I sliced my thumb with a pair of scissors (was trying to wipe off some adhesive goo from cutting stick-on Velcro) and now I can't knit for a while because it's so sore. Phooey.

My sis and her crew will be arriving here at approx. 6:00 PM tomorrow (er...I mean today). Yay!!!! I talked to her after they had pulled off to sleep at a hotel about 9 hours from here. The kids (ages 6, 4, and 2) are all on a "vacation high" and are in rare form. Whenever I talk to my 6 year old niece on the phone, she can't stop talking about how they're going to get to stay in a hotel on the way down. I think she's more excited about the hotel stays than coming to our house.

I can remember that feeling when I was little. Road trips were so awesome. I feel bad for everyone that had to ride long distances with me back then. Man, was I an annoyingly exuberant chatterbox during our trips to Disney World, Myrtle Beach, and Sanibel Island! I can picture it now..... My sister and cousin and I all sitting in the back of the van listening to Paula Abdul cassette tapes, wearing matching spandex biker shorts (black trimmed with those hideous neon colors that were popular back then) with our oversized New Kids on the Block tee shirts and crisp new Keds, talking about boys and eating oatmeal creme pies.

Wanna know something cool? My sis is borrowing my grandma's big 1988 Chevy conversion van (ya know, the kind with the wood console and track lighting? So very pimp.) for their trip down here. It is the very same van that we all piled into for road trips when I was younger. I was 8 years old when my grandpa got that particular van. He had another uglier and bigger one that I also have many memories of prior to that. My family was always big on yearly vacations. The van (it really needs a name - it's like part of the family!) is in great condition because it has only ever been used for road trips. My uncle takes it out of my grandma's garage for a spin and routine maintainance every now and then so it doesn't just sit there and rot. Every time someone in the family takes a road trip, my grandma calls and gets a temporary insurance policy on it and has my uncle take it to get serviced. It would make my grandpa happy to know that his grown granddaughters are still enjoying his prized vacation van today.

Hhmm...weird that my late grandpa has popped into 2 posts in a row and I've never mentioned him before this. Maybe he's trying to wave hello or something. Hi, Papa!!!

Labels: family, reminiscing about childhood