Somewhere over the Rainbows: Surprise Vacation!

I feel as giddy as a kid on Christmas Eve! We're leaving in 12 hours to go down to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge for two nights. It's not a huge 2 week vacation, but it is more than I thought we'd get this year! Larry took all of his vacation time when the twins were born, and was a tremendous help to me. Last year we went down three times, and I was so grateful for that. I just looked at it as stockpiling vacation memories for this year, which I hoped would be vacationless due to birthing. He just decided around 5:00 or so this evening that we would go! I'm so excited!

I'm blessed. I got a double birthing, and a vacation! We spent the majority of last summer lost in the land of trying to conceive. The twins were the only pregnancy that we actually had to "try" for. And it took longer than I had expected. Still was only a drop in the bucket compared to some of my friends, who have been trying for years and years.

The last trip down last year, was my mom, Aidan and me. I found out I was pregnant just a couple weeks after we got home. But, I can't claim that they're my souveniers as my husband wasn't with us.

Aidan had a blast every time we went down. He acts like he remembers it, but I'm not real sure if he actually does or not. I do believe that he's old enough this year to remember it for a long time.

I'm still such a kid at heart. My very favorite thing to do on a Smoky Mountain vacation is to drive over the mountain into Cherokee (North Carolina) and go to the "bear zoos" and feed the bears. And I've passed that love onto Aidan. As he was falling asleep tonight, he was talking about feeding the bears apples. I had shown him pictures earlier in the day, from last year.

I am excited, but nervous, about taking the twins away from home. Will they sleep? Eat? They're really easy to take on outings such as grocery store or restaurants. But three days and two nights? I do have one thing going for me, though. They're still sleeping in their swings, I'm not ready to evict them from my room yet. So, we're loading both swings up in the van to take with us. So, that's one thing that'll be just like home for them.

I'm sure I'm overpacking, but I'd rather take too much than not enough. Babies get dirty, and I can't stand the thought of my kids wearing dirty clothes for any longer than they have to. So, I have two outfits each in the diaper bag that will be up front, and about eight each in a suitcase, plus 4 sleepers each, 100 diapers (I know we won't use that many in 3 days, but still...) I'm taking 10 bottles, that's one day worth, and my dishwashing liquid and bottle brush. And the formula,of course. And every bib we own. Even at home, we go through all of them in just a few days, so I'm hoping that they'll last the whole 3 days! I'm taking their baby washcloths and towels. I don't want to use old rough hotel towels on my little girlies!

Aidan is much easier to pack for! He's such a big boy now.

I have one last load of clothes in the washer, as soon as I switch them over, I'm heading to bed. Here are some pictures from our trips last year. Enjoy!