On our way back to town after our last beautiful beach day of our trip, the van started to labor going up hills. We turned the A/C off. It still struggled. By the time we got back to our rental house, we weren’t even making the speed limit on flat ground. The whining got louder.

Not ideal.

So, after a lot of fuss, moving from our rental to a hotel, putting half our stuff into a family member’s car, we ended up staying an extra day and a half.

It was not ideal.

But both days, our five-year-old found something to love. We went to the arcade, and he beat the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, thanks to his parents and free play mode. He got a knockoff Lego set from the Dollar Store. That killed ten minutes.

“This is the best day ever.”