It Really Could Have Been Much Worse...

Everybody is probably sick and tired of me whining about my crappy vacation. I mean... a person goes on vacation and you imagine it is going to be epic and fun and memorable and relaxing.

Well, this one was fun and to a certain extent it was relaxing... and it was definitely memorable. I mean, how many people can honestly say they got stranded in the midwest because their car blew up in Missouri. I am betting not too many.

However, among all the whining and the crying about this vacation, I have to say, it really could have been much, much worse. And that is really what I need to focus on... the positives of this vacation.

My husband and I have been traveling across the United States for as long as we have been together. It is something we will never get away from. After all, he is from California and I am from Wisconsin. The heart wants what it wants, and honestly, I don't mind the travel. (Although it would be nice to have a vacation not centered around visiting family!) So it is something we have to deal with... since we have had so many kids... we have decided road trips are the way to go since it seems more affordable. (Unless you count the therapy bills that will be needed in the future. This trip, I threatened to Duck tape my kids to the roof of the car!)

So after I took a couple of xanax and started calming down, I realized our situation could have been much worse.

Sick! That is how it all starts!

Yep, the second we got to my parent's house, my mom was sick. My immune system sucks. You could probably shake hands with your second cousin Ralphie whose aunt has a child who is friends with a kid whose teacher has the flu and I would probably get it. I knew the second I saw my mom walk out of the bedroom looking like the living dead, it was only a matter of time before I got sick! My dad followed shortly after. I fought hard.

But the reality is, I lucked out. While I did get the case of the sniffles and the occasional headache, and I was a little worn down, I really didn't come down with it full blown. And to top it off, because we were all kind of fending it off, we really didn't go out of our way to leave the house and visit too many people.

This is what we call quality time! 

What does that mean? I got to spend a lot of good quality time with the people most important to me. My parents, my sisters, my nephews and nieces... my immediate family members. If it wasn't for the cold going around, we probably would have done a lot more running around visiting others. While I am sad I didn't get to see everybody while I was there, I am grateful because out of all the times we have come home, this has been by far the most relaxing trip since we weren't out running around visiting. Next time I go home - they can come to me. All the running around is just too much.

Stuck in Missouri

As part of the trip, we had planned to stop by and visit our friends Kelly and Dave. Many of you may know Kelly as she is The Realhousewife! (Go check her out!) Kelly and I became friends online and when she went on vacation in 2011 to LasVegas, I jumped at the chance to meet her in person. Since then, we have stopped by their house on the way through to stretch our legs and say hi. This time, we planned on spending a little extra time with them to hang out. However, that didn't go as planned. A little extra time turned into a lot of extra time.

Our kids watching TV in comfort as we waited
to hear the news on our car repairs.

Overall, I understand how having company can get old after a few days. Believe me, my kids can be a handful. (I am sure my husband and I can be as well!) But through it all, if we were going to get stranded somewhere, this was probably one of the best places for it too happen. At least we knew people here. Granted, we weren't expecting to stay a couple extra days, but if you are going to be stuck somewhere, hopefully it is with good people.

The next place I would have wanted to be stranded was near Terrye from The Adventures of a Misplaced Alaskan. After all, I promised her that I would stalk her now that she moved and is a little closer to me. I guess I will save that for the next trip.

For the most part, I can only imagine how horrible of guests we must have been. We were stressed out. My kids were running around wild and eating all of Kelly's food. And we also took over both of their kid's rooms. They were all troopers for putting up with us.

But being stuck in Missouri was the best possible outcome because it meant we didn't have to worry about a tow truck, we didn't get stranded in the middle of nowhere, and we didn't get stuck in a hotel room for days on end. And ultimately, because my husband and I don't have credit cards, they used their credit card so we could rent a car. Luckily paypal is pretty painless to work with so I could pay them back. However I do question the worth of having the Mastercard or Visa logo on debit cards. It obviously doesn't mean much! My cash was not good enough apparently!

But I do thank my lucky stars for having such a good friend available in the area that was willing to open their heart and home to us during such a stressful time. There is honestly no way I can think of to say thank you enough to them! So if anybody has any great and creative ideas... let me know!

Although I am sorry to say, it will probably be a long time before I decide to venture out on another long roadtrip. Next time I go home, I am sucking it up and flying!