Coming around to the final stretch

While we are not into the single digits yet, we are at 2 weeks before we leave for Baltimore. And every single day, Max asks "Mommy? We go on vacation?"  So, in order to save my sanity and to help Max to realize how much time we have left, I made a paper chain.

I'm sure you remember these from elementary school--you take construction paper (or in my case, poster board), cut it into strips, and glue/staple the strips into rings, connected to each other.  I wrote numbers on each, #1-15 for how many days we have until we leave.  Each morning, Max will take down one of the links of the chain, and that will show him, and us, how many days are left.

I should have started this sooner. How neat it would have been to have it stretch across the room with over 200 links!  However, I'm glad I didn't, because actually seeing 200 or more links would have been depressing. Now, with a simple 15 (well, 14, he already took today's down) links, it looks like it is just around the corner.  And it truly is.

While I think we have pretty much everything we need other than a few last minute items, I feel woefully unprepared and a little panicked. Eric will, hopefully, be able to pack his own clothes. But I have to pack for me and the boys. And yes, I know I have whined about this several times, but it's just so daunting! Thinking that I will need to pack EVERYTHING that we will possibly need...There are no Wal-Marts on Carnival, and spending $40 on a band aid or Tylenol does not sounds like a good use of vacation funds.