::vacation dance::

Woohoo!  We're leaving for our very first family vacation soon and I'm SO excited!  I've been looking forward to this for a long time and it's definitely a much needed break away from real life!  Wheee! 

Okay, BUT for the very first time, I'm not just blissfully excited about vacation... I'm also just a little bit nervous about this whole thing.  Because it's our first family vacation.  Read: this is Jack's first vacation and additionally his first time sleeping away from home.  See why I'm a leeeetle nervous?

And on top of that, we're going to the beach (WATER!  Lot's of water to keep an exploring toddler from falling into or... jumping into when we aren't ready for it), which also happen to be about a 12 hour (!!!) drive away (12 hours!  In a car.  With a baby!) from our home.

Well, if nothing else, you certainly can't accuse us of not just jumping right in and doing things 100%... right?

So, we'll be gone for a week (with a baby who possibly won't sleep for any of those 7 days) with 2, count them, TWO(!), 12 hour car trips in the span of that week.

For what it's worth we'll be doing the drives mostly overnight (hopefully Jack sticks to his usual sleep schedule ::pleasepleaseplease::). 

Are we crazy?  Will anyone be sleeping or enjoying this vacation?  Please say yes.

I think my *biggest* fear, surprisingly enough, is what will happen when we return home?  Jack's back to having an awesome sleep schedule and I just don't see him sticking with it while we're on vacation (at least I don't expect him to).  When we return home can we expect that he'll get back to his sleep schedule in a reasonable amount of time?  Or will he punish us by never sleeping again nevereverforever?  Because that doesn't seem like much fun for anyone.

Anyone with experience vacationing with a toddler want to weigh in and share your experience?  Any tips for keeping our sanity?