When I was a little girl...

I went on vacation with my parents to Georgia to see our old neighbors. This is the only family vacation that I remember taking with my parents and brothers. (I know we went to the beach in Freeport when I was younger, but I don't remember those trips.) I was eight years old.

On this trip, we had my cousin Phil with us who was friends with the older boy of the neighbors--Jeff. Jeremy was around my age and we'd always played together as kids. In fact, I remember Jeremy coming over to our house after we'd oved out to the farm and playing "house" with me. He came home from work and started cooking dinner! I told him to get out of my kitchen and not ever come back. I probably ruined the boy forever now that I think about it.

The main things I remember from that trip are:

• All the seats were removed from the back of the suburban so I had to sit between my parents the entire trip while my brothers and Phil lounged around in the back.
• I spent all of my money at the first Stuckeys we stopped at. I don't think we'd even made it out of the state of Texas. I bought: a turquiose ring that was adjustable so I could wear it on any of my fingers, a glass water puzzle that had a red plastic mouse with a curly tail that you had to work through the loop at the top of the egg shaped dome, some yes/no books, and candy.
• My water puzzle got broken when Jeremy and I were playing "pool". We had put a bunch of toys in the pockets and were pushing the pool balls into the pockets, which of course meant the toy got broken. Paige insisted that Jeremy replace it with his allowance money so I got a stuffed parrot on a plastic branch that I still had when I graduated from high school.
• I slept on their brown leather couch and Jeremy didn't want to leave my side becuase he'd missed me so much, so he slept on the floor. I remember thinking I might get pregnant because I slept in the same room with a boy. Luckily I didn't! I wouldn't even kiss the poor boy good night!
• Going to the Battleship in Mobile, Alabama, and having to spend the night in Mobile on our way home because it was raining so hard. I think my daddy wasn't really happy about it, but mom refused to drive/ride any more in that weather. The tunnel in Mobile was probably the coolest thing I'd ever seen.
• Going to the Civil War Battleground in Vickburg, MS, where it was also pouring down rain. We ate our picnic lunch in the suburban because we couldn't get out of the vehicle without getting thoroughly soaked.
• We went to Stone Mountain, GA, which is a giant rock with a carving of some important Southern general. We rode a train which was ambushed by Indians. During the ambush, one of the actors lifted my dad's cap off thinking he was bald and had been scalped. I thought that was the funniest thing in the world.
• We also went to Atlanta and visited the underground mall which was supposed to be a subway at one point in time that was abandoned for some reason. I think this is when I went to the Madame Tussaud's wax museum and saw the Henry VIII and all his wives, including the one with the extra finger.

Clearly this is why I have such a travel bug...or maybe it's just in my personality and the trip to GA with my family helped me realize how much I love to go places and see things I've never seen before and will likely never see again...I hope my kids have as much fun and enjoy our trip to Europe as much!