Vacation Update

Thought I'd review the highlights of our family vacation as we proceed. First the background info; with airfares sky high, (Ha! Aren’t I funny?) we decided to drive our van to Florida this summer…then thought about the two of us with our 5 teens in the van for 3 days…and decided to split the difference, driving from Massachusetts to Virginia where we loaded said van and teens onto the auto train. We did just that last weekend.

We had 2 sleeper compartments on the train, with our large family, there’s no way to fit us all into one sleeper so Craig and the boys were in one compartment and the girls and I were in another in a different car. Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve traveled with just my girls and it felt like a party! Here’s some of what we did:

Played cards

Took pictures of us on the train

Sang

Danced

Got yelled at by the little old lady two compartments down for being too noisy. (It was 4:30pm, not midnight, for Pete’s sake!)

Giggled with my girls about being yelled at for being rowdy. (Usually I’m the one complaining about the racket, not encouraging it!)

Was reminded by one of my girls that the train was full of old people…not like us party animals! (So nice to not be in the old fogey club yet.)

Did pedicures (My toenails are now teal blue…)

The girls happily went off to an evening showing of Justin Beiber’s movie “Never Say Never” while I stayed alone in the compartment for over an hour of peaceful solitude before dinner. No, I didn’t go visit the boys. I locked my door and savored every second. After all, this was supposed to be a vacation!

Ate steaks cooked to order in the dining car with our 5 kids, definitely better than the peanuts and soda served on the airlines these days.

Retired to our sleeping compartment around 10pm. The girls vowed to watch movies and/or party for hours; they were asleep by 11:00.

Woke up in Florida, were back in our van by 10:00am rested and ready for our vacation to really begin. Gotta love trains!