A TRIP

Just for the record,

our coin rocks.

It takes us to some fun and expected places.

This is the 2nd time now

that we've ended up somewhere really fun.

This year, our coin took us to Glenwood Springs, CO.

If you don't know where that is

(we didn't either)

it's about 1/2 hour from Vail and Aspen CO.

I love the excitement of seeing someplace new

with the kids,

but I'm not kidding when I say that 

the actual roadtrip is my favorite part,

and whenever I hear people say that they hate roadtrips,

I wonder why that is,

because the roadtrip is where we get the best time together.

(Cass faking being carsick so she can get the front seat)

First of all,

there is usually no cell phone service

(hooray!)

so everyone doesn't have their faces

stuck in their phones.

Second, they interact with each other.

It might be with little punches to the arms

(Josh to Ash)

or stealing of each other's food
(Josh to Cass)
or mocking each other

(Josh to Ani)

but it's their (his) way of showing love to each other

and thankfully, the kids in my family 

have great senses of humor

and they all laugh about it

and don't take it too personally.

Also,

there is education.

Seriously.

Josh loves to talk about the stuff he's learning,

and I love to hear it.

Even if I can't repeat one word of it a day later.

He is so smart,

and he's just getting smarter,

and I love to hear how 

his education is paying off

and more than that,

how excited he is to talk about 

what will be his future career.

(Ash enjoying her Sense and Sensibility)

Also,

there is fun.

We make up little challenges for each other.

This time, it was map trivia.

Our family is so competitive.

We can't just guess populations of cities,

and land mass ranks,

we have to make it a competition.

I call out a state - and they have to guess the population

of that city.

Josh makes his guess,

and Mart HO HO HO!'s about it - and how ridiculous of a number it is.

Then, Mart makes his guess - 

on the complete opposite end of the spectrum

and then, I finally get to tell them the correct number

which Josh then mocks and laughs at Mart for how wrong his guess was.

And so it goes.

I love my little family,

and spending time with them,

cooped up in the car for hours,

is one of the best things in the world to me.

MVI 1206 from Marci Merrell on Vimeo.

(He wasn't kidding)