We leave in 2 days! We can't believe it. After several months of planning, it's actually "go-time." The kids have kept a countdown for the month of June. Matthew contributed the "+" - his version of an "X." Dani was more interested in the countdown to her 3rd birthday.

Michael and I have been super busy trying to finish up work (I'm still giving my final exam as I write this (6/23), and final grades will be posted on 6/24) as well as making sure we are all packed and as ready to go as we can be. Our house has become a staging zone as we stockpile everything we think we *might* need - and I'm sure we'll remember the most important thing we forgot to pack about the time we get to Charlotte - ha! We have continued to receive daily packages from Amazon, UPS, and FedEx. Just today Dani saw the FedEx truck and, very matter-of-factly, she said "It's FedEx...not UPS today." The scatter of ALL THE THINGS is making me a little overwhelmed - I'm ready to get everything officially packed so I can get a better sense of what needs to be cleaned and what laundry needs to be done before we leave (who's seen the Holderness video about how women and men approach vacations differently...yeah, that's us!). 



We've already had so much help from friends and family as we prepare for our trip - letting us stay with you (you know who you are - THANK YOU!!), giving us detailed advice for how to do a cross-country road trip in an Odyssey with a family of 6 (shout out to Sarah Vander Wal!), helping coordinate activities for us to do while we visit certain areas, offering to do odds and ends for us while we're gone, loaning us essential travel gear (hello fanny pack and camera bag - thanks, Adriana and Ryan!), keeping Carolyn's first and ONLY pet alive for 5 weeks (thanks Kaylen!), sending the kids "trip money" (thanks GG, PopPop, and Nana), and the list goes on. We're truly blessed to have such an amazing group of family and friends - couldn't do it without you! 

We can't wait to see so many of you - the goal is to post regularly and to keep you updated with photos and stories of our travels. After a fairly tiresome day with the kids today, Michael suggested he might keep a "second" blog to track the reality of our trip instead of just the "happy highlight reel." I'm sure his blog would be much funnier than mine. For our first "reality" entry - the kids were arguing on the way to Target (5 minutes from our house), and I jokingly (or so I thought...) said that if they can't make it more than 5 minutes without fighting we'd kick them out of the car during our trip. Apparently, it stuck with Andrew because he later told his friend's mom (April) "My mom and dad made it simple. If we are bad, we get kicked out of the car." So, if we come back with fewer kids, you'll know what happened! Maybe it really is that simple...

First Stop - Tuscaloosa, Alabama! Roll Tide!!