The Big Trip

For nearly four years, we've managed to somehow avoid flying in a plane with Elizabeth. Part of it was simply because we thought flying might be too much for her, but probably the larger reason was we thought it'd be too much for us.

Now, I realize why we'd delayed this adventure and we were wise in doing so. We're planning to leave on Thursday to Virginia Beach and will be there for a week. One of my closest friend's from college is getting married. She's asked me to be a bridesmaid and also asked Liz to be a flower girl.

So, the first challenge is simply packing everything that we need. Those of you who have gone on trips with young kids know this indeed can be a tiring act. But since it's our first time it seems a bit more overwhelming. Not to mention the fact, that I've got to remember all of our fancy clothes for the wedding, beach clothes, warm clothes in case it gets cold as well as countless Band aids, medicines like Tylenol and not to mention books and a few toys for Liz to play with while managing to get all of this stuffed into 3 or 4 bags.

Once we get past this packing hurdle, then comes the challenge of schlepping all of our stuff through O'Hare and finally through security and ultimately on the plane.

I've packed tons of new snacks, games and suckers for Liz. We even bought a portable DVD player and hopefully that will entertain her...for a bit.

Once we arrive in Virginia Beach, the next challenge will be Brian's. I'll be busy with bridesmaid duties for the first two days and he and Liz will be playing together on the beach. As long as the weather is OK, I think they'll be fine.

The biggest obstacle will be the actual wedding, which is at 7 p.m. on Saturday. There's no other way to describe it, but to say that 7 p.m. is Liz's meltdown period. Literally, right on the dot. Basically, she's played all day and by that time, she's getting tired and ready to snooze.

That's the exact moment we'll be wanting her to walk down the aisle carrying flowers as flower girl. Brian and I both predict it likely won't happen and my friend knows that too. Now, the odds improve if she takes a nap, but given all of the excitement, a nap is pretty unlikely unless Brian drives her around and around in the car and she ultimately falls asleep that afternoon out of pure exhaustion.

But regardless if she makes it down the aisle or not, we do expect we'll have some pretty cute photos of her in her adorable lavender flower girl dress. She's quite excited about it and has been practicing throwing flowers for weeks. She could surprise us.

After the wedding, we'll stay in Virginia Beach and have a chance to relax for several days until heading back the following Wednesday.

I had wanted to blog about the trip, but not quite sure how we can manage to pack the laptop. Regardless, we'll pass on a full report upon our return...with lots of pictures...I promise.