Common Mom

We’re on the move for a few days! Here are Princess and Dude watching Enchanted on my iPod during the flight. They’re gonna need glasses anyway (Hubby and I are both blind!) so I figure I might as well ruin their sight now

I got approval to attend a writers conference in Portland . . . woo hoo! I know you’re all beside yourselves with excitement, but it’s very exciting stuff for us writers After partaking in a few too many adult beverages on Saturday evening at the neighbor’s St. Patrick’s Day Party, I dragged myself out of bed Sunday morning to finish laundry and pack. Yes, I procrastinate when it comes to packing. It’s about the only thing I DON’T plan a month or two ahead of time

To Mother Nature – why can’t you just let the weather be nice and sunny on a travel day, instead of foggy, cold, rainy, snowy, and slippery?

To United Airlines – hire enough friggin’ pilots so you can have at least 50% of your planes take off on time instead of 2 hours late!

To the UAL Gate Agent – thank you for making the delay as painless as possible.

To the UAL Flight Attendant – thank you for turning me around at the plane doors so I could wait the 2 hours in the terminal instead of on the plane!

To the Captain – thank you for your pleasant attitude during our delay. You were supposed to be going home, but instead you accepted the assignment to fly us to Portland. And thank you for making the number of landings equal the number of takeoffs!

To the Mother travelling alone with her 7 and 9 year olds – I understand why you declined trading your crappy middle seat in the way back for my aisle seat next to your 7 year old daughter. But I’m a mother and I could not let your daughter sit alone on the plane. Thank you for finally taking my seat.

To the guy in the window seat – shame on you for not trading you seat with this woman’s son so they could sit together! I promise you that it wouldn’t have killed you.

To the people on either side of me in the waaaayyy back – thank you for making light of the fact that our seats did not recline and we were packed in there like sardines.

To the people in the seats in front of us – no thanks to you for reclining your seats all. The. Way. And then explaining how you’re sorry there’s no room, but if you didn’t recline your seat, you couldn’t get your laptop screen angled just right.

To the other mother travelling alone with her two young children – I understand. I’ve done it many times. But don’t wait until they turn on the final seat belt sign for landing to try to get your 2 and 4 year olds to the bathroom and then back to their seats and buckled in safely. You had 2 hours and 45 minutes to do that.

To the two hoodlums on the light rail – you make it VERY difficult for a visitor to like your city when the minute you get off the train you are arrested as we all watch!

To the really drunk guy on the train – STOP IT! Put the wine away, and don’t throw up in the seat next to me! The next time security escorts you off the train, please go get some help.

To the hostess at the restaurant in the hotel – you have a sign outside your restaurant saying the conference people are meeting there; it’s not MY fault you didn’t schedule help to serve me dinner – at 7:30 p.m.!

To the front desk lady – thank you for being so pleasant and directing me across the street to the other hotel tower restaurant. The Salmon was EXCELLENT! And I’m now full

To my husband – thank you for being so willing to stay home and be the wonderful dad and husband you are. I didn’t want to leave 2 days after you got home from a long trip, but that’s how the ball rolls. And thank you for working your schedule out so you’re home for the next 2 full weeks.

We’re here! We made it to our first Christmas Extravaganza destination. After an hour at the airport and two hours in the air, the kiddos had the pleasure of a 2 1/2 hour van ride to get to Gma and Gpa’s house. I must say, my kids are great travellers . . . maybe it’s because they each took their first 14 hour road trip around the ripe old age of 2 months old. So they’re used to travelling, and they really do great. Anyway, they did great on this travel day as well . . . a photo journal of their ride in the van

Stop touching me! Orrrr . . .

 

I’ll hit you in the head with my water bottle!

Jason - get in the picture! And let me tickle you!

