Road Trips

I haven't blogged for like a week. And I fear that this week will be short on blogs too as I am leaving on Wednesday for my cousin's wedding in Nebraska. I am flying out Wednesday morning - but I am driving home with my parents, bro and sister in law. This should be kinda fun. I do like a good family road trip. And, I thought I would write a brief tribute to some classic moments in road trip history:

The Raptures:
Even as a small girl, I had a propensity to rap - and Godliness. So, naturally I listened to Christian rap, aka The Raptures. If Sandy Patti and Jay-Z had a baby - you would get the Raptures. They were a super cool Christian rap band...for kids. When I was 5, I was obsessed with them. Sadly, my older bro and sis were not as enthused at these musical geniuses and would complain everytime I insisted my parents played the tape for me. My brother once told me he threw it out the window and I started crying.

Pig Latin:
This is the "secret" language my brother and sister came up with so that they wouldn't have to talk to me on road trips. Even though I was really fun and had great Christian rap tapes to offer.

Crappy music tickets:
My brother, sister and I started this. At the start of the journey, everyone gets three gum wrappers, known as a "crappy music ticket" - and when a song comes on the radio that no one else wants to listen to and you do....you can cash in your "crappy music ticket" and listen to the song. But you only have three crappy music tickets...so you really have to evaluate.

Fun bags:
This is a bag my mom insisted we all pack that usually inlcuded cards, a babysitters club book and car bingo. But, even today when I am going on like a trip for work, my mom will ask me in a straight face what I am bringing in my fun bag. I am so old and mature, mom - why would I have a fun bag?

Chapstick:
This is a fun little game that my mom likes to play. She will stick her huge "fun bag" in a place that is hard to get to...like stuffed tightly under the very back seat, behind a cooler. Then she will say "Honey, can you get crawl into the back and get into my bag and get me my chapstick?" This is kind of like finding a needle in a haystack - except that the haystack is like really hard to get to - nearly impossible actually - and you have to get to it while traveling at high speeds. It drives me crazy.

Pillowman:
One time when my family and I were driving home from a trip my brother got really bored and put a pillowcase on his head and some sunglasses over the pillow. Then he started calling himself pillowman and waving to cars as they passed by. This joke will never get old for me.

The Mortician:
On a trip a few years ago, we were driving to my grandpa's funeral and there was definitely more than one conversation about how good of a couple me and my grandpa's mortician would make. I think there was even an awkward attempt at getting us alone together and my family kept telling me to flirt with him to see if I could get them discounts on future funerals.