Are we there yet?

I believe any family who has taken their children on a trip or vacation somewhere has probably at some point in the travels heard the words, "Are we there yet?" In our family that oft heard phrase has been slightly altered to "Are we at the vacation yet?" Never mind that we might already be hundreds of miles from home by that point. I think they've looked at our vacations as more of a destination than an actual ongoing event. I've seen my husband look back through his rearview mirror at certain repeat offenders and firmly declare, "This is it! We're on vacation." He even plans things to see and do along the way in addition to spontaneous stops that make things interesting and enjoyable as we travel. But no, until we reach the ultimate destination of that trip, they don't seem to accept we're "to the vacation."

In thinking about that phrase, "Are we to the vacation yet?," I've asked myself if that is like me - living my life. Have you ever wondered at times when you would get to the happy times, or an easier time of life. I'm sure I have. Do we ever think if we could just get over that hill - perhaps a financial, health-related, or emotional struggle, or just travel on to another state - like reaching the magical ages 14, 16 and so forth, or maybe seeing your kids grow old enough for school, or even to leave home, that then at last you could relax and enjoy arriving... somewhere? And in that search for the happy times - of our imagination perhaps, are we missing wonderful, happy moments which are going on right this minute, today, here and now? It's something to think about.

Meanwhile, we did take the kids on another vacation, leaving home on July 3rd with our main destination being a family reunion held in Nauvoo, Illinois. (Cody was so cute as he kept saying, "I want to go to Naboo.") Here we are traveling Webb-style as we always do, with half the kids in the back where they can lay down and watch videos...and fight? No...never!

The stowaway that doesn't quite look like a Webb is Shadeen Bryant, Cami's friend, who came along to have fun with us. We left fairly early - for us that is, having breakfast of danishes and juice in the pickup.

This is one of those spontaneous stops I mentioned. Sometimes when someone has to go...you have to stop! Take notice of the New Mexico border sign. Although we crossed many other state lines and had better intentions, this ended up being the only one photographed.

The rest of us waited a bit longer until we reached this rest stop with a neat looking window in the rock. It would probably look really cool if the sun was shining down through it just right...

See, there I go again, not appreciating fully or stating that what we did see looked pretty darn awesome!

The last fun stop of the day was in Liberal, KS at 1 Yellowbrick Rd. A trip through Kansas has to include a stop at Dorothy's house, complete with yellow brick road. Dorothy also spent a lot of time searching for something, only to find she had

it with her the entire time.

Darren and I do like to travel, seeing new places and doing different things, but what really makes trips - and our life enjoyable are the people we have with us along the way...our family.