There is nothing like a weekend family getaway to prove that we are indeed The Winge’s. Now you may wonder who exactly they are. In my world they are a lot like the Griswold’s. They try to make family memories, take trips and have fun, but in the end something always happens. Our memories are usually the exact opposite of what I plan.

All I want is the American dream - to create some happy family memories. Instead we create chaos and drama.

We’re the family who can’t get down the road without realizing we forgot something and need to turn around and go back. Then, we’ll spend the next hour arguing over who’s fault it was.

We’re the family who tries to carry everything up to our hotel room in one trip. We’re the one’s yelling at each in the parking lot about who should carry what.

We’re the family who can’t eat dinner without causing a scene which usually involving me saying something entirely too loud or Ethan spilling a drink.

We’re the family that lies to our kid and tells him the swimming pool is closed only to turn around and see a priest standing behind us in line.

We’re the family who threatened to leave our kid at the St. Louis Arch because he wouldn’t quit whining. We then listened to some people in front of us (who didn’t speak much English) try to tell the security park rangers something along the lines of, “these leave child at tour.” Thank God they didn’t speak English well! We just shrugged our shoulders and moved on. (And no we did not leave him there.)

That’s us and that was our weekend getaway in a nutshell. Yes, we’re that family you probably stare at and shake your head. My parenting style usually shines at its best when we are on vacation. Nothing is more frustrating than wanting to take a picture of your kid with a smile on his face and he outright refuses. But a little bribery goes a long way…like a $6 snow-cone.