Getting ready for the Beach. . .

We are trying to get ready for the beach.  We have not been on a true vacation in probably two years.  The kids were busy with sports and camps and we didn't really have the money to go.  We decided last year we were going to the beach and we were going Dave Ramsey style.  That's right, our vacation was not going to follow us home.  We started saving last year, a little here and there.  We are also going to make this an educational trip.  We are going to visit a few light houses and see some other historic sights.  Just for Big T we are going to do a ghost tour or two.
It really takes a lot to get a family of four ready for a beach trip.  I guess I had forgotten all the stuff you have to take, all of the just in case stuff.   I remember going to Florida every year when I was little.  My mom packed everything.   Most of the time we drove that 13 1/2 hours, some trips dad would fly us out.  We never flew commercial, dad had his pilots license and he and his business partner shared a plane.   When we drove we left at 4 am.  I never understood that until we drove to Orlando for our trip to Disney several years ago.  I always thought we left that early so we would get in before dark to get the house ready.  I realized on our trip that dad left that early in the hopes that us kids would sleep a good portion of the way.  I have an older brother and an older sister so you can imagine the arguments that would go on when we were cramped in a car for 13 1/2 hours.  Our trip this year will not be near 13 hours but I would still like to leave early.  The new technology makes things a lot easier for parents now.  We have the portable DVD player for the car so our kids are completely entertained for most of the trip.
On our road trips to the beach, once we were awake, we played the alphabet game.  You had to find the letters of the alphabet in order on license plates, billboards, and buildings.  Q was always a problem and Z was not that easy either.  I have taught my kids that game and we play it when ever we are going to be on the road more than 30 minutes.  We also played punch bug.  Our kids play punch bug and cruiser bruiser for the PT Cruisers.   When I was little we played the true "punch" bug, we did not teach our kids to hit each other when they saw one, we just yelled out.  Ahhh the memories. . . .
I hope my kids will remember our vacations and the times we have done things as a family as fondly as I remember my own.  I hope they will pass on some of these little traditions to their kids.