Our First Family Trip

A week after my husband and I got married, we decided to take the kids to the zoo. This trip was to celebrate our marriage as a family. The zoo we went to was about two and a half hours away from home.

We began our trip by filling up the gas tank, and making sure that we had drinks and snacks with us. Our intention was to be able to drive non-stop until we got to the zoo.

Driving down the road, we listened to the radio, and played a game that we all like to call "Name That Movie". The way we play this game is to listen to the radio, and when one of us hears a song that we recognize from a movie, that person says, "Name that movie!" Then, the rest of us have to guess what movie that person is thinking of. This game can be quite interesting and tricky because the key is to think like the person who recognized the song would think.

Along with this game, my family enjoys playing a common game known as "Slug Bug". For those of you who do not know what this game is, it is a game in which you slug someone in the car whenever you see a VW Beetle car. You slug the person and say the color of the car, and if you fail to say, "No slug back", they can return the slug. When you have a car full of kids, this can be very entertaining.

Now, our trip was going quite well. We made it all the way to the city without any problems. I was driving, and thought I was doing a good job, until I found that I had no clue what-so-ever as to where I actually had to turn to take us to the zoo. We were in a pretty big city, and none of us had been here before. We had no map with us either.

We stopped at a gas station that we saw, and I sent my husband in to ask for directions. The whole time he was in the gas station, my kids gave me a hard time because I had never gotten us lost before then. My oldest son saw a car pull in behind us that made him uncomfortable. It was a shiny black car with dark-tinted windows, and he had never seen a car like it before. My son said, "Mom, hurry up and lock the door! That man looks scary!" I found this a bit humorous, because at that moment, I didn't see the man get out of that car, I only saw my husband walking towards us. I just laughed, and my son said, "Mom. I'm serious!" Then, I saw who he was talking about.

Still laughing when my husband got back into the vehicle, I had to tell him what had happened. He played along and teased the kids about it, asking them if he really looked that scary. Then, he told me that a lady would be coming out of the gas station and we could follow her. She would lead us to the zoo. I couldn't help myself, I told them all that I felt like I was already there with them in the car.

We followed the lady to the zoo. I gave her a wave of thanks. This was our very first road trip as a family, and I have to say, we really had a good time. The return trip was less exciting because the kids were all worn out and so was my husband. I drove most of the way back home in silence and with nothing but my own thoughts to keep me company. Thankfully, I didn't get myself lost again.