To Grandmother's house we go...

Our blonde Alaskan angel arrived after an arduously long flight, semi-prepared to embark on the 17-hour overland journey to America'a mid-west. My niece was understandably quiet, considering the circumstances, facing--as she was--her father's well-intentioned "snack" bag of protein bars and smoked salmon slabs. This, of course, would not do in the land of Amy Mosiman. I tugged on the twelve-year-old's sleeve. "Briana, would you like to make a quick trip to Wal-Mart with me," I asked. She regarded me solemnly, the aunt-she-didn't-know...the woman who stood between her and hours of bland, nutritious snacking. She grabbed her coat.

Hours later, with the strains of Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" still lingering in the stagnant air of our van, we barreled happily down the highway, alternately munching on Pringles, peanut M&Ms, Ghirardelli chocolate and cookies-n-creme Poptarts. We weren't three hours into our adventure when we encountered the first of our many "signs." "Look," Savannah squealed with uncharacteristic enthusiasm, "the light is on." Like a lighthouse beacon offering hope to weary travelers, the Krispie Kreme light lured us in. We tumbled out of our crammed van like a car of clowns and stormed the donut shop. We re-emerged, victorious, minutes later, our faces glistening with glaze.

You learn a lot about a person when you travel with them. Take my brother-in-law's strict adherence to color specificity. "Look," I squealed with characteristic enthusiasm, "a purple truck." "You mean that lavender one?" Virgil asked. Later on, I pointed out a purple house. "That lilac one over there?" he inquired, visually sorting through the massive assortment of multi-hued houses. "What's your favorite color," Savannah asked him as they regarded fists full of peanut M&Ms. No, not just blue for my brother-in-law..."ROYAL blue," he shared, popping one in his mouth.

Brotherly debate topics shifted throughout the day. Brad and Virgil argued about the Greek Orthodox calendar, the linear alignment of police enforced laser speeding guns, airline mileage points, hot spot capability of Smart phones as well as a lively discussion about time zone accuracy pertaining to the land of demarcation paralleled to when it appears on a cell phone.
Female conversation was not so highfalutin. "When did you realize that the tune to the ABC song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is the same," I asked Savannah who immediately stopped dead in her tracks at a thru-way rest-stop in response to this starting revelation.

In an effort to bring life to Brianna's assigned ELA/Science report, we squeezed in a stop to the

famed mighty Mississip (intentional omission of the ending ~i" for whimsical flair) and wrestle reluctant relative into a picture. The last three grueling hours were filled with car games. Note-to-self: be careful using just any ol' interactive website for a lively game of "Taboo." My first choice would have received an X-rating. A Disney-themed round of 20 Questions is particularly entertaining as Brad has trouble naming even half of the seven dwarves. Finally...over the Mississippi River and through mid-west flatlands...to Grandma Linda's we went.