We drove from Wisconsin to Hershey Park in one day – by the skin of our teeth, arriving at the hotel at 11:45pm. Then we drove from Pennyslvania to Massachusetts, visited as many family members and friends as we could before driving back to Wisconsin again four days later. Like any road trip vacation, there were awesome memories and less awesome memories, too. Here are some highlights.

Cheers to:

1. Preventative doses of children’s dramamine for the car sick prone girl child. Hurray for no pukes on the road (or otherwise).

2. The rest stops in Ohio were borderline gorgeous with Panera Bread and Dairy Queen so children and adults felt pampered. Also impressed with the assortment of healthy snacks and fresh produce available at all the rest stops. Fresh strawberries make any meal seem healthier.

3. Relaxing with a good book in a private cabana the next day after a long day on the road. Completely recharged my batteries.

4. MM becoming obsessed with the water slides at the hotel pool. This was a big deal for him, he’s been a slow to learn swimmer and never really much of a thrill seeker – tackling the water slides is a pretty big step for him.

5. Bonding time with family. Playing Pitch with the inlaws into the wee hours. Going to Boston with my dad. Watching little cousins enjoy theme parks and birthday cakes and little memories together. Trying to teach my in-laws how to play Munchkin. Catching up with my aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents and more.

6. So much birthday cake. I think we saw at least 5 birthday cakes on this vacation, most of them for BB who turned six while we were in Massachusetts.

7. Candlepin bowling with my best friends from high school and most of their children – two generations of people who were mostly terrible at bowling but loved every minute of it.

Jeers to:

1. Sketchy gas stations in Pennsylvania and Illinois with “working but not working bathrooms” and potholes that could swallow your car whole. And gas stations that don’t seem to actually sell gas.

2. Forgetting all my plans to stop worrying and go with the flow – though I did good with this on the whole, there were a few moments when I kind of ruined my own fun by worrying too much over nothing in particular. I’ll continue to work on this.

3.  There never being enough time to catch up with everyone sufficiently. Though we were ready to go home by the end of our trip, we definitely weren’t ready to say goodbye yet.