We're going to the beach!!!

We leave for the beach in 4 days. My parents and my sisters and me are all cramming together in a huge beach house for a week of fun in the sun. I repeat...we leave in FOUR DAYS. Right now that is equal parts Woo-hoo and Yikes. I am not...shall we say...packed and ready. All that I've done to prepare so far is create a list of things that we need to bring. And it is so long and scary that is just makes me NOT want to pack. Plus, packing with little kids around is a joke (no, you can't have that, it's for vacation), and you can't do it too far in advance because the stuff you are packing is stuff they use every day...which is why you need to haul it all across the country. So Thursday should be fun.

And, yes, we are hauling all of our crap all the way to South Carolina even though we live literally 90 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean. Why drive 13 hours instead of 1? Because the beach my family goes to is a little piece of heaven. And heaven is worth a 13 hour drive with 3 kids. Which won't be so bad because my parents are coming here first (did you realize that Philly is in between Ohio and South Carolina? No? Not so much? Are you yet again amazed and jealous at the awesomeness of my parents? Did I mention they are also paying IN FULL for the beach house that we will all be staying at? No? I can hear you turning green.). And then we are splitting the 3 kids up between cars and caravaning down there. And I get the "easy" car (Michael), while Jeff and my dad get the "challenging" car (sing along CD's, DVD's, passing snacks, finding the correct Elmo book for Lily, etc). All because Michael and I are attached at the breast...so I just HAVE to be in the car with the baby. ;) Score another PRO for breastfeeding!

I'm so excited...just so excited. I can't wait to bring Andrew back and take him searching for crabs and seashells and maybe even turtle nests. I can't wait to show it to Lily for the first time and watch her power walk into the waves and eat sand (at home she finds it a delicacy). And the bike riding! I think the kids will really enjoy it...although maybe not as much as Jeff and I will. Michael probably won't enjoy it much, but he's at such an easy stage, we'll just drag him along and try to keep him in the shade as much as possible. Honestly, I don't think there is an easier stage than 4 months. Still just drinking breastmilk (he doesn't get any formula anymore), so no food or gear to bring for that, not crawling or walking, great vision so he's constantly entertained by just looking around. Sleeping enough that Mommy doesn't feel like keeling over every day. Lovely. And I hope I've not just cursed myself.

While we're there, we will hit the 1 year anniversary of that fateful pregnancy test. Worst. Night. Ever. And look how great that turned out. There will be much retrospection on my part, remembering how incredibly freaked out I was then and how incredibly down to my soul happy I am now. What a difference a year makes! We will also celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary while we're there. So no sappy wedding post like I usually do (do I usually? It seems like I might)...I'll store it up and make a real doozy for the 10th anniversary. Anyway, 9 doesn't seem like a very big thing when "10" is just a year away. That sounds much more impressive.

Enough of this rambling post. I should be PACKING, damnit. -sigh- I just know it isn't going to happen until Thursday anyway.