ROAD TRIP!!

 Here we are leaving Wisconsin on Thursday morning, so optimistic and unkempt!

You now we are no stranger to the road trip, but this time we made a few tweaks that have made the experience smoother.

1. NO EATING IN THE CAR.  We got this car in January, and no one has eaten in it, and it is not a filthy cesspool like our previous cars.  So, I got fruit snacks, dum dums, and licorice for the drive, and all other food has to be eaten at stops. This has cut down on boredom eating, encouraged healthier choices for meals and snacks, and made less mess.
2. PICNICS WHEN POSSIBLE.  I hate fast food.  I LOVE curry chicken salad wraps from Whole Foods.  See where I'm going with this?  We packed breakfast, lunch, and dinner in our cooler and ate on the road but not at fast food places.  Not a money saver necessarily, but it could be depending on your menu.
3. AUDIOBOOKS ALL DAY.  We listened to The Martian as a family, and I got Wicked and Lord of the Flies for the boys.
4. PODCASTS, TOO.  Ben and I caught up on Pod Save America, and we listened to a couple of ESPN's 30 for 30 episodes as a family.  Plus all the kids love The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian.

Cooper lurved his new neck pillow.

 I also bought Transformers fruit snacks, and he played with them while eating them, which was adorable/

 Dorothy gave herself a marker manicure.

 We left before breakfast, so we stopped three hours in to eat bagels at a gas station picnic by a corn field.  SCENIC.

 Lunch was-- you guessed-- a gas station picnic.  On;y this one was  a REST STOP.

 Dorothy FINALLY took a damn nap as we drove through the Smokies in torrential rain, which was a good time for her to not be talking/yelling.

 I didn't let them eat at this Big Boy-- we just posed by the statue and ran into pee while Ben got gas and we tried to dodge more storms.

 We wended up waiting by the side of the road in a literal mountain mudslide for a tense hour or so, and when we finally pulled into our hotel in Knoxville, happy hour was over, so we fed the kids another Lunchables picnic (in the hotel lobby this time) and had cocktails.  Thanks god.

 HOTEL POOL!  OMFG!

 Seriously, they love a good hotel pool.  Or a bad one.  They're not picky.

 We started day 2 with their favorite thing ever: a hotel breakfast.

 Dorothy liked the lobby art so much she wanted a picture with it.

 Optimistic for day 2 except for Dorothy who has a demon stare.

 We had a much less eventful second day in the car THANK GOD.  Also my neck is a thousand years old.

 Lots of screen time

 Lots.

 Also lots of gorgeous mountain views.

 And scary ass tunnels.

 IT IS SO HARD TO TAKE A PICTURE OF 4 KIDS.

 Trying for a fmaily pic.  FAIL.

 This is a truly lovely rest stop.

 Seriously.

And now we are HERE.  In Hilton Head.  In a perfect condo in a lovely resort community.  We put in a 6-hour beach day yesterday and hope to do the same today.  But, alas, the internet sucks here, so it has taken me all morning to upload these pics.  More later.  (Also I am not using social media  (I KNOW) so I am taking fewer pictures).