It's official.....Summer begins tomorrow!

That's right...Summer is here - FINALLY!  The seventh grader is now officially an eighth grader and the sixth grader has "graduated" and will join in on the fun of middle school next year with his sister!  I am not sure if I am more excited that school is out or that we, as a family; have decided to embark on what I hope will, in the end be, "The Trip of a Lifetime"!  This trip begins tomorrow, the first day of summer - June 20, 2015.  This trip will start on the first of sixty-six days the kids have away from the immersion of academia.  Sixty-six...that's right, ONLY sixty-six!  What happened to the days of 90+ days of summer?  When I was in school (now I am sounding like my mother), we were out at the end of May and didn't return until after Labor Day!  Now THAT my friends, is a summer break!  Unfortunately, for our children; these days are long gone.  So, what do you do with sixty-six days?  We have decided to start by knocking off one of my personal Bucket List items and will drive across the country via Route 66!  Yep, we have rented a 27' Airstream trailer, hooked it up to our Yukon Denali and will hit the Mother Road!

Will Rogers Memorial Highway, the Main Street of America, The Mother Road, whatever you want to call it; was established on November 11, 1926.  2,451 miles run across America from Santa Monica, California to Chicago, IL through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.  This historic road originally served as a major path for those who migrated west especially during the 1930's.  We will be travelling west to east  (backwards from the well known words of the popular "Route 66" song) but really, who cares?  It's all the same road whichever way you drive it!

Now, I am sure you are wondering at this point if we are going to take all of the sacred sixty-six days of summer to make this trip on Route 66....OF COURSE NOT!  My bucket list item is a great idea, but only for about two weeks.  Please, there will be four of us crammed in a small moving house - two weeks is PLENTY of time to subject myself to such crazy.  I am very interested to see how this actually plays out.  I have either made the "Mistake of a Lifetime" or we will all learn to love each other just a little bit more and the remaining days of this summer will be that much better!

You may or may not know a little fact about me....Writing is NOT something I really love to do!  In fact, I hate writing.  I am serious here!  I don't blog.  I rarely post things on FaceBook and a journal?  Oh Hell no!  I wish so badly that I loved to write and journal and post and/ or whatever other name there is out there today that defines the process of recording thoughts, I really do - but I am 40 something at this point and I just don't think it is going to catch on.  So, I have decided that stepping outside of my comfort zone for sixty-six days of my life is something I can handle.  I want a way to record our trip.  I want a way to share our experiences this summer with you, my family and friends.  I want my children and my husband to look back and read this blog and look at the pictures and hopefully have a wonderful memory or two.  So today, the night before the first day of summer I enter my first of many posts.  Maybe I'll have the kids post every once in a while.  Maybe Shale will have something to pipe up about - who knows!  It is late, and if I am to actually "Get my kicks on Route sixty-six" tomorrow, so I have something positive to write about tomorrow night; I am off to bed.  Until tomorrow.....

Lots of good info in here!

These should come in handy!

Picking up the AirStream on Thursday....poor Cassidy
was still in school so it was just the three of us that day.

Eli is pretty excited about this trip!

Connected an ready to haul it home to load up for the trip.