The Packing Challenge

3 weeks, 6 people, 3 suitcases... is it possible? 

Thanks to many childhood lessons from the master packer - my Dad - I am confident that the answer is yes!  Yes, but no doubt this is our first major challenge of the trip. And I'm not talking 3 mega huge suitcases, we have been wisely warned that these will not be easy to travel with in Europe, these are 3 medium size rolling duffel bags.  Interestingly, when I bought the last one I noticed that the tag said "holds enough for a 4-5 night trip" - ha!  I'm not sure if that says more about how Americans travel or how crazy we are to try to pack 2 people for 22 nights in that bag.  None-the-less, our logic is that only Justin, Jax, and I will be able to pull a suitcase, each person will have their own backpack (you should see how cute Cullen's tiny backpack is), and we'll take a small stroller - for either a child or a lot of backpacks!  Makes sense now, we'll see how it all pans out as we are trucking everything through the streets of Paris.

And for all of you who are thinking that this can't possibly be coming from the same Jill you knew 10 yeas ago (the Jill who probably would have taken 3 bags just for herself), it's amazing the way 4 kids will change you -- like how I can now shower and be out the door with make up on and hair done in a mere 20 minutes on days when I sleep through my alarm - another change that comes with 4 kids, extreme exhaustion that causes me to sleep though my alarm way too often. And yes, traveling light!

So send us your positive packing vibes as I channel Dad and squish it all in, and don't judge when you see us wearing the same 3 outfits in every single photo for the next month.  But not to worry, I also learned to leave extra space for the stuff we buy while we're there, the shopper in me is one thing that even 4 kids hasn't changed.

And while I'm thinking about Dad let me add that he is also the one that taught me that being on time means being 15 minutes early (or that would translate into 2 hours and 15 minutes early where airports are involved), so no worries about us missing our plane. And we will have lots of great music to accompany us on this adventure because Dad is after all The Music Man!

So 4 days from now we and our very few bags will be headed for the airport - how exciting!  Thanks Dad, for preparing me to get our trip off to a great start!