"Should we have ice cream in Venice?  I hear their ice cream is good."

My father is a man of little words so much so that I can count his memorable quotes on one hand.  The quote above always makes me smile.  I still, to this day, do not know if Venice was on our itinerary in 1995 but the question presented before three feisty teenagers, in a Fiat touring Poland with their parents by force, built such an incredible rush of anticipation we forgot our differences and screamed like little children,  "Really?  Really? Can we have ice cream in Venice?"  The next morning we woke up in Venice.  A far cry from our first family vacation.

"Mama.  Tell me!  How's it going to be?"  A restless Lola squirmed in her bed tonight.

"I can't imagine it.  Describe it to me so I know what to expect."  A sensible Jay instructed when I kissed him good night.

"I pack da mermaid.  Da dolphin.  Da whale.  Da sea horse.  Da...."  A tired Feenster sang herself to sleep.

I share the love of travel with my parents.  The ones that took us to Costa Rica (waaaay before it was posh) to have fresh coconut during winter and traveled to Antigua for Easter to observe their infamous Semana Santa.  Together we smiled when observing the sun set over Machu Picchu and cried on our first family vacation with three grandchildren.  I can't count how many countries I have visited... it's over thirty, by now.  It's just our thing.  I can't even link to every place we have traveled with our kids in the last three years of this blog (go to my FAVORITES tab and look for travel).  We are blessed (aka. I drive an entry level filthy minivan and it's been 2 years since my last manicure, forgive me Father for I have indulged in something I believe in).

On Friday, we leave for our next family vacation.  Checking off yet another place, on our enormous bucket list, of places we must visit.

Any guesses on where we are headed?  (Clue:  I am consciously making it THE cheapest family vacay ever, in the history, of our vacations - don't spoil it if you are part of our family/friends and know where we are going!)  Stay tune as the OHmommy family hits the road heading across the country with blackberry updates here. Traveling across the country, yo..... surely chaos will follow.

Disclosure:  My first grader was given a free paper-cut-out of FLAT STANLEY from his teacher and asked to document his travels on spring break.  Which may or may not be the first time his mom tries coffee as she road trips across America with three children and a husband. In a filthy minivan.