A Little Vacay

So, if ever you decide to go on a trip with more than one other person, or including children, assume that all plans are flexible. That is what I learned on our lovely trip to Detroit. Let me break down the highlights for you.

1. We were planning to leave upon arrival of my brother from the Indy airport. Then we were driving to Rock City. But, upon my brother's arrival, we learned that his car had been impounded from his house because he isn't allowed to park on the street. So, we spent about 45 minutes waiting for him to find a way to get someone in Kansas City to pick up his impounded car. Rumor has it, these conversations involved him dropping the f-bomb. If you know my brother at all, that will be the highlight of this post.

2. Upon finally leaving for lovely MooshyAgain (Will's term), we get about 5 minutes away and realize that we forgot to leave a key for Homa who is house sitting. Not a good way to ensure someone can come in and let the dogs potty and eat. So, we turn back. Not a good start to our trip.

3. We arrive at the Huntington, Indiana Dairy Queen for a little snack and break for the kids. Upon exiting the car, Will's entire butt is covered in wee wee. Leaky diaper. Great. So Mark unpacks the car to get into his suitcase and get him a dry pair of pants. I take him into the DQ restroom to change his diaper and once the cold air hit his wee wee, the floor was covered in pee pee. So was I. So Mark exits to unpack the car a second time and get me a clean shirt.

4. When finally in Detroit, we take the kids to the Detroit Zoo. Because the builders of the zoo are evil, the first thing you see is a massive playground. At that point, animals were just not worth the effort. So, $40 (plus another $30 for souvenirs and snacks) to play at a playground. Nice. At least Mark and Tabbi got to see some animals.

5. We decide to cross the pond to Canada on Sunday. Internet advertises Science City in Windsor, so we think "perfect." And by we, I mean me. Looked like a cool little sciencey children's museum. Traffic in the tunnel took forever, and we arrive at Science City about 25 minutes before they close. Luckily, we arrived 25 minutes before they closed, which meant that we didn't spend any money to go through that dirty, rundown, living animals in nasty puddles of water, sorry excuse for a Science City. After leaving the sad, sad little science town, we couldn't just put the kids back in the car for another hour, so we found a playground. In the hood. If Canada and all its universal health care and non-hand gun allowing splendor could have a hood, this is it. We were surrounded by middle school aged thugs and their thugettes. But, we stood firm and Will and Tabbi had a lovely playground experience. I think Will is pretty sure the zoo and Canada are the same place.

6. My mom and I take the kids to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Lovely, until we get back home and realize that while we left the forest, the key to the rental house was still there. We had to then figure out where the forest was, as we had no idea where we were unless Kate the British GPS told us how to get there. In this case, we had just jumped off the highway, but had no idea how to find our way back. Luckily, after much use of technology (and Homa for googling an address) we got back there, retrieved the key, and then returned to the rental house.

So, moral of the story... don't leave home without a GPS and a DVD player in your car. Or... just don't leave home.