fun {and stress} in dallas

Over the weekend we flew to Dallas to meet with one of our showrooms for the Heartfelt Collection {our boutique line}. We missed our first flight and from there things seemed to unravel. I forgot all my makeup at home. David’s medicine exploded in my suitcase. And Matthias left his treasured blanket at the hotel. {We were able to recover it, thank goodness!} But despite all of the craziness we did have some fun. We got to see my brother, his sweet wife and their amazing twin girls. And twin sister was there with her twin daughters too.

Traveling with the boys was imperfect. I love having them with us–and they were fabulous. But when I’m working I feel very pulled between meeting their needs and getting things done. It’s just real life, ya know? Crazy and fun and sometimes super stressful.

I hope I never, ever have to use my cushion as a flotation device.

Sunrise somewhere between California and Dallas.

My gorgeous niece, Clara.

The cousins had a good time. Cousins rock!

We went to church with my brother and his family. David was determined to go through every pew.

Walking back to the car. Such a sweet uncle and auntie!

Lunch at Tin Star. Yes, please!

Lots of cuddles from auntie Janine.

We visited the Perot Science Museum. The dinosaur floor was incredible.

My what large teeth you have!

My niece, Clara opened a foot massage salon. She is is 11 years old and she works from inside her home. Tips are appreciated. I got a foot soak, foot rub, shoulder rub and hand massage. It was awesome.

That’s Megan adding just a liiiiitle bit more whip cream on top of her chocolate chip pancakes.

Yum. I love family traditions like special breakfasts.

Janine, Chrissie and I snuck out for a super quick thrifting expedition. I found a pair of gold, leather cowboy boots. So yeah, I was stoked!

Now we’re back home, doing laundry and trying to get into the swing of things. I think I need a vacation to recover from the trip!

When we get back from a trip, we unload all the dirty laundry before we take the suitcases upstairs. It makes unpacking so much easier. Then I try to get the grocery store first thing to make sure we have fresh food in the house. But of course, I still have sleep to catch up on! Going out of town is fun {I love it actually and we do it a lot!} but it can make life crazy too.

How do you get back into the swing of things when you return from a trip? I’d love to hear!

26 comments

  1. I sort my dirty laundry as I pack it up before coming home(I don’t bring laundry bags…just fold it by lights/darks/etc.). I also put the still clean clothes in our small suitcase so we can just put that away when we get home.
    To make things easier to pack before going on a trip, I don’t put away laundry for a couple of days before we leave. I figure it’s the clothes that we usually wear that I will want to bring with us, so no sense in putting it all away just to have to look for the right things in the closet.
    I have systems in place depending on the type of travel and the length of the trip. Sometimes I take an overnight trip where I have to carry all our luggage on my back at a museum or zoo. I have learned to pack light! On these trips I sure don’t worry about having cute shoes! We all wear one comfortable pair of shoes each for the entire trip. And my kids know they will usually have to carry their own backpacks as well.
    One final tip, is that I count all bags. Each backpack, computer bag, suitcase counts as one item. I keep that number in my head, so when we leave baggage claim we make sure we have the right number of items. When I check my bags I recount how many carry on items we have, so when we get up from a snack break at the airport or off the plane, I know how many items we should be bringing off with us. So, I might know 10 items total, and 6 are carry on items. Each time we make a move I recount.
    I love to travel, but it is tiring. I love home as well.

  2. I always plan an extra day off after a trip to catch up on grocery shopping, laundry, etc. I usually unpack everything the night we arrive right next to the laundry room & into piles. I also try to make sure we have staples on hand b/f we leave, fresh milk, cereal, yogurt, etc.

    We had a blankie emergency on our last trip too. My son, is Mathias age, still loves his blankie, his Nana made it for him as a baby. We were in the air, somewhere between St Louis & AZ (home) he tells me he thinks blankie is at the airport in STL. We were both near tears. There was no replacing blankie. Thank goodness for the awesome team at SW, the Pilot, Flight Attendants & Crew helped up bring blankie home. Best money I ever spent. 🙂 Glad your story had a happy ending too!

