Five on Friday - Vacation Prep

I'm leaving tomorrow for a family vacation. First we're going to The Smoky Mountains (and Dollywood!) for a few days and then we're going to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. I'll be blogging throughout the vacation, so I hope you'll stop by my blog throughout the week!

Earlier this week, I shared my best toddler travel tips. And today I'm linking up with the Momfessionals blog's Five on Friday to share how my family prepares for a vacation. 

1. We take travel prep very seriously in this family. But no one takes it more seriously than my Dad. He was profoundly affected by the episode of Full House where the Tanner family goes on vacation and Danny makes a clipboard of fun. 

Oh yeah, that's right. My Dad actually makes a Clipboard of Fun. 

2. Several days before vacation, my Dad likes to bring up his suitcases, while humming the Rocky theme song. 

3. Every vacation I pretend I'm going to eat really healthy this time. I tell myself that I'm going to stay away from sugar. I'm going to avoid all junk food. This generally lasts for about 12 minutes and then I start eating sugar like I'm on my way to the electric chair. This vacation I've decided to cut the crap and get really honest with myself. I'm going to eat sugar. A lot of it. I'm going to eat Fried Chicken at Dollywood . . . and Macaroni and Cheese and Chocolate Cake. And I'm stopping by their candy store too. It's totally going to happen. So my new goal is to not totally deprive my organs of all vital nutrients while on vacation. We have a cooler packed with watermelon, grapes, strawberries and blueberries for the car ride down. And I'm going to try to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. This seems like a doable goal.

4. Travel Music - 

I've clearly inherited my Dad's love of over-the-top vacation planning because I've decided we need some travel music that's themed to our vacation. I'm going to download a few Dolly Parton songs for when we're going to Dollywood. Mid-week we'll be driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains to get to Hilton Head Island. So, of course, we HAVE to listen to this song:

5. Mystery Books - I've packed a few books that are themed to the vacation (a book about a road trip for the day we're driving, a book about the beach for the day we're at the beach.) But I knew I would need a few more books. Normally I spend way too much time trying to decide which books to read, but this time I decide to take a different approach. I have so many books in my to-read stacks that I don't even remember what's in there anymore (pathetic, but true.) So I just stood in front of the to-read stacks, closed my eyes, pulled some books out of the stacks, and put them in my bag in such a way that I can't see the covers or the binding.

I haven't peeked at all. I'm not going to find out what the books are until I'm ready to pull each one out of the bag and read it. I'm so excited to find out which books I'll be reading!

Happy Friday, everyone!