Short Night

I've been planning and packing for our Great Graduation Vacation for a while now, but when I started officially packing yesterday I found that I had lost all of my lists, the kids scattered everything I had grouped together, and while I was folding and packing clothes upstairs, Marcus decided to dump a box of Kix on the living room rug...which he then danced on....a lot.

So it's been crazy, but isn't packing always crazy? Last night Marcus decided to wake up about a half hour after he went to bed, and he didn't go to sleep until about 2:30 or so. I gave up just after twelve, and Brian stayed up with him, watching episodes of "The Simpsons" on Hulu until he finally fell asleep. Then I woke up at 5:30 and just couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to start the morning. The car is packed and just about ready to go, and everyone is still sleeping. Wait - I just heard Brian start the shower. That's good. Won't he be surprised to get out and find that I've packed all of his underwear...

Here's the plan:

Today and tomorrow we'll be camping at Beachside, which means exactly like it sounds. Our tent site is right on the beach. We're excited. Ethan's been ready to go camping for the last week.

On Wednesday we're heading to Forest Grove for Brian's Capstone Classes, family pictures, and some picnics. We'll be staying at McMenamins Grand Lodge while we're there. Pretty cool.

Then on Friday we're staying in a La Quinta in Portland, because they have a deal going right now that includes OMSI or Zoo tickets with your stay. (It was actually fifteen dollars cheaper to get the ticket deal than to get a regular room - crazy.) Our plan is to go to OMSI with my sister and brother and their families while Brian's at Capstone, then he'll join us when he's done. Brian's parents wil be joining us then, too.

Saturday is the greatly anticipated day of.....(drumroll)....GRADUATION! Whoo!!

Then Sunday, we'll go to the Portland Zoo, and head home.

The house is a mess right now, which is not how I'd like to come home to it, but we'll do a little bit of straightening up before we leave. Just in case anyone is thinking of robbing us while we're gone, let me tell you now that Jiovanni lives on the other side of our duplex, and he is one tough cookie. Sure, he may seem all polite and extremely nice, and he's always quick to say, "Good morning," or "How are you doing today?" and he brought in our grabage cans a couple of times when Brian wasn't here. But don't let that fool you. We hear him practicing Karate and Kung Foo all the time next door, so seriously, don't mess. Plus, we're bringing all the chocolate with us, so there's really nothing worth stealing anyway.

We're off.