40 years later...the road trips are the same.

I remember back in the early 70's, we took a family road trip to Louisiana.  We hit the road in the WHITE STATION WAGON with the third row backwards riding seat.  My father was driving along the Mass Pike and I was in the back seat, without a seatbelt of course, with the Atlas in my lap.  He said I would look at the map, look up at the signs, look at the map, look up at the signs.  I then asked "are we in Georgia yet?".  At that point, he  knew it was going to be a long trip.   We stopped when we got tired, found a hotel, swam and ate.  We'd get up the next morning at 7am, swim (because to kids, the swimming in hotel pools is the BEST part of any trip) and would hit the road again.  I'm not sure how long we were actually ON the road, but I do remember one stop in particular.  We had stopped for dinner and when we were leaving the restaurant, I kept pulling on my father's sleeve...."dad, dad, dad, dad, dad....".  He said "wait until we get in the car".  So I did.  We were silent in the car.....so I'm SURE my parents were just enjoying the PEACE AND QUIET.  (which is what my mother used to say to us in church when we were supposed to "offer each other the sign of peace".  She would squeeze our hand and say peace....AND QUIET)  About 40 minutes later, my father said "Kitty Cat....what did you want to tell me".  INNOCENTLY, (some things never change) I said "we left our jackets hanging up on the rack in that restaurant".

Flash forward to Wednesday at 4:30 am.  We left the house, fully packed....coolers, SKILLET, atlas, etc.  The OGO (only good one, Greg) started about 10 min later "how long until we get there".  Luckily, we had the DVD player and a stack of DVD's.  What did we do when we were kids??  We had to ENTERTAIN OURSELVES.  I remember my sister, Jeanne, sitting in the "way back".  Trish and I had a stick with a string attached to it.  We would toss it over the seat and Jeanne would attach a surprise to it.  We were "car fishing".  This entertained us for HOURS.  (but so did building a card house at the cottage because there was no watching of the one and only TV allowed....my uncle got the TV.....and there were only 3 stations anyways!)  We would actually LISTEN to Superman on the RADIO!  Imagine that??  No VIDEO.  Just AUDIO.  Using our IMAGINATIONS!!

(Greg, in silent mode)

This trip was fantastic.  It brings back so many memories of other car trips I've taken with BD and the bastards.  My favorite was when we were heading to Myrtle Beach and were someplace in VA.  David thought it would be funny to put a diaper wipe in Joseph's mouth.  This made him GAG and puke....in Freddy's shoes.  BD whipped the beast (the Suburban) into a parking lot, threw it into park and barked "ALL OUT!"  The pavement in the parking lot was about 115 degrees.  Everyone scrambled to put their shoes on, however, FREDDY DIDN'T HAVE ANY.  Sigh.  We looked so "Beverly Hillbillies" at times.  Mostly, we look back and laugh.

I had planned one super duper trip through Pennsylvania.......first stop was in Philly for Sesame Street and the Crayola Factory, and a Mule Pulled Boat Ride down the canal at Twin Rivers landing (and of course, to see Auntie Laura) and then on to Pittsburgh to go to Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.  For the Pittsburgh portion of the trip, I found this HISTORIC train ride that had folk singers!  The hotel we were staying at.....well, if you can call it a hotel, had shag carpeting and various types of beds in the rooms.  One room had a king bed, a day bed and a love seat....all done in 80's decor.  The other room had two queen beds and a futon (and a FAKE fireplace!!)  There was absolutely NOTHING around.  NOTHING.  BUT, the other people at the "hotel" seem to be living there....or thought this was a FANTASTIC PLACE TO SPEND THE SUMMER......clothes hung on the line, lawn furniture, NEIGHBORS that seemed to know each other??  It was awful.  My kids LOVED IT!!  Joe Joe said "this is the BEST hotel we've ever stayed at!!"  This was the trip with the infamous gas expulsion by Joe.....and Dave from that point forward would ask "are you wearing your 'thunderwear'?  We all laughed until we cried.  I believe this is also the trip that Joe drew blood on Dave.  Hey, you win some, you lose some.  The joke was worth it though.  The next day, we got on the train, no one would sit in the "song car" so we all sat in the open air car with all the young couples in love.  But, see?  A great memory is a great memory.  Who cares that it didn't all work out as planned....we'll never forget it.  (THUNDERWEAR!)

Our most recent trip didn't have any tears, no thunderwear, no planned train rides....but it had plenty of laughs, great food (thanks to my SKILLET)  and was RICH IN LOVE.  (my kids would ask me when they were little "are we rich"?  And I would respond "we are RICH IN LOVE".)

At the Aquarium!

(look at how HAPPY Phil is.  His expression just SCREAMS FUN!)

Once again, the PRINCE was not with us on this trip.  He stayed home to "take care of the dogs".  By Sunday, he was throwing out the living room carpet.  WHO KNEW DOGS HAD TO GO OUT BEFORE NOON??  Obviously, not him.  

Sometimes I wish I had all that time back when they were little.  All the trips, the fights about "seats", the tossing of the 3 ft drink bottle (that cost $10 at a truck stop) into the woods someplace in North Carolina.  But, then, I stop myself.  It just makes me sad....plus,  I love all of THESE days too. I love watching them grow up, nice young men (ahem ahem) and I love making different memories on road trips.  I love that they still love to travel in the car....swim in the hotel pools.....and pose for all of my NEVER ENDING PICTURES!  

The pool was JUST big enough for a GIANT "whipping of the tennis ball" game.