Forgot to Pack

I've written about packing for travel with kids a couple times. I am getting better, and I remembered almost everything we needed. That's fairly easy when you consider we were driving to Tennessee and I could just throw things in wherever. We had our suitcases and backpacks, but I also had a small cooler and forty-eleven reusable tote bags full of snacks, toys, groceries, etc. Here's what I forgot:

• Books for Jane -- WILD as I usually overpack in this area. We had some books, but they were new ones that I had wrapped for her to open on the drive. I totally spaced on including her regular bedtime books (she doesn't read the same ones every night, but she does read something before bed). We made due, bought some books and a family member who came later from closer to the cabin was able to bring some other books (although they were questionable and heavy on the princess/makeup/girlie stuff that Jane doesn't usually see) -- she loved them!
• Nail scissors -- these are always in my makeup bag, so I'm not sure how they were missing. I didn't intentionally remember or forget them, but they were needed for opening a few things and specifically for removing Jane's Dollywood wristband (from when she was measured -- SILVER baby). Luckily someone else had teeny tiny nail scissors. Otherwise we might have resorted to Popeye's pocket knife!
• Hand soap -- I hate washing my hands with a bar of soap, especially in a shared bathroom. I meant to bring a pump soap but forgot. This was easily remedied with $1 when we went to the grocery store for perishable food, so no big deal since I remembered it then.
• Marker -- for our amusement park time I wanted to write my cell phone number on Jane's arm. I didn't have a marker with me, there wasn't one in the house and no one else had a Sharpie. A 10-year-old cousin did have a washable Crayola marker, which we used the first day. But it was so big that the number took up Jane's whole arm and it washed away quickly from sweat and sunblock. Her wristband had a place to write a phone number, so we just did that the second day. It would be an easy thing to include because I always have pens and pencils. Maybe I should stash a sharpie in my car anyway.

That's it. Just a few little things. I'm not sure how we'll do on our next big trip since we'll be traveling by plane and have much less packing space. More screen time for Jane, perhaps?!