Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers - Synchronized Swimmers, Groundhogs in Cars, & Cousins Found on Airplanes: Listener Episode #16

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

Seth and Josh are back with the monthly listener episode! They laughed (and cried) through stories including one woman whose family exited the airplane...with a distant cousin in tow, the awful smell another family discovered was a groundhog in the hood of the car, and last but certainly not least, a heartwarming story of two brothers on a cruise as told by their mother that may or may not have made Seth and Josh get choked up. Plus, Seth and Josh answer some questions!Want to submit your family trips story for our next listener episode? Or send a question in to Seth and Josh? Submit your voicemail to speakpipe.com/familytripspod!Interested in contributing to the Grand Canyon Fundraiser? Visit tinyurl.com/familytripsfundraiser Support our sponsors: UpLiftElevate your workspace with UPLIFT Desk. Go to https://upliftdesk.com/TRIPS for a special offer exclusive to our audience.SquareGet up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at square.com/go/trips! #squarepodBluelandRight Now Blueland has a special offer for listeners. Right now, get 15% off your first order by going to Blueland.com/trips Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, Bashi. Hey, Sufi. It's time for another listener episode. Yeah, I'm excited. I like some questions, too. I like these. I feel like, you know what, we should do? No, we probably should have asked him earlier.

I feel like we should ask Dad at the end of the year for his top three favorite listeners. Oh, yeah, that's not a bad idea. You know, and Dad would love another reason to start a list. I feel like Mom makes more lists than death. dad makes yeah dad makes like action plans yeah yeah this is like he makes lists of things that he wants to remedy dad's uh completely fallen victim to AI as a tool oh yeah it was I was just home and he was uh he was telling me about it he's like I'm using chat GPT it's so good that's a very good very good dad of pressure I think when

When Frisbee died, I think he used Chad GPT because I got a text from him being like, sharing condolences for the loss of your dog. Pets are important to family. If he's used AI on me, I haven't been able to detect it yet. Yeah. Right.

Do you think mom is bullish and excited about his use of AI? You know what she's doing? She's rolling her AIs. You know what, though? I do want to now give a loving shout out to Pankayeri, who has been sending some very nice text recently about when we get good zingers in. Oh, yeah.

He doesn't mind sort of being on the receiving end, I feel like. No, but also, you know, every now and that it's just, oh, that was really, you know, again, nothing makes me happier with him saying, oh, Pashi said something about. mommy and we both laugh so hard in the car listening to it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what a good situation for them right now that they just go on car rides and listen to us? Well, pretty much the only thing they agree on is us.

Yeah. I've been in the car. Like, Dad will listen to some sports radio. Yeah. You have in your past. In my past, yeah. It's not a big part of my life. And I mean no disrespect.

to people who broadcast sports radio, but I don't get it. Yeah. It's like, and if you're not into it, it's one of the worst things you could possibly listen to. A hundred percent. Yeah. I'm going to say that I, you know,

not only do I listen to, first of all, only in football season, right? Mm-hmm. I like listening to Bill Simmons and cousin Sal. Mm-hmm. And they have a weekly podcast, and I love it. I genuinely love it. I think they're both really good, and it's that thing with podcasts.

I feel like I know them now, and so I like listening to it. But then I will listen to just podcasts about the Steelers, and I never, when it's over, think I couldn't have done that. You know what I mean? I'm always just like, you know what I mean? And it's great, and I love it, and it's comfort. Again, no shade, but I've never, like, they never have more insight than, like, you and I would have watching the game. Right, right. You know.

And, like, I do enjoy sports on the radio. I'll, you know, I'll listen to a basketball game. Baseball is historically, like, one of the best possible ways to experience a baseball game. People that do those play-by-play and color commentary are just so good at it. But it's the chatter afterwards. We were listening, we were driving up to our fantasy weekend, and I was in a car, which was a real gift to be on a two-hour drive with one of our old friends, Kevin Cohen. Yeah. who's a fellow Pittsburgh Pirate fan

and we were listening to the Pirates on the radio and it was so lovely because you can just kind of talk over it and then you're listening to a couple guys but the Dodgers have a catcher whose last name is rushing and by the third inning the Pirates

announcers had made so many terrible rushing puns. Like every other. He's like well he's certainly not rushing down to first that's just real. It was brutal. Yeah. Hey, before we get into this today, I think, I believe this is going to come out on, like, September 25th or something like that. Cool.

