The weekend of July 17th my nephew Ben married his longtime sweetheart Kelly. They live in Houghton Lake so we had to travel 120 miles to the wedding. We decided to make a short vacation out of it. First I had to find us all a place to stay and by us I mean Steve and myself, the 9 kids living at home and the kids living outside the home plus their significant others totaling 20. I wanted us all to stay together so we could enjoy each others company. I started making calls, the first 5 places I called were booked. Evidently this was not the only wedding in Houghton Lake that weekend. Finally my darling nephew gave us the name of a quaint motel right on the lake with beach access for the kids to play. I checked out their web sight and it looked beautiful, so I made the call to Korbinski's Lake View Motel. Yes they had 6 available room for the weekend we needed, the price was right and the desk associate sounded very nice. So I booked them, this was going to be fun having all but 1 of my kids there and the rest of my immediate family. Kinda like Christmas but with no snow! So the packing began.
Now the average American family with 2.5 children can pack for a 2 night stay in 1 suitcase and maybe a small accessory bag. That unfortunately is not the case with the Hanson clan. Just making sure everyone has shoes and they are a matching set is a major undertaking. The kid's idea of packing is emptying the dressers into a backpack and making sure there is still room for all the hand held video game systems. If that doesn't all fit the clothes get threw out onto the floor and their most cherished games take the place. So I must pack for everyone, which means I have to get all the laundry done because it is inevitable that someones something that they must take is dirty. First we must go to the attic and retrieve 5 suitcases, 2 duffel bags, 2 coolers and a couple of large Rubbermaid container. In them I must pack for the kids 32 pair of underwear, 16 pairs of socks, 8 pairs of jean, 8 jackets, 32 shirts, 24 pairs if shorts, 2 dresses, 8 pairs of tennis shoes, 8 pairs of sandals/flip-flops, 8 swim suits, 8 beach towels and 3 floatys. Then it's off to the bathroom for toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo & cream rinse, hair brushes & combs, pony holders, hair spay and gel and the hair dryer. After all the suitcases and duffel bags are packed I have to fill the coolers with hot dogs, burger, lunch meat, snacks, pop, water, fruit and condiments. The the Rubbermaid containers get the chips, paper plates, cups, napkins, bread and buns. Oh and the main staples peanut butter and 2 different kind of jelly.then it's a first-aid kit, Tylenol and meds for those who take them every day. By the time I'm done packing I need a vacation to recoup to go on vacation.
After numerous checks of all the doors and windows we load into 2 rather large vehicles and take role call. We count and recount the number of excited kids to make sure none of the neighbors threw a few of their kid in. I can just hear them, "Hey the Hanson's are going out of town kids, go pack, don't eat too much and call them mom and dad, they'll never notice". The heck I won't, a couple of kids that only fight between themselves and not with the rest certainly can't belong to us, nice try though. Then we are off on a 120 mile journey that will take us 3 hours due to all the potty breaks and the I'm thirstys. Now this is where the Serenity Prayers comes in.
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