Travel Buddies

We also got to see this on the way. Of course it lost some of
its beauty through the van window

Day 1     Day 2     Day 3     Day 4     Day 5

Well, the last day of our trip had arrived. We got all packed, ate a yummo breakfast, and headed to downtown Wilmington for a little shopping. You didn’t think 6 women could go on a 6-day vacation without going shopping and buying stuff, did you? We went to the Cotton Exchange, which is a beautiful old building with a lot of little shops in it, right downtown along the river. We enjoyed looking at all the stuff, and I, amazingly, came away with nothing. I did, however, talk my mother into buying a purse she was drooling over. She said she couldn’t fit it in her bag to take on the plane. I said “Oh but you can! The little purse you have right now will fit right inside this nice new one you’re going to buy.” Convinced - she bought it On our walk back to the vehicles, we stopped and got some hot dogs and shakes for lunch. We had planned to sit outside along the river, but it was cloudy and cool and the wind had really picked up - so we sat inside enjoying our yummy snacks. Grandma is getting a bit nervous about making it all the way to the airport on time, so we head to the vehicles, even though we have a good hour before we HAD to leave Wilmington. We got back to the vehicles and were preparing to follow my Aunt Diane to the Interstate that we needed to take to Raleigh to get to the airport. EXCEPT, her vehicle wouldn’t start. She kept trying and trying and trying - nothing. Apparently, even shiny new red Hummers don’t run without gas So she hopped in the van with me and I drove her to the gas station a few blocks away, where she bought a gallon gas can and a gallon of gas. Back to the Hummer, but with a small hitch . . . she couldn’t figure out how to get the gas can nozzle on the gas can. I know, you’re probably thinking “well, that’s not THAT difficult!” Oh but it was . . . took 4 of us to figure it out. It was NOT your typical turn the cap over, screw it on type of gas can. It was just plain weird. Anyway, Hummer gassed up and we take off, figuring she’ll head to the gas station to fill up. Instead, she goes out on the highway!!! We’re all like what the heck is she doing? She needs GAS! Then we see a sign for the little city she said we were driving to to catch the Interstate . . . 9 miles! Ummmm . . . now we’re getting a bit nervous . . . I mean, really - you just totally ran your vehicle out of gas so it wouldn’t start, and now you’re going to drive 12 miles before you get gas again? HELLO!!! But, we made it, we gassed up as well, gave hugs and love to Diane and were off to the Raleigh/Durham airport. It was a good 2 hour drive. I enjoyed talking to my Aunt Arlene, who sat in the front passenger seat by me. She and I don’t get to talk much, so it was very nice. AND, she just so happens to be the woman who introduced me to my hubby

To the airport, return the van, shuttle to the terminal, check our bags, and we’re there - 2 1/2 hours early - UGH! Now what . . . well, let’s eat of course Yummy airport food - can’t beat that! We had a very uneventful plane trip back to MSP - and I FINISHED HARRY POTTER #7! Woo hoo! I was very excited . . . I started the book at 6:40 a.m. on Day 1 and finished around 8:30 p.m. on Day 6 - yeah! Lots of tears and hugs goodbye as my mom, g’ma, and aunts headed to baggage claim - I headed to my next gate - to wait an hour for my plane to leave. It was right on time and I pulled in to my driveway around 11:15 p.m. Up at 6:30 a.m. for work on Wednesday!

We had such an awesome trip - really, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I got to go on a trip like that with my 87 year old grandmother, who made me realize that you never stop worrying about your children. When we left Wilmington to drive to the airport, she said “Well, I’m just glad that Dale and Mickey are moving back to  Wilmington in January. It’ll be good for Dale and Diane to be close to each other again.” Dale and Diane are her youngest - the youngest of 7 - they are twins - they are the only 2 children who moved away from “home.” And it’s obvious that even though they are 44 years old, she still worries about them every day.

I got to go on a 6-day trip with my mother, whom I miss dearly. It was so great to spend all of that time with her, without my kids around. I love my kids to death, and so does she of course, but when we’re together as a family, they want all of Grandma’s attention because they don’t see her often. I am so thankful to have gotten that time with my mom.

I got to spend 6 days with 4 of my aunts and 1 uncle. It was fun to see how they all interacted and what the “order” was for all of them. I still find it amazing that 7 children can be born and raised in the same environment by the same parents and have such different personalities. As a kid, I spent a lot of time with my family - all my aunts and uncles and cousins - yet I learned more about each of these 5 women on this trip than I’d learned in my previous 35 years. And for that, I am thankful.

When all was said and done, we had a WONDERFUL time on this trip. I’d do it again in a heartbeat, and I definitely will never forget it!

