family road trip

And we're off! In the wee hours of Friday morning we are loading up the family and driving to Idaho and Utah. Husband and I are doing to our kids what our parents did to us. Ahhh... the memories of being stuck in a van hot enough to boil the sweat dripping off your body, your legs melting into the vinyl seats, becoming one until you rip them apart; your brothers and sisters hogging the seat because they're sleeping, not having to wear a seat belt, my dad stopping at every Historical Marker he could find; sleeping in the van at rest stops while my dad would sleep underneath it just so he could lay flat; the only bathroom breaks were when we'd stop for gas...no exceptions; packing lunch and snacks in a cooler that would be passed around in rationed amounts. Why are we then doing it to our own kids? Re-read above. We are more excited about the drive than the destination. Sure we'll have fun with our out-of-state family and friends. But the drive is just one of the things that will bind us together as a family. Having our own kids experience some of what we did growing up could be considered payback from everything our parents made us do. But looking back at all of the 'forced drives', we wouldn't change any of them. Not even for an air conditioned van.