So I ended up leaving most of it to the last minute; to the last day of school. What spurred me on was knowing the one thing worse than packing, is packing with kids. It's like tackling an obstacle course while little, random water cannon try to knock you off. They are next to useless at helping - constantly asking for things, or unpacking the packing which drives me nuts. Better to do it during school time.
So how much stuff do you take for 5 weeks? It's hard to know. I decided to go for an optimistic, less bulky pack. No need to do endless loads of washing, as none of the things I'm taking have been out of the cupboard yet this summer. Lord help us if it's cold, we'll be wrapping ourselves in beach towels. I did get a little distracted when I was going through my 7 year old's room, and found a plastic bag full of his year 2 school work. Just fascinating, like a little window to a side you don't see. I really love this painting - definitely a keeper.
But even with a few distractions I managed to get most of this..
...into this,
..and there should be room for my mum's bag and the cat box. Every time we do long trips by car, I vow we're not going to end up with bags tucked round our feet. It's looking promising this time, and if I want it to stay that way I'm going to have to rein in on the food shop. I always go a bit overboard on travel food.
Now the cat: this journey is going to be her worst nightmare. She's going to hate it and probably yowl and make it pretty miserable for all of us. But I can't ask someone to look after her for 5 weeks, and putting her in the cattery would not only be eye-wateringly expensive but also incredibly dull for a prowler like Humbug. So she's jabbed and chipped and has her passport. We even got her a lead, though can't see that working. It's going to be interesting. I'm comforting myself with the thought that she'll love the place when she's there.
And I just want to be there. The whirring mind in the morning isn't just about things I need to do, it's the worry about being responsible for getting everyone there. The day we travel to France will be one of those days I just want to be over. It's not going to be a bundle of laughs: hours in a tightly packed car. All I can say is thank heavens for portable DVD players. I did have such a great time choosing a few new DVDs for the journey, and guess what? I'm inflicting my childhood on the kids..again..
One organised thing I have done is run down the food in the fridge freezer so I can defrost it and turn it off while we're away. Last night we had fish fingers, stew, peas, baked beans and smoked salmon.Yum...
So it's a kind of farewell for now. I'm going to do my best to keep blogging - I'll just have to see how easy it is to find a WIFI connection that doesn't involve spending days at McDonald's. I probably won't be able to read and comment as much as I'd like, but it'll be back to business in september. Sounds like a long time but I know it will fly. In the meantime happy, happy holidays :)