Vacation Day #1

Two and a half weeks ago, we started out on our summer get-away. Yep, that is right...two and a half glorious-do-whatever-we-want-to weeks.

We loaded up the van. It was clean and organized. Fresh snacks. Fresh movies. Seven hours of driving to the first destination. No problem.

Thankfully, the most exciting part of the drive was the debate between Brian and I about the correct terminology for the sauce on the In-n-Out burger. Brian insisted it is called a "schmear" and I insisted that it is not. And even if it was called a schmear, I refused to call it that on principle that it is a dumb word and Einstein's Bagel's already uses it for their cream cheese. There cannot be two schmears.

That is as good as it gets, folks.

We arrived at Mom and Dad's seven hours later, according to plan. As we pulled up to their home, my dad was there to greet us with a flashlight in his hands. He was followed by Mom, holding a lantern in her outstretched hand to light the way. They had no power due to the fire burning in the hills close by. There was ash floating around like skittering snowflakes. The kids were excited. The adventure began.