1.  There are discussions – so.many.discussions. – about the clothes necessary for a work trip. The list is clear. But there’s a 99.9% chance one or both kids will realize late Saturday night that this-thing-I-really-really-REALLY-need-isn’t-clean and look at you in utter confusion because somehow you didn’t anticipate this particular development in time to fix it.

2.  You don’t just check they’ve packed underwear. You make sure they’ve packed backup deodorant, too.

3.  You tell them about the forecast and recommend packing a rain poncho knowing full well they’d rather die than put on something so completely uncool but the fact that you said it out loud means you can make fun of them later in the week when they look like drowned rats on a job site.

4.  You’re torn between checking they’ve packed what they need and following the law of Natural Consequences which means they might end up terribly sunburned and stinky if they didn’t pack enough shirts but they’ll supposedly learn life skills.

5.  You buy snacks for the trip. They whine for days about wanting to eat said snacks before the trip. You take the snacks on your trip where they’re promptly shunned for all the other kids’ much better snacks.

6.  Without fail, one or both kids will realize they can’t find their bible with less than 24 hours to go before the trip.

7.  The girl will want to pack every single swimsuit she owns so she has “choices”.

8.  You try to talk the boy out of packing black work shirts but fail because supposedly they don’t bother him in the heat. Hopefully that’s true. Even though we all nearly passed out from heat stroke last year. Bless.

9.  There will never be enough clean underwear. Never.

10.  They’ll remember the big random stuff, but the little necessities like extra dry socks or toothpaste? That’s hit or miss at best.