Missing My Family

I miss Dunkin' Donuts. I miss them so much. Even more than that I  miss my family. I miss day trips with a bunch of people. Just having tons of fun all day.

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It's early 5:30 or so. Still dark out. Who wakes up this early? Oh, we do! We're not actually leaving until 6:00. Well, that's the plan. In reality we probably won't actually pull out until closer to 6:30.

We've packed one cooler with lunch meats, cheese, pickles and macaroni salad. The other cooler is full of water and sodas.

We step outside, the sun is still rising and there's a dewy mist in the air. The breeze is still coolish but we know it will warm up quickly.

The coolers are shoved into the back and we all load into the van. There's eight of us all together. "Did everyone go to the bathroom?" my Dad asks. He hates to stop once we get on the road.

After waiting for the clicking of a lot of seat belts we finally pull out.

First stop: Donuts.

The drive through would be easier but a few of us want coffee and at least two of us want milk. So, three of us go inside with the note pad and order what feels like All the things. The donuts are easy though. We order a couple boxes of tiny, delicious munchkins. Donut holes. Powdered, glazed, blueberry, chocolate, toasted coconut.Yum.

On the way out we grab a few handfuls of napkins. In the van we distribute the drinks and the napkins and pass around the boxes of donut holes.

Now we're on the road again. We're going to the zoo.

We'll laugh and run. We'll joke and play. We'll get cranky and hot. We'll argue and roll our eyes. We'll go back to the van for lunch and make sandwiches. After lunch we'll go back to the zoo and do it all again, viewing the animals we missed earlier. We'll buy some small souvenirs and wish we could buy a few more things. We'll get back in the van to head home. We WILL get lost, EVEN with GPS and there will be more eye rolling. BUT, we'll have had a blast because we're family and we love hanging out together. We'll eventually make it home where we will collapse onto the sofa and watch movies for the rest of the night. It will have been a perfect day.

I miss my family.