My blog has been on hiatus this week as we've been spending time with Mickey and the gang in California.

Yep, we took 5-year old Dylan to Disneyland and then capped it off with a trip to the beach.

I will share vacation details in a later blog, but now that I've been home about 36 hours, I have to tell you the worst part of "getting away from it all" is the prep work required to leave.

We left on Saturday, the day after Halloween, a big mistake. Friday was all about trick or treating. By the time we returned home and weaned Dylan off his sugar high, I was SO ready to drop into my own never-never land. But I had to pack, a task I anticipated about as much as a root canal.  

I HATE packing because Dylan has inherited my ability to experience drastic temperature changes on a whim, which means you basically have to have four seasons worth of clothing in your suitcase.  In addition, I have to have the "friends" (stuffed animals) that Dylan would want nearby, his security blankets, snacks, and of course the "surprises" for the plane (coloring books, card games, workbooks) he has come to expect, plus DVD player and favorite DVDs (which change from trip to trip) .

None of this is particularly difficult, it's just extremely time consuming for me to process it all. As I sit on the carpet at 11:00 p.m. debating a Littlest Leaguers DVD or Blue's Clues -- I opt for baseball -- I consider this is a far cry from when attention to this level of detail was reserved for what pairs of fun underwear made the cut.

At midnight, I'm packed.

Then I rise at 4:45 a.m. to take a shower and inform my husband I have a "few errands" to run. I am not sure that it is a testament to my organization that by 6:00 a.m. I'm off to the ATM and library (Dylan's books would have been woefully overdue), or is it a sad fact that I almost left these things undone because my RAM is full. Maybe I need an upgrade.

We leave for the airport at 7:00 a.m. and I exhale as I board the plane, exhausted, ready to let the fun and frolic begin...