Packing

It's been a quiet weekend. I've given myself permission to avoid email (if anyone's written to me and I haven't gotten back to you yet, that's why! I'll be back to normal soon, I promise), and to just relax a little bit. I managed to get all of my midterms graded, and I deliberately didn't bring home any more grading. It's been a rough couple of months on many many levels, and it was nice to give myself some time to attempt to recover.

Of course, the weekend also had another goal, which was to finish gathering everything we need for our trip next week and to start packing. Ha.

I'd originally meant to do all of that yesterday, but the wall and I met with a crash, and I just couldn't get myself out of the house. So we decided we'd get it all done today. Of course, I hadn't reckoned on pretty much everywhere (except places like iHop, apparently, which I find interesting in an anthropological sort of way) being closed for Easter. Oops. We did manage to get the girls the shorts and t-shirts they needed, and everything else can be acquired in small trips during the week. (As we drove around the mall, marvelling that every single store was closed except Sears and the pizza place, I was forcibly reminded of a time in my youth when my mother, frustrated upon finding that the store she had driven all the way downtown to get to wasn't open until noon on a Sunday, got cranky about living in "this danged hick town". Which was especially funny, given that Sacramento is the state capitol, and she's from Woonsocket, Rhode Island, which is not exactly a booming metropolis. Ahh, memories...)

Spring break doesn't technically start until next Saturday, but on Thursday we're leaving to go visit Rick's parents on Virgin Gorda. They started spending winters on a sailboat in the Caribbean just before Older Daughter was born, and we have never made it down there to see them, in spite of a standing invitation. It's a long trip from the west coast, and a long time to spend with two small children on a relatively small sailboat. However, this time we're heading down to stay in a house with Rick's brother and sister-in-law and their daughter, which I think will be a perfect family reunion. The girls are beside themselves with excitement at the thought of seeing their cousin and cool fish all at once, and Rick's right there with them. I'm just wondering what one knits in the Caribbean?

I already have plans to visit my LYS before we leave to see if there's any yarn that I "need" (note: I realize that it's a want kind of thing, really), and I'm trying to decide whether it's worth packing the turkish spindle and some roving? Probably not, as I'm guessing that sand and spinning don't mix. I may end up bringing the Hanami stole, which has been languishing for some time, and which, being silk, packs veryvery small. It has the added fun of beads on the end to provide a bit of challenge, without being a lot to pack. I could also bring the second of Anne's Little Nothing scarves that I'm knitting with laceweight Malabrigo. Again, small, portable, and enough challenge to keep me occupied on the plane. Maybe those two and the pair of socks that I started in the car and haven't touched since? Is that too much? Not enough? Decisions, decisions...

Meanwhile, I've just been handed a mojito by my lovely husband, so I'm going to enjoy the moment and think about packing later.