We took the long car drive home today. I’ll stress the word long. Our strategy, the one that actually works, is to leave so early that the kids sleep for the first 3 or 4 hours and therefore have less time to bug us with requests. We left at 9:30 today…WAY too late.
We were in the middle of nowhere, literally, and the kids were off the charts hungry. I quote, “I’m so hungry I’m going to throw up” (Ava). There were nothing but mobile meth labs, questionable motels, gas stations and….yes, you guessed it. We were forced to stop at a Taco Bell. We not only stopped at Taco Bell drive thru, we spent $40 at said TB drive thru. Just picture how much disgusting Taco Bell food you have to order to even get over $30. I think I’d rather starve. Literally.
Besides that particular hell, the drive did allow for at least a few hours during which the kids were engrossed in movies, and John and I could talk TRAVEL. I think this summer we are going to fly into Paris (already have tickets in and out of this city), fly to Barcelona, rent a car, travel thru Spain , Portugal, and back up to France. What I REALLY want to do, is detour to the very Southern tip of Spain, and cross over into Morocco. John and I went there once before, 15+ years ago, pre-kids. I think it would be such an exotic and amazing place to go with the kids. I remember loving it, and provided that I can figure out a nice safe way to bring 4 kids there, I definitely want to go again. Also, good news, one of the world’s best shell beaches is in Portugal, and that got me all excited. That’s probably my favorite thing to do on beaches…troll for shells. I could spend HOURS and hours doing it. Apparently a fantastic shell beach is right there in Portugal, that gets me even more excited for the beach portion of the trip. Anyone have any great ideas about Spain, Portugal or Morocco? I can use them!
Now the research begins. A bit daunting, but just talking about it gets me super fired up. Usually we start our planning much earlier, but this year we’ve got some other big changes in the works (a move), and it’s been hard to nail anything down concretely since so much has been unknown. But the thing is…Ava is 14, and how many summers do I have left when all the kids are with me and willing to spend a big chunk of it trapped in a car, road tripping around Europe? It sounds fantastic to me, I can’t imagine why they kids wouldn’t always want to do it, but I know there interest will end and get taken over by their need for summer jobs, classes, boyfriends they can’t part with, internships…all that stuff. I have to grab my time while I have it.
Lastly for today, we got in fantastic Amadi. Can I just tell you how much I love raw edges? Amadi does them constantly, and I LOVE IT. There’s something so carefree and fresh about it. It’s glam and homeless-y at the same time, super cool yeah? Plus I really love that it's designed and manufactured in Los Angeles. It pretty much IS springtime embodied!
Signed, ME {lv}
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