This is the way our school bus rolls

With three science classes under our respective belts, Elizabeth and I have established a morning routine that looks somewhat like this:

Not pictured but very much a part of the routine is the alarm clock going off at a very unholy hour accompanied by moans and groans coming from various parts of the room.

By approximatively 6:59 every Tuesday and Thursday morning, our ever-faithful car Harvey pulls out of the driveway with me as the driver and Elizabeth as the cute-but-completely-useless-when-it-comes-to-knowing-how-to-use-the-radio passenger.

We've formulated a list of necessities which are here modeled by the cute sister.

#1. snacks~ For obvious reasons this is the most necessary necessity. Should a hypothetical situation in which the driver gets lost for almost two hours on the way home ever occur, it's nice to know we'd survive the experience. {Please don't ask how I know what that feels like to get lost without food. I have no desire to discuss that fact that I get lost every two or three months. }

#2. books on tape~ We bring these for two reasons. First, we're trying to be educational and learn things during the drive. Second, Harvey's radio hasn't been the same since Andrew spent quite a bit of time with him a few years ago so we can't always depend on listening to our favorite stations. {Come to think of it, not much about Harvey has been the same since Andrew drove him.}

#3. coffee and water~ We'd rather not have to deal with dehydration{particularly in the hypothetical getting lost situation}.

#4. pencils/pens/highlighters~ We heard all the cool college kids use pens and pencils so we try to fit in.

When asked how she likes driving to school with me, Elizabeth answered that it's fine when we don't get lost{it's only happened once so she really doesn't have anything to complain about}, and that it's very windy having the windows open the whole time because the air conditioner doesn't work. {See #2 above for a possible explanation.} What she doesn't say is that I give her gum whenever she asks {gee,what surprise} and let her put her feet on the dashboard while she texts her peeps. In reality, she very much enjoys our trips together.