  3. Love that yellow over the wing of the plane amazing color! I try to have before we leave everything clean in the house, clean sheets on the beds so when we get home it’s a fresh start. I also quickly unpack the bags and put them away so it’s only laundry I have to worry about the next day.

  4. Yum! Tin Star is my favorite! My husband and I moved to San Antonio, TX a couple years ago (Home is Pismo Beach) and we are loving the Tex Mex. I loved seeing all your fabulous photos. We’re driving up to Dallas with family next month. We’ll probably spend more time at the Galleria Mall than the museums, but those dinosaurs look cool. I bet the boys loved it!

  5. Hi Lisa honey, when we get back from a trip I am normally absolutely ECSTATIC to be home because I don’t like travelling much at all! It’s not that I’m scared of it or anything I just don’t like shifting my soul from this haven we call home!
    As soon as we get home we both unpack immediately. I have to admit sometimes my toilet bag hangs on the side of the shower for a few days before I get it totally emptied! LOL… Hugs xx

  6. We bring a laundry bag with us and to separate the clothes that have been worn from those that can go back into the closet. We forgot to take one suitcase with us on one trip which was pretty upsetting initially but it is funny how you can make do if you need to. Find I always take too much.

  7. Oh, my gosh. Forgetting makeup is the worst! I keep a fresh tube of mascara in my luggage for this very reason. At least it’s something!

    I keep a big, cloth laundry bag in our luggage, too, and all the dirty clothes go in there while we travel. It gets unloaded first, yes! Then I unpack my bag right away. My downstairs kind of goes in a circle, so then I just walk the circle, looking for reminders of what I need to get a move on (walk by mail key – ooh, check mail! etc.).

    I wish our family travelled as much as yours, Lisa! Did Steve join you for some of the TX trip?

  8. If we have an early flight out, I let the kids sleep in their clothes.
    (Stole that tip from Jon and Kate.) For the trip home, I try to pack all the dirty laundry in one suitcase, so that one godirectly to the basement laundry room when we get home.

  9. While our suitcases usually stay packed for far longer than I would like to admit, one thing we do to save extra trips anywhere is stop at the grocery store on the way home, I run in while my husband waits in the car and I grab the essentials to get us through a day or two!

  10. We always try to make sure we’re home several hours before we need to go to bed-so that we can unpack and prepare for work the next day. We usually grab a few groceries on the way home too, which works well for us. But we don’t have kids yet-so that might not work so well with tired kiddos;) That museum looks awesome, and thrifting is my favourite-especially in a different city! Hope the transition back to everyday life was a smooth one:)

  11. Certainly start in on laundry! It never ends!!!
    We flew with 2 1/2 yr old and a 10 month old from Missouri to Florida last year…super stressful but once we got to our destination I was so glad that they got to see the ocean for the first time and so glad that we were all together. Being a momma is hard….but oh so rewarding. Who needs sleep anyway???? (ME!)

  12. Your pictures thawed my chill. I was looking at the sunny, short sleeve weather and dreaming of warmer days myself.

    Traveling with kids is always a bit more stressful. But, then if you leave them home, you are worrying and stressing, too. It is never perfect.

  13. We always plan our trips so that my husband has 2 days off when we get home. When we walk in our door from the garage we’re in the laundry room, so all dirty laundry gets dumped there (I actually take laundry bags on the trip, so we sort dirty laundry as we take it off). We always stop at the grocery down the street before we even get home and I buy milk, bread and eggs. Then we know we have breakfast the next day. I can make a full list and shop the next day then. I unpack everything and put it back where it belongs, hubby puts all the luggage back in storage. We can be unpacked from a three week trip in about 45 minutes with the first load heading to the dryer. We’ve got our system down.

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