You're Off to Great Places! You're Off and Away!!

First leg is complete! We are now in the lovely village of Lake Villa, IL. We will be here until July 5th visiting my sister Kathy and her family. The kids were so excited to get here that they didn't even want to stop and eat on the way. The ride wasn't bad. We left Westwood at 3:45 in the morning and pulled into my sister's driveway at 4:00 pm. The ride did not start in a good way. While passing Westwood High School ( five minutes after we left) I ran over some kind of little woodland creature. Other than that, the ride proceeded with little trouble. Maggie and I sang show tunes for most of the ride, while Ian tried to sleep and Danny kept asking for the iPad. Danny also treated us to trivia on each state we crossed into, thanks to his Children's Road Trip atlas. He doesn't think it is fair that Ohio, Indiana(or India to him) have the cardinal as the state bird and New Jersey has the Eastern Goldfinch. Anyway.... After we arrived here we went to Mass with Kathy and family and then came home for dinner. Mike BBQ'd and I used my friend Sharon's recipe for grilled corn on the cob. The day ended with a surprise birthday cake for Ian. All in all a great start. The adventure begins!!

Leaving in less than 9 hours! Most of the stuff is packed and in the car ready to go. So we can leave. And we'll be in an air conditioned car. :D

We've been preparing! 


Sort of.


A list has been made. We haven't started packing.


That has been today's update.

We decided to create this blog in response to some friends' requests to follow our BIG SUMMER ROAD TRIP!  For those who may not know- this year we a going away for the month of July.  Our planned route is to drive to Mount Rushmore- making other stops in IL, WI, SD, CO, KS, MO, IN, MI and Toronto.  I decided we needed to get away as a family this summer- especially considering that for the past three summers my family has had to deal with heavy stuff that really prohibited us from enjoying ourselves.  The kids are quickly getting older and I don't know how much longer they will be willing to travel with us for an extended period of time.

So, anyway, here's the blog.  We plan on updating as often as we can- but still having a bit of the Flintstone in me- we'll be at the mercy of finding internet access. 

Hope you enjoy this- and thanks for your interest!!