Day 1     Day 2     Day 3     Day 4

After sleeping in as long as we wanted, which for me meant all of 7:00 a.m. - used to getting up with those darned kids of mine - we had a yummy breakfast and headed out for an adventure. We drove by some beautiful beach homes on our way to the ferry. We drove in one of the neighborhoods to check out the houses, all of which were beautiful shades of beach home color - fuscia, purple, pink, lime green - you get the picture. I figured we’d stop and see how much one of the homes for sale was. HOLY CRAP! A 3000 square foot home on a teeny tiny lot that it barely fit on was $1.75 million! I knew they’d be spendy, but I didn’t know they’d be ridiculously spendy! We got on the ferry and had a fun 20 minute ride across to South Port to go shopping. On our way over, we saw some dolphins playing in the bay, swimming next to the ferry. It was pretty cool! Here are my Aunt Joan, Aunt Arlene, Aunt Diane, and Me on the ferry:

 

After a few hours of shopping and enjoying the views, we had a great lunch and headed back to the dock. We heard some cannons being fired and wondered what the heck was going on. Turns out there were a couple pirate ships in the bay shooting cannons at each other for a film crew. Pretty cool! One of the ships was still out there when the ferry took us back:

After we got back to Diane’s, she and I ran back out to head to the liquor store, grocery store, and fish market. We needed supplies for the evening! We got some stuff to make mudslides with, bought ingredients for quessadillas and artichoke dip, and got some fresh-off-the-boat peel and eat shrimp from the fish market. YUMMOLA! We had a great time just hanging out, snacking, drinking, and playing cards. It was a nice relaxing day toward the end of our vacation.

Sadly, we all had to pack that evening because our flight left the next afternoon. Check back tomorrow for Day 6 adventures - even Hummers won’t start when they run out of gas!

Day 1     Day 2     Day 3

Sunday morning rolled around and we met at McDonald’s to start our drive to Carolina Beach, North Carolina. The map said 8 hours . . . um ya, whatever. Depends on who’s driving I guess. We made it in about 7 when all was said and done :-) 4 of us loaded in to the mini van and followed my Aunt Diane and 2 others in her Hummer. We decided we weren’t really going to caravan because it’s a pain when you’re driving that far. So when we got close to Charleston, SC we called them to see where they were. We all met at a certain exit and stopped for a bite to eat. Then Diane stopped at a real estate place to see how to get to a cool bridge she wanted us to drive over. It was awesome! At that point, we split up. They wanted to just cruise and get to Carolina Beach, but we thought it would be a shame to be in Charleston and not see any of the amazing buildings and take in some history. So they tooled along and we called my hubby’s friend, William, who lives in Charleston. We asked him how to get to “the big old houses.” He hopped on his computer and pulled up a map - then we told him where we were. He said “Get in the van, lock the doors, and roll up the windows, then we’ll talk.” Guess we weren’t in the best neighborhood at the moment But we had a great view of the bridge! William was great and got us down to The Battery in no time at all. We got a great parking spot and walked around a bit. Here are me, Mom, Aunt Patty, and Grandma by a cannon:

 

Being me, I had to sit on top of the stack of cannon balls:

 

We walked to the shore to see the fort out on the water (the name is escaping me at the moment), and decided we couldn’t resist a walk around the block. I LOVE the history and all these huge old houses. They truly are amazing. It’s kind of like being in Las Vegas . . . you don’t realize how huge the hotels are because they are all ginormous. Just like these houses - you don’t realize how huge they are until you picture your house sitting next to it on the block and DAMN they are HUGE! Here’s Mom, Patty, and Grandma by a monster yellow mansion on the corner:

Another beautiful home that I just had to take a picture of:

The detail and lawns on these houses is just amazing! I really couldn’t get over how wonderful they were. And, I was truly amazed when they said that many of the homes are still single family dwellings - how awesome would that be?! Also, in the historic district of Charleston, anything that is over 75 years old is considered historic and cannot be changed. You can do whatever you want to the inside of any of the houses, but the lawns, sidewalks, paint - everything on the outside must stay exactly as is and must be maintained. Because of this, you see old boot scrapes outside of the doors of the houses - the boot scrapes are more than 75 years old, so they cannot be moved. I think it’s great that they’ve taken these steps to preserve this awesome history.

