It's the Final Countdown!

Here you go. Crank it up. You know you want to...

You'll have to excuse me for a minute (or two or three) while I finish listening to the song.

Not that we're going to Venus but I was amused with myself and now you can all be equally amused. Right?

I am beginning to relax a little bit after a year of anxiety and hyperventilating. As Captain Stubborn will tell you, because he is keeping very careful track, we have only 9 more sleeps until we head to Orlando for what may be one of the most anticipated Walt Disney World vacations ever. Just about everything that we can do, we have done.

• We have our resort and parkhopper package booked and paid. Our package from AAA with vouchers and luggage tags arrived a few weeks ago.
• We have our airfare booked and paid.
• We have our dining reservations made and our dining plan booked and paid.
• We have our rental vehicle booked. Our handy-dandy travel agent even adjusted the reservation when prices dropped after our initial reservation, without our having to give up the Standard SUV we had reserved.
• We have our tickets for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.
• We have our reservations made for the Kennedy Space Center including lunch with STORY MUSGRAVE!!!!!!!!!!!
• We have travel insurance arranged and paid.
• We have park maps, street maps, AAA guide books, Passporter guide books, laptops with MousePlanet bookmarked, spreadsheets with reservation numbers and park hours.

Now all we have left to do is pack. And finish shopping. And plan Cub Scout meetings for the two Thursdays we will be gone. And arrange the house sitter. And finish packing. And shopping.

But I believe that, for now, I am not hyperventilating. Want to see what I bought? Of course you do!

We first needed suitcases for the kids. We really liked the duffle cases from Eddie Bauer and we found them on sale. The large cases retailed for $150 with medium cases for $100 (before the sale price.) We planned to purchase one large suitcase for Mr. Genius and Medium Suitcases for Sweet But Sneaky and Captain Stubborn. Eddie Bauer conveniently offered bags in each of the boys' favorite colors. As we were shopping, a sales lady guided me over to the clearance department. This large red bag was on clearance from the older line of duffle bags. For $30.

Hel-lo! We upgraded SBS as you can see.

Last weekend we finally set out to find a suitcase for DaddyDoc. He found various suitcases he liked online but few were on sale. We decided to wait it out and see if any sales popped up before we left. When none had, we agreed to shop at a local outlet mall on our way to REI. Worst case, we would suck it up and by the case of his dreams, full price, at REI.

The bad news is that the Outlet mall luggage store is closing. The good news is that we showed up during the Store Closing Blowout sale. This red suitcase was the last of its size and kind in the store. That little black flap near the top is concealing a very convenient strap and clip to attach to other bags while pulling the luggage through an airport or resort.

When we came home and looked online, we had paid $140 less than the lowest price we found online for the same suitcase. Ka-ching!

But here is where I get really easily amused.

This is Captain Stubborn's quart-sized ziplock bag. Dry air on airplanes and a child prone to nosebleeds might not be the best combination but look at how organized and prepared we are! Very clever, PerkyMommy!! The big boys have similar quart sized bags, without the Aquaphor, q-tips and gauze.

What did cute and perky mommies do before the Target Dollar Department? Really?

These little puppies are going right into those quart sized ziplocks when I finish posting this.

I think every little Disney/Pixar loving child needs some of these. Target conveniently packaged them so that we might share some with any charming young ladies we come across in Orlando. Shhhh. Don't spoil the surprise!

Each boy will have his bag packed with an ipod and headphones (Why, yes, my children are spoiled, why do you ask? But they do not have Nintendo DS's so I'm sort of a crappy mother in other ways.) I am preparing age appropriate travel journals for each boy as well. Of course there will be colored pencils, crayons, regular pencils, drawing paper and thanks to the school board that keeps changing its mind about vacation times annually, homework packets.

Each boy will also have a supply of snacks for the plane rides. Mommy will have a little something extra...

If you have never eaten a Luna bar, do yourself a favor and do not start. Oh they are entirely evil good. This is how evil they are: I can only find the Cookies and Cream variety at REI, sold individually. Do you know what store has the most expensive price for individual Luna bars? I'll give you one guess. Yes, it is REI. Even Vons sells Luna bars for less. And yet I had to have some. The multi-pack of S'mores bars from Target balances out the budget issue. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

I figured the extra might come in handy for breakfasts in Orlando, don't you think?

Finally, did you know that the little boys needed these toothbrush sets? I didn't either. But then I saw them in the travel department at Target and they begged me to put them in my cart. They are the perfect colors for SBS and CS. And they come with adorable travel sized kid toothpaste, too! How could I say no to them? Clearly, they are a travel necessity.

Do I look ready for Walt Disney World yet?