The Greerswald Thanksgiving Vacation - The First Leg

Our family has an all time favorite movie that we can only watch from Thanksgiving through Christmas. We watch it as many times as we can and quote it often. That movie is "Christmas Vacation." We started off our Thanksgiving Vacation in true Griswald fashion. Our first day was an 11 hour + drive to see Uncle Dan, Aunt Amy, Emily and Meg in Roanoke, Texas. Never fear though - I had a plan! I got up at 5 to get ready and finish packing so we could be on the road at 6:30 am. We were a little off, but at 6:40 the GMV was packed with everything but the kitchen sink, kiddos, Mommy and Daddy. Turn the key....rrrr.....rrrr. Not good. Dead battery. As Eric drove to Wal-mart in his truck to fix the problem he called his folks and we were quickly called "The Greerswalds." : )

We finally got on the road a little past 8. I have to tell you that the kids did great! For some reason though unlike most kids, ours are incapable of sleeping for more than 30 minutes. And it is also impossible for them to do it at the same time. So that meant lots of peek a boo, singing songs, a couple of videos, and handing toys to them (then throw, then hand back, then throw, then hand back, then throw, then tell them that was the last time, then cry, ignore, cry more, then hand back toy and so on and so on) We stopped at a rest area on the way to have lunch. It was so warm. It was nice to get out and enjoy the summer like weather for a bit before we hit the road.

Eric was a little distressed to be on the road on a Saturday that the Vols were playing, so we borrowed Jamie's XM radio. He signed up for a month subscription at about midnight the night before we left just so he could cheer on the Vols from the road. I have to admit though - it was pretty neat! you would never run out of things to listen to that is for sure. He is wearing headphones here because we had Mickey Mouse Clubhouse going over the car speakers. "Mishka Moushka Mickey Mouse!!"

ahh.....finally at 7:30 pm, we rolled into Uncle Dan and Amy's house......only 1250 or so more miles to go on the trip.