Road Trip!!

Or....Home has never looked so good.

We've taken the kids away twice so far this summer. The first time was in early July, when we went to the cabin. It's a fairly rustic place (read: only cold running water), but we love it, and it's where I used to go "camping" when I was a kid.

More recently we took the kids on a 8-nights-in-hotel-rooms road trip. This is the first time we've ever undertaken such a journey. Sure, we've gone away before and traveled by car, but this, THIS, was no less than 4 hours in the car on any given day. We saw four states (Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington) and one province (British Columbia). We saw "Old Faithful", beautiful mountains, Silverwood Themepark, outlet shopping malls and more restaurants and gas stations than I care to count (Husband would not let the tank go below half...I say live a little and let the fuel light come on!).

Things I learned while away:

* Portable DVD players are the not the sign of the apocolypse that I had assumed they were. I figured that I had to play with my sister, read and be ass-numbingly bored while on trips, why shouldn't my kids have the same experience? Answer: Because there is a lot less crying, whining and "how much longer?" coming from their mothe....the KIDS, and a lot more quiet for everyone.
* Sudden, explosive laughter from the backseat due to Shrek will cause the driver to jerk the wheel (not fun in mountains).

* An almost 7 year old who has mastered the art (???) of whistling will whistle everywhere - in the car, the hotel room, the tram ride, the merry-go-round, the restaurant, the pool...

* Having a hotel room that opens on to the pool (or to at least the courtyard that leads to the pool) is wonderful....as long as no one is swimming late at night.

* Hearing your children say "Well butter my biscuits! Dangnabbit!" will be funny only three times.

* Getting into a made bed, especially when YOU didn't have to do the making, doesn't get old.

* Eating in restaurants 24/7 does.

I"m sure there was more but somehow, for some reason, there are blessed holes in my memory.