We were trying to be good and not spend too much time in Charleston because we didn’t want to the others to wait too long in Carolina Beach for us before going to dinner - but, we saw a horse-drawn carrige go by on the road. Grandma was getting a little tired of walking, so I asked them how we got one of them. He told us to go to the Rainbow Market about 7 blocks down; so we hopped back in the van and headed down there. This must have been our day because we got a parking spot right out front, which apparently never happens on a Sunday, there was a carrige leaving in 15 minutes and there were 4 seats left on it. So we handed over our $20, cruised to the bathroom, and got on the carriage. We took a 1 hour and 45 minute carriage ride around historic Charleston and loved every minute of it! Our tour guide was awesome and we saw some great things. I always think it’s worth it to take those tours because you learn so much more than you ever could just walking around by yourself. One of my favorite houses was this humonstrous brick home:

Isn’t it amazing?! Inside the front door which faces the street, but really is the side door because the houses are turned sideways, there is an original one-of-a-kind Tiffany stained glass chandalier. Tiffany made it just for this house. Also, there is beautiful rope molding around each of the windows:

 

Supposedly, if you had rope molding around one of the windows on your house, that meant that you had earned your money and were very wealthy. This particular house had rope molding around EVERY window! Apparently this guy wanted to make sure there was no doubt that he had made his money. I figure the ginormous gazillion square foot brick house would have made that statement without the rope molding. He also had a beautiful black wrought iron fence around the house - there were 5 rope molded posts in the fence; one for each of his daughters.

This next picture is of the only street in Charleston where it was legal to dual. You could invite your enemy here for an actual real life legal gun dual. Pretty cool if you ask me!

After spending a couple hours in Charleston, we figured we’d better get back on the road and head to Carolina Beach. My Aunt Diane had asked us to call her when we got to Myrtle Beach so she could tell us the bypass . . . we called and she gave us directions. Told us exactly where to get off the highway to catch the bypass; only thing is, she failed to tell us that we had to get off the road we were on and onto another road - tiny detail! After about a mile the road turned immediately from a 4 lane highway to a single-lane dirt road! We figured that couldn’t be right, so we called her back and got the REAL directions.

We cruised the rest of the way to Wilmington and gave her a call to get directions to her house. She was amazed that we were in Wilmington already. I guess my lead foot did us good, and I was lucky not to get pulled over!

After the directions for the bypass, I was a bit leary of listening to directions all the way to her house, especially since some of her directions included “turn right at the lake, which will be on your left.” Um - it’s dark out - kinda hard to see a lake! We ended up crossing the wrong bridge, but she figured out where we were and got us to her house. After we got all of our stuff unloaded and in to our rooms, we headed out for a yummy dinner at a restaurant on the waterway. We had yummy chowder and mahi mahi; and of course a couple drinks! Back to her house to hang out and relax and head to bed.

All in all, another great day with some laughs and great scenery along the way.

Day 1     Day 2

After a fun day in St. Augustine, we decided to relax and hang out at the pool. We got some bloody mary’s from the restaurant and headed out to the pool. After a while, we decided we needed some more beverages, so Mom and I hopped in the van and headed to the liquor store for some margarita mix, wine coolers, and beer. While we were out, we decided we should grab some lunch for everyone, so we drove to BW3 by the hotel to get some wings. For all of you Ohio State fans out there, the BW3 on Baymeadows in Jacksonville is an Ohio State hang out. OMG! I walked in to a sea of red and white. I ordered a gazillion wings and a couple salads to go, and hung out to watch the show . . . the show being a bunch of crazed Ohio State fans watching a football game on 47 big screen TVs. When Ohio State scored a touchdown, BW3 even played their fight song! And of course EVERYONE stood up and did the O - H - I - O at the appropriate time. THEN, a guy stood up on his table with a microphone to rally the crowd with a pep talk over the restaurant speakers! I was flabbergasted. My food was ready and I bolted.

We got back to the pool, ate lunch, and started to play cards. Some people read, some people played cards, and one person braved the cold pool water.

You might be a redneck if . . .

 

You’re 30 minutes from the beach but choose to hang out at the Holiday Inn pool all day drinking out of plastic cups.

