On the road again

We survived day one. The kids did amazingly well during the drive. It
was when we finally stopped and released them from the restraints of
the car seats that craziness reigned. If there was a way to harness
the giddy enthusiasm of two young children forced to ride in a car for
10+ hours, it would solve our nation's energy crisis.

All together, we stopped five times en route to Gaylord, Michigan. Two
emergency potty breaks, lunch at a Big Boy in Manistique (thus the
picture at the bottom), a beach stop somewhere along the endless drive
leading to St. Ignace, and then in Mackinaw City.

Mackinaw was as beautiful as always. We hit up the Crossings shopping
area so that AJ could visit "the knight store" where he got a plastic
sword on our last vacation. The sword broke a while back and he's been
asking to replace it ever since. Our standard response has always
been, "okay... the next time we're in Mackinaw." Time to keep our
word! Sydney, meanwhile, picked up some rubber dragon bathtub toys and
is just as happy as can be taking care of them. They joined us in the
pool, and she later tucked them all into bed.

We're now en route to Niagara Falls, a trip that should be at least 90
minutes shorter than yesterday. Any novelty of riding in the rental
mini-van is gone and the kids are pretty possessive when it's their
turn to pick the movie on the DVD player. In other words, we're
rotating between Dora and the Super Friends.

Taking a cue from my dad, who suggested we have the kids count cows,
we customized it for the state we're now driving through. Sydney's on
the lookout for wolverines. I suspect she's looking for something
bright yellow with pointy black ears and sideburns like her brother's
superhero Wolverine Halloween costume. Oh well, it's keeping her busy.

I think this is going to be a good day. How can I tell? Sydney just
announced she needed to go potty. Right as we were passing a sign
announcing a rest stop coming up in one mile. Are we ever that
lucky?!? We're now back on the road just outside of Saginaw. Time for
me to play navigator so we don't miss the exit to Flint.