Our Trip Prep

HAPPY MONDAY!! I don't normally blog on Mondays, but I've been gone far too long and have missed this space far too much! ALSO, it's *officially* fall, and boy does it feel like it in Nashville!!! We've been loving the start to all things fall and this beautiful weather, but a lot has gone on in these Riddicks' world since we've been gone... 

We successfully drove almost 10 hours to the beach with an almost one and a half year old...

Had six AMAZING days soaking up the ocean, sand, and salty air... 

Stayed a night with my college roommate and her three kids on the way back... 

Hosted our small group...

Started Women's Discipleship Group at our house... 

Had all of my tutoring sessions back in action last week... 

FaceTimed with family and hosted more family... 

Walked with old friends...

Met up with a few families from church...

Sent Aunt Audrey off to Iceland for a week...

Watched lots of football...

DECORATED FOR FALL... 🥰

And are currently still in the throws of a broken dryer over here...

Needless-to-say, it's been a busy, but full two weeks over here. 

Even with all that's been on our calendar, I've missed this little space. I love connecting with you, sharing bits of our life, having a space to share and process, and I can't thank you enough for all who stop by each morning. 

Today, I thought it'd be fun to just share a few ways I prepped for our beach trip before, during, and after. We ended up leaving early Saturday morning instead of Friday afternoon, and I snapped this picture after we were loaded up, Pierce had grabbed us Chick-fil-A, and Jane was still in her pajamas waking up 😂 

Some of these are so self-explanatory and things I'm sure everyone does every time, but I wanted to have these written down for myself too because believe it or not, we are packing our bags once more at the end of this week for a small trip with Pierce's family. Like I said, a busy few weeks over here! But this beach trip was one of our smoothest yet, and I wanted to have a place to keep everything that we've learned. 

Before: 

1. Basically, my biggest tip is lists. Here are a few that I LOVED this time around. 

A packing list. 

This made me laugh... And I feel like is even more true when you're going on a beach vacation... It always feels like you need so many things, and then you end up wearing simple beach clothes every day it seems! 

But I started a lit on my phone this time and shared it with Pierce. I tried to add things in "categories" - kitchen, bathroom, Jane, swim/beach related, etc. 

We were even taking some groceries so I put those in a separate category for the meals I knew we would make and what we needed to buy/bring. 

We were leaving early in the morning, so at the end of my packing list, I wrote some things to make sure we grabbed in the morning after everyone was awake that could easily be forgotten. This one was SO helpful!!

An after list. 

I had always heard of people doing this, but had never actually put it into action until this week, and it helped so much. There were things that I would come to that I knew I needed to do for the next few weeks, but didn't have time or exactly need to do before we left, so I simply added them to my "after" list. It was so helpful when we got back, and I didn't have to try to remember everything I had left undone or unfinished. 

A grocery list. 

As I was packing, I started running into groceries/household goods that I knew we were out of. We didn't need to grab them before we left, so I started putting them in our Kroger app, so that our grocery pick-up would already have some of the items we needed when we got back. 

Those are the main ones with a few little lists in-between, but what other lists do you have when you leave?! 

2. Another thing that I love doing when I can before we leave is clean. It's not always possible or practical, but this time, I had a day to prep and clean, and it was heavenly coming back to a clean home after so many days away. 

3. Made a "car basket" for Jane. 

This one was a must with so many hours in the car. I grabbed a few new books for her, some toys she hadn't seen in quite a while, and lots and lots of snacks. I think we may just forever keep that little "basket" in the car because it was so helpful on the long drive!! 

4. Make sure we have at least one meal/ easy dinner/ smoothie stuff on hand for when we return. 

This one was a game changer for us. We got back late Saturday and without a grocery pick-up order, we knew we had smoothie stuff in our freezer and it was perfect to have Açaí bowls as we were unpacking/getting Jane to bed/etc. 

5. Take out the trash, clean out the fridge, empty the dishwasher... 

We learned this one the hard way... So we always try to make sure these three are done before we leave if we can! 

During:

1. We really unplugged this trip, put our phones on "Do Not Disturb," and just truly enjoyed time "away..."

This is the first trip I've actually used my phone settings in this way, and I loved it. I loved waking up to less notifications, knowing that it was ok if I took a little longer to get to those notifications. And we just really didn't have our phones around much in general, which was so nice. We have less pictures from the week, but lots of memories, which is just what we needed. 

2. We always try to consolidate all of our laundry, so it's easy to unpack and start right away when we get home.

This is a simple one, but one we always do and one I'm always so thankful for when we get home. What is your favorite way to keep up with laundry when you get back?! I know there are a million different ways. 

3. Toward the end of the trip, we try to order groceries on the way home/ close to home/ when we get home.

This one we had high hopes and goals to do on the drive back, but we ended up doing a big grocery run the day after we got back, and we both said landings have felt smoother having a pick-up order ready for us when we get back from being away like that... We made a note to do this one a little better next time! 

After:

1. We try to unpack/ put things away quickly. 

This one has changed over the years, but now especially with Jane, we really try to unpack as quickly as possible to get everything settled for the week. We had a pretty quick turnaround this trip with hosting a lot at our house when we got home, so that helps the process for sure. It's not always possible or practical to do, but when it is, I love this little tip. 

2. We love making a "next trip" list. 

We love to make a list of things that went well, things we were so glad we did, packed, or had, and things we wished we had brought with us or want to bring next time. I do this for most trips, and as I'm making our packing list will always go back to these and almost always find things to add, depending on where we're going. 

And there you go! Just a few of things we did this time around that came to the top of my head as I was working on this post and thinking back on our week. But I would LOVE to hear what you do/what are some of your biggest tips for prepping for a trip?! We are already about to start prepping for our next one!! 

I'll plan to see you back here again tomorrow though and hopefully all week this week too!! 

Thanks for following along and hopefully this is a fun one if you're traveling or packing your bags soon!! 

Lots of blessings, 

Tab