We really did have a great time, and it was fun and relaxing. It was one of those hang out days so you don’t need a vacation from your vacation when you get home. Later in the afternoon, we all cleaned up and headed to the grocery store to get supplies for a BBQ at Dale and Mickey’s house. That was lots of fun, and relaxing as well! The food was yummy, the company was great, and we were all rested up for an early morning departure for our 8 hour drive to Carolina Beach.

Check back tomorrow for Day 4!

Day 1

On Day 2 of our trip, we all drove to St. Augustine, our nation’s oldest city. We bought tickets to ride the tour train around the city. We decided to take the 90 minute train ride, see everything from there, and then get off and decide what we really wanted to see. We got to see the beautiful Flager College . . . which used to be a hotel. The hotel was only open 3 months out of the year, and guests had to pay for the entire season in advance no matter how long they stayed.

 

That whole train thing seemed like a good plan to start with, but the “train stops at every stop every 20 minutes” didn’t work out so well! They had told us that if we got off, anywhere, another train would show up within 20 minutes and we could get back on . . . I don’t know what happened, but we spent more time waiting for that friggin’ train! Anyway . . . our first stop was lunch, of course It was YUMMY - cajun mahi mahi - mmmmmmmm! After lunch, we divided into two groups, because quite frankly, getting 9 people to decide one place to go wasn’t going to happen. A couple people said where they wanted to go and others got in to groups with them - worked out quite well if you ask me . . . just like in kindergarten. While 4 of the women went shopping, the other 5 of us had grand plans of Seeing Ripley’s Believe It Or Not with our free coupon and then heading over to the winery for a tour and tasting session. Sooooo, we start off down the street to one of the train stops to catch our faithful train. BUT, on the way we see Charlotte street - so we of course HAVE to stop and get a picture of Grandma with her street sign since her name is Charlotte. Isn’t my Grandma the cutest thing on the planet? I think she looks like Mrs. Clause.

 

After the street sign stop, we stood in the exact middle of a block on the sidewalk deciding if we should go left or right to get to a cross walk to get to the train stop that was RIGHT across the street. We couldn’t jaywalk because Gma would have had a hard time jogging across 4 lanes of traffic. So, we made the fateful decision to go right .  . . and we missed the walk sign . . . and we saw the train pull up to the stop . . . and we saw the train pull away . . . and we saw the walk sign turn green. Now had we gone the OTHER way to the train stop, we would have gotten across the street and been able to flag the train down before it left the parking lot. So we hung out at the train stop, figuring another 20 minutes and one would show up. We were at the old fort on the bay, so we wandered around a bit - a train never came. Never came. Still never came. So we decided to start walking to Ripley’s Museum - it was only a couple blocks and Grandma said she was up for it. So off we went, slowly, enjoying the old cemeteries as we passed, enjoying the view of the bay, and cursing that lovely train. We finally arrived at Ripley’s, and as we walked across the parking lot, had to wait for the train to drive by Outside, there is a “log home” - a 1900 year old log that was carved inside to be a 3 room house - complete with kitchen, living room with fireplace, and bedroom with closet. Here’s me and Gma by the sign:

 

On we marched inside, coupons in hand, only to be turned away. Turns out, even though the coupon SAYS Ripley’s Museum . . . it doesn’t mean THAT Ripley’s Museum - it means the other historical museum that is already free! Grrrrrr . . . we all decided to save our $15 and catch the train to the winery. So we walked outside and hung out at the train stop, and waited, and waited, and waited. No train. We finally realized that the stop where we get on the van to take us to the winery was just a couple blocks away - so we decided to hoof it . . . and got there at the same time as the train. But hey, we were going to taste wine - it’s all good! Then we waited 15 minutes for the van to leave. During the wait, I walked down to see the City Gate, which I find amazing. This was the only entrance in to the walled city way back when the Spanish first came here.

 

We DID make it to the winery and we DID get to taste yummy wine - but we did not take the tour. You see, we got there about 15 minutes after the tour started, so we just jumped in at the end and did the tasting. And during the tasting, my Aunt realized her camera was missing! We couldn’t find it anywhere in the winery. So we went out and waited for the van - for 10 minutes - our shortest wait yet! Luckily, the camera was still in the van. We met the others at the van drop off and we all decided to go see the beautiful Memorial Presbyterian Church together. So we waited for the train - again. But we made it there and it sure was worth it! The beautiful stained glass, the antique furniture, the dark wood pews, and the massive altar were amazing! These antique table and chairs and the beautiful stained glass were awesome!

