roadtrip memories

The Slackers are OFF on our trip to the beach! I've got a few posts scheduled for this week (I was procrastinating finishing up work and packing)...so that should be fun.

As we've been getting prepared to go, I've been reminiscing about the travels of our youth. And, just like any good parent should, I've been trying to tell E and A just how different life was way back when.

We didn't have the pesky confines of booster seats or car seats to hold us down! Nope. My parents would put an air mattress in the back of our Jimmy (aka, old school SUV) and Kiki and I would sleep until our first stop. We would then spend the rest of the time arguing over taking turns sitting on The Hump (aka, the armrest in the front seat). That is, unless I was feeling puke-y...and then I was sitting outright in the front seat while my mom snuggled with Kara in the back.

For music, there was no Laurie Berkner or "kids" music to keep us entertained. Our family listened to Simon and Garfunkel's Concert in Central Park, which my dad had taped from the multi-record set.

And when we got sick of music, we didn't get to watch DVDs. Instead, we listened to books on tape. We listened to The Little Women every summer at least twice. We also listened to The Little Mermaid. Not the Disney version...but the Hans Christian Andersen version upon which Disney based their version. I thought about forcing my parents to find it so the girls could listen to it, but decided against it because there is no singing, and in the original the Little Mermaid ***SPOILER ALERT*** turns to sea foam. One day I'll let them listen to it, and maybe then they'll carry on the tradition that Kiki and I started of picking up foam at the beach and screaming "Hey LOOK! It's the Little Mermaid!"

Or maybe, they'll be spared the nerdiness that clearly their mother and aunt got.