We're Back From Our Quickie Trip

and all went surprisingly well, considering we traveled over 700 miles in a day and a half. I actually like road trips if we're prepared. This time we had made a recent trip to the library so we had a good supply of books they hadn't already memorized cover to cover, PLUS ALSO (this is the newest grammatically incorrect phrase they have picked up from Junie B. Jones) we had the required road music ,which varies from trip to trip but almost always includes both Third Day and Tom Petty, and this time also included The Beatles and Allison Krauss; and the absolutely mandatory road food, which must include something crunchy and salty (this time it was Chex mix), some kind of fruit (apples) and Sour Patch candy. It has to be Sour Patch - no generic substitution will do. And we never eat it any other time except on road trips. Wow, in print that seems really weird, but it's not like we have a No Sour Patch house rule, it's just that we never think about them until we go on trips and then we HAVE to have them. So we were well prepared for this trip, the only thing missing was Brother, whose work schedule didn't allow him to go. When we arrived in town, we went directly to the reunion, which annoyed Peanut. "You mean we're going somewhere else BEFORE the sleepover?" My fears of the girls ransacking the place turned out to be unfounded. We got back to Gracious Aunt and Uncle's quite late and the girl's were so tired that they crashed shortly after being shown to their bed, which was an air mattress on the floor. The air mattress on the floor is significant because, it confirmed for the girls that, this was indeed, an official sleepover.

Highlights of the trip included:

1. Seeing my husband's family, some of whom I met for the first time.

2. Being asked by one of the cousins I had just met, if I was my husband's daughter. I kid you not. The poor man really must be overdue for an eye exam, but that one innocent statement made the entire trip worthwhile and I plan on getting a lot of mileage out of it.

3. A lovely breakfast with Gracious Aunt and Uncle, which was the only time we really got an opportunity to visit with them, despite the fact that we slept at their house.

4. Listening to Peanut's rendition of "Can't Buy Me Love" in the car on the way home.

Put Up the Knick-Knacks, Here We Come!

We're traveling to a family reunion tomorrow about six hours away, and my husband's uncle and aunt graciously invited us to spend the night at their house before coming back Sunday.
When we politely declined the gracious invitation, saying we would camp or get a hotel room, they insisted. When we declined again, they insisted again, this time sounding like they would truly be offended if we did not stay with them. So, guess what?

Yep, Gracious Aunt and Uncle will have four houseguests tomorrow night. And two of those guests are VERY excited. When we told them about the trip, much squealing and laughing ensued. " You mean we're going to a sleepover? " Well, no. I mean umm, technically I guess you could call it that but not re..... "Sissy! Sissy! Did you hear that? We're going to a sleepover !!" No, no you don't understand! It's not that kind of sleepover! There won't be popcorn or movies or prank phone calls or junk food eating contests or staying up all night playing video games or any of the other stuff that goes on at your grandparent's, you understand me?" "Ohhh, I can't WAIT till Saturday, we're going to a sleepover!"

We're going to prep them as well as we can on appropriate houseguest behaviour , but something tells me Gracious Aunt and Uncle will think twice before they insist next time.

Vacation All I Ever Wanted (sort of)......

Summertime, the beach, camping, and my family. These are some of my favorite things, they should go hand in hand, right? Wellll, not really. See, I've had two kids since we last camped at the beach, and though I have camped with said kids, and have also made beach trips with said kids, I have never done both simultaneously.
There's a certain level of work involved in camping that I usually don't mind. In fact, most of the time, I even like it. Washing dishes, for example, when done outside on a picnic table using water I heated myself, usually borders on fun for me. However, at the beach, washing dishes the camping way is just another thing that eats up beach time. I just wanted to chuck em in the dishwasher and go. Actually, most things done the camping way take up more time than the fully-equipped-rental-house way: cooking, laundry, even showering, perhaps most of all showering. Because camp showering means first finding everything you need in the camper,( which is no small feat since to maximize space you stuffed everything into cabinets and cubbies that can only be accessed by contortionists), and walking to the showerhouse, then trying to arrange both your towel and your clean clothes all on the one puny little hook provided in the dressing area of your shower stall, then showering as quickly as possible so you don't run out of hot water, then drying off, then trying to step into your clean clothes without getting them wet (because your flip-flops which you ALWAYS wear in campground showers, are still wet and you are not about to take them off for a second). And then, because you are blessed with female children, you get to repeat the process all over two more times!! Sometimes you decide it's too much work that way, we'll all three just shower at the same time. But this means that you shower in front of an audience, and while it's a small, same gender, family audience, it's a very interested, amused, and giggly audience, who have never learned that it's rude to point at other people.
So where was I? Oh yes well to sum it up : beach + camping + small children =a LOT of work. And I didn't even talk about the sand, the ever-present sand, the sand that you can't keep out of the camper even when everyone takes their shoes off before coming in, even if you sweep a dozen times a day......
But all that said, I have to admit we did have a really good time. Sissy would have stayed in the ocean riding waves all day. She must have said 'This is awesome!' fifty times, usually after either catching a wave, or getting wiped out by a wave, Peanut was happy all week digging in the sand, and playing in ankle deep water, and Brother got some freedom from his oppressive family by taking off on his bike whenever he wanted. Keith got a nap almost every day, which is a requirement of a good vacation for him, and there were two days I actually got to sit on the beach alone for a couple of hours while the kids took a nap with Dad. All in all, it was a good vacation, just a very BUSY vacation, which is an oxymoron I've never been very fond of .
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