This Bible was HUGE and the detail was amazing. It was retired afte 116 years in service, and is far older than 116 years.

This antique organ also caught my eye - I’m just amazed at the detail and craftsmanship of these items!

After the Church, we waited for the train, again, and ended up getting off on a beautiful stone street with stamped brick sidewalks. We walked a couple blocks to a watering hole we’d seen and ordered some drinks to hang out and relax. My Aunt Diane and I started walking back to get the cars while the others finished their drinks. It only looked like about 8 blocks on the map, but as with everything else that day, it turned out to be about 2 miles! So, we stopped at Ripley’s Museum AGAIN to catch the train. And waited, and waited, and waited. We FINALLY got on the train, which was the last of the day, to head back to the car. It took a little longer than we’d expected because . . . we had to finish the tour! We were just giggling because we got to see the rest of the tour . . . the Fountain of Youth entrance, wood cannons, a beautiful street with amazing trees acting as a canopy, and this wall made out of seashells:

We FINALLY got the cars, picked up the rest of them at the watering hole, and headed back to Jacksonville. You would think that we’d had enough, but alas, we hadn’t. We decided to go out for dinner, somewhere close to our hotel. The first place we stopped didn’t serve drinks - a definite necessity at this point. The next place had only tall bar stools - not very accommodating for an 86 year old grandmother. The next place wasn’t open yet - brand new restaurant opening in 3 days. I called the hotel and they gave me directions to a “main” area. We found a great restaurant, except the cheapest plate was $55! Um, no. So we headed across the street to old faithful - TGI Fridays. It really had taken us about an hour to find a restaurant, and with 2 cars trying to follow each other around an area nobody knew, it was very interesting. But, at TGI Fridays we had a great waitress, great service, and great food. We all went home happy as could be.

Whew! After all that, I totally want to go back to St. Augustine some time to view a few more things in detail and enjoy the history a bit more. We had a great time and made many memories that I will never forget . . . even if most of them DO involve waiting for that friggin’ red train

Check back on Monday for Day 3!

I’m finally getting around to writing about the 6-day trip I got to take with 5 members of my Mom’s family - My Mom, Grandma, and 3 aunts. It was SO much fun - and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Grandma is, afterall, 85 - although she doesn’t look or act a day over 70

Our trip started November 1st . . . after a long evening of trick or treating and trying to convince the kids they should go to bed rather than eat candy, I finally finished my packing and hopped in to bed . . . only to discover that I was WAY too excited to actually sleep. It had been a long time since I’d been anywhere without the kids. At precisely 3:30 a.m. my alarm made me jump out of bed with my heart beating a gazillion mph. A quick shower, a quick kiss for the hubby, and I was off to the airport. My flight to MSP was uneventful - thankfully since it was so friggin’ early! When I got to MSP, I had 3 hours to hang around and wait to meet the family before the next flight left. So I’m leisurely walking down the concourse toward the common area of the airport when I hear someone say “Jodie.” Surely there was ANOTHER Jodie walking down the same concourse, so I kept walking. Then louder “JODIE.” I turn around and lo and behold it’s an old college friend of mine and Dan’s! I hadn’t seen Troy for years. He asked if I’d just come from COS and I said Yup . . . he said “Well cool - I just flew you here - my first flight on the Airbus.” I of course congratulated him on the flight (all of our friends had been furlowed from the airlines after 9/11 and are JUST NOW getting hired back) and thanked him for getting me there safely. To most that might seem odd . . . to us, if we don’t see some pilot we know in pretty much any airport it’s an unusual day Anyway, off I went to hang out until my fam met me at the airport 2 hours later. BUT, surprise surprise when my phone rings and it’s my Mom, telling me they’re 10 minutes away - they all got up early and were ready, so they left. It was fun to see them earlier than planned! I handed out the t-shirts I made everyone for the trip and we had lunch together. How fun! Here’s a picture of us at the airport in our t-shirts:

From top left going clockwise . . . Aunt Arlene, Grandma, Aunt Patty, Mom, Me, Aunt Joan (my Godmother).

