda was to get Melissa 'crafting'.  She was hoping to find boxes, baskets or bins to fit the cubby holes in her computer desk (see behind her in the pic below), but they are just an odd size. Soooo,  this mother-in-law who is always full of crazy wonderful ideas convinced her to try custom-making her own. (Once she sends me pics, I'll work up a post on how we accomplished this) How are they working out, Melissa?

Another special treat for me was a quick visit with my Cousin Debbie, who took the train in from the suburbs to meet me at the station before we headed home. It was great catching up family news, just a bit - visit was too short, but I'm so grateful she went out of her way to make it happen. Thanks, Cous! (sorry, no picture)

Though we were both exhausted on the trip home, Lisa and I found we still had plenty to share and discuss. I know we both had a great time, but were very happy to get home again. We are so very grateful to our hubbies, who were happy to let us take this little excursion - and for my sweet grown-up children who were very gracious hosts - and for my dear children at home, holding down the fort while Mama was away. Thank you all!

Our Quick Trip to Chicago

In March, the children and I made took a road trip to Chicago. It was bittersweet.


We had been planning to visit Brent and Melissa. They bought their first home this winter and we were looking forward to seeing it!



As the time for our trip drew near, we received word that my Uncle Bob (who has always lived in the Chicago area) had passed away, and so we moved our trip up a week so that we could attend the funeral. This meant that Mike wasn't able to make the trip with us because of meetings he had at work, but we'd go ahead and combine it with the visit to Brent and Melissa's.



It was a great blessing to have my children with me for the service honoring my uncle. And I enjoyed a short visit with my dad and the chance to see aunts and uncles and cousins. I regret that we haven't made more effort to stay connected. Maybe Uncle Bob's last gift to us is that reminder that we need to invest in strengthening those family ties. I didn't take any pictures, why is that? It never seems the appropriate thing to do, and then I regret it later.



And then, we had a couple of days of fun with my biggest kids. I loved their new home -
they have already done some really nice work getting the upstairs apartment ready for rental, and have plans to do a little more renovating on the main floor, but they've already done a nice job making it warm and welcoming. They played board games, soccer in the back yard.We had the best, BIGGEST burritos ever! for supper one night. Also had a chance to visit with Melissa's parents over dessert and a romp in the backyard with the dogs.




Brent was able to work his schedule so he could join us for a trip to the Science Museum.


We were able to see an actual German U-boat, and learn about life on a submarine. The hands-on displays were terrific!

Brent and Noah tried their hand at 'driving' the sub, then Esther and Gabe gave it a try. I think maybe I would have been sea-sick if a passenger on their submarines! It's harder than it looks.




They also had a really cool space and aeronautics display. We saw real-life astronaut suits, and space craft that had been in space. Here you see an astronaut in the making!



and here is a remote control model of the Mars Rover - the big boys sure had a good time with this one!


and who would have thought the kids from the country would have to travel all the way to the big city, just to ride on a tractor?



The morning we left for home, Caitlin and I were planning to take a picture of the front of their house, but in the chaos and commotion, we didn't get it done. Oh, well. It'll have to wait til next visit - unless you want to send one to me, Melissa!

We had a really nice time, but I'm not very good at this long-distance mothering - in my opinion, it stinks - but there are some things in life that are out of my control, so I'll just have to work at making the best of the situation.

Vacation 2009

This year our annual Fall Adventure took us out West. First, Salt Lake City, where Dad attended a training seminar. Then, after taking a peek at the Great Salt Lake we headed south. We were able to take in Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, Canyonlands National Park, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Canyon National Park (North Rim) - and then we trekked back east, stopping in Arkansas to visit with friends.

Whew! Wears you out just reading that list! This crazy blogger site has not let me post along the way. For some reason it does not let me type in word and the cut and paste, so I'm doing some catch up. I'll be posting pictures, comments and stories as I can. Hope you enjoy! I know we did.

Here we are climbing the rocks at Arches National Park

More to come!

Catching the Waves

It is cold. Very cold. 3 degrees this morning – brrrrrr. So I decided to think ‘warm’ thoughts. And decide to post pictures from a sunny day this past fall, vacationing on the Atlantic Ocean, pictures I never did get posted after our big New England/Canada trip. Hope they put a smile on your face and warm your heart!

10-08 "Playing in the Waves"

A very fun afternoon at Sandy Point, Acadia National Park (near Bar Harbor, ME) It was a little cool, but the sun had warmed the sand--who could resist? Everyone had to get their toes wiggling in the sand and see if their sand castle could withstand the waves.