Go here to see the logo on the front of the shirts. On the back, I had printed a paraphrased quote from Chevy Chase in National Lampoon’s Vacation (had to clean it up for G’ma) along with the Trip Rules. You see, my mother, well all of us really, belong in Advanced Planners Anonymous - heck, we should start our own chapter! Last MAY my mother sent each of us an e-mail with trip information . . . really, last MAY, a full 6 months before the trip! I had to giggle because she had included trip rules, which I put word-for-word on the back of the shirts. The back of our shirts said . . .

This is no longer a vacation. It’s a quest. It’s a quest for fun.
I’m gonna have fun and you’re gonna have fun.
We’re all gonna have so much friggin’ fun
we’ll need plastic surgery to remove our smiles!

I love that my family has a sense of humor - it sure makes it more fun! We got quite a few comments on the shirts on our flight, so that made it even more fun.

Our flight to JAX was uneventful, and after stuffing all of our luggage into the tiny cargo area of a mini van, we drove straight to my Uncle Dale’s house. A little background - my Mom has 6 siblings; 4 sisters and 2 brothers. 3 of the sisters are in this photo, the 4th and youngest sister lives in NC and came to visit us in JAX, and Dale is the youngest brother (and also twin to the youngest sister). The older brother, Gary, did not make the trip. Anywho . . . we found our way to Dale’s house after taking a thorough unexpected tour of Jacksonville - through some obvioulsy not-so-good neighborhoods! But we made it at last and were ready to hang out, relax, and catch up. One thing our family can do is hang out and talk - and drink - and talk and drink

My uncle Dale is the only guy, obviously, and his wife, Mickey, is the lady with the pink shirt. What fun! After this we went to grab a bite to eat, and we all got to try alligator - yummy! It, of course, tastes like chicken. I think from now on I’m going to say everything tastes like alligator. I mean, who made up the rule that chicken was the superior food and everything tastes like it?

After yummy alligator, we headed to the hotel and got settled for a well-needed sleep after a long day of travelling.

Come back tomorrow to hear about Day 2! We took a day trip to St. Augustine, our nation’s oldest city. It sure is beautiful!

That’s the theme of the adventure I’m embarking on today with my Grandma, Mom, and three aunts. I even made t-shirts for all of us with that on it! 

Today, at 6:30 a.m., I leave for a 6 day vacation with my Grandma, Mom, and three aunts. I’ve been looking forward to this forever! Really, we bought our tickets in MAY. Anyone know where the closest chapter of Advanced Planners Anonymous meets?

I fly from my home airport to their home airport. We all meet, get on the same airplane, and fly to Jacksonville, where we will spend 3 days with my Uncle (their youngest brother) and his wife. Alligator Farm? Ripley’s Believe It Or Not? Wax Museum? Beach? St. Augustine? The Spanish Quarter? The Old Fort? The Pool? The Bar? I can’t wait!

After 3 days, the 6 of us will say goodbye to Uncle and Jacksonville, load up the rented mini van and drive 8 hours to Carolina Beach to spend 3 days with my Aunt (their youngest sister, and twin to the youngest brother). I can only imagine that we’ll look something like this . . .

I’m the one driving - although I assure you I will not be wearing a pink shirt. I don’t even OWN a pink shirt! Anyway - we’ll spend another 3 days in my Aunt’s new house on the beach doing who knows what. The Mother, the 5 sisters, and the niece together. With this crew, I’m sure we’ll find some way to get in to trouble. Afterall, I do remember the stories my mom used to tell of her and her sisters having to kneel on the floor on their way out the door to Catholic school so Grandpa could make sure their skirts touched the floor, only to roll them up at the waist the minute they got on the bus so their knees actually showed. Oh, and that ONE (ha) time when some of them (I won’t say which ones) got caught smoking out back of Catholic school. Oh, and that one time when . . . but I digress. Just trust me - a good time will be had by all.

After 3 more days of fun, we’ll load up the van once again and head to the Raleigh/Durham airport to head home. We’ll all get off the plane at their home airport, hugs, kisses, and tears everywhere as we say goodbye. Then I’ll hop on my plane to head home to my wonderful hubby and kids whom I will miss dearly.

And no matter what happens, we’ll have a story to tell!