And on the 26th, Jeff Tweedy is dropping a triple album called Twilight Override. Wow. So the dude, who you all know from his maybe most famous track, family trips with the Myers, brother. Yeah. His shortest and most famous track. Yeah. putting out a drop in a triple album that's very exciting now i would imagine when you fill up three albums you probably throw your podcast jingles on there probably we might be on there we you don't

yeah we're maybe on a uh a demo track on the third album uh way at the bottom i mean one of my favorite albums of all time it's yankee hotel fox trout and you can listen i mean i think there's like a 10 disc box set of all the demos it would be really funny if he had done 15 different versions of family trips Instead of what likely happened He pressed record Saying the first thing that came to his mind And send it out

Yeah Also, yeah I believe he You talked to talk to him about it once And he had forgotten that he had done it Totally forgotten you'd done it Yeah The guy writes a lot of songs

But he does He does say he's also very funny So it might have just been a little bit of a burn Yeah Yeah It might have been a little bit A little trip to Burntown But I've uh yeah

I saw that was coming out and I've already pre-saved it. I'm very excited to hear our buddy Jeff. I'm very excited to hear some listener stories. We're going to call in our producer, Sam, who of our two producers, Sam and Jeff, is our favorite. That is what I love to hear. Because Jeff's always riding us about like,

did you hit record? You're not in the frame. Just, you know, it's a real taskmaster. Well, we have some really good stories for you today. And a couple questions. All right. I'm excited to play for you. All right, let's get going.

This is Brenda from Somerville, Mass. And this isn't a trip that I went on, but when where my family visited me. I have to preface it by saying that I grew up in rural Maine and have a giant family. My grandmother had 60-something grandchildren and 80-something great-grandchildren, and the extended family goes on from there. So my mom would often surprise me by telling me someone was related to me. Like, I had a crush on a boy in the fifth grade, and when my mom met his mom, all they talked about was what relatives we had in common. Anyway, so my mom and my aunt were flying from Maine to visit my sister in Florida, and it was the first time my mom had ever flown, so she was nervous.

But when they went to transfer in Boston, it turned out that their next flight was canceled, and they were stuck there until the next day. Luckily, I live nearby so they could spend the night at my house. But when they showed up, they had a random eight-year-old in tow. Apparently, he was traveling alone to see his dad, and never having met him before, my mom somehow figured out that he was a distant cousin and convinced his mom over the phone to let him spend the night with us. He was a sweet kid, and we were happy to help him out. We spent a fun evening visiting. They made it to Florida the next day.

But I couldn't imagine what his mom thought when she got the call from the airline people who helped unaccompanied minors, asking if he could stay with this unknown family member. Anyway, thanks for the podcast. That's so great. I just like that they had so many relations that when there's an unaccompanied minor, they're like, he's probably one of ours. Yeah, we got him. Was he left from Maine? Yeah, he's probably one of ours.

There's a, I believe there's an app in Iceland to help Icelandic people determine whether or not they're related to someone that you might meet in a bar and hook up with. and I believe, like, hello cousin is pretty much like, hello friend. Yes. There's a real chance in an incredible country full of attractive people that, sadly, you might be related. Yeah. I do, I mean, what a great circumstance to have, you know, if your mom has to get on a plane and, you know, to be delayed on a trip is a real bummer, especially to be delayed a full day. But to be able to have them show up at your house in Somerville and spend a night, it's so nice and convenient.

And I feel like unless I was very, very busy, I would always be so happy to sort of open my door to someone who was passing through that was family. I just like sending, you know, I think it's a right of passage for a kid that age, you know, eight years old, to travel alone. Yeah. It's so funny to say, now you're going to get on the plane. They're going to take care of you. And, you know, if at any point you meet a distant cousin, obviously you're going to sleep at a house you've never been in with them. We had a cousin of ours visit from Austin, eight-year-old boy.

And he came, and he came and stayed with us for a week. But he had to fly by himself. And it was really very cool that this little dude did it by himself and was so proud of himself for having a rally. in New York City. Yeah. Do you think he was an assache on the plane? No, he's a good kid.

Okay. Yeah, he's a good kid. Whereas I think mine would be the other way. Yeah. Well, I think when you're on a company minor, you get free drinks, right? Yeah. I mean, well, they don't, they sort of suggest them if you reach a point where they don't want to deal with you anymore right they're like maybe a jack and ginger to shut you up

uh addie likes taking a sip of my coffee no sorry addy likes smelling my coffee every morning i want to have it yeah i want to hold it over and i get that yeah and uh and then the other day axel said let me take a sniff and then of course i handed to him and he just took a big old slug of coffee and based on any of everything you've heard about axel hopefully you're you know that that's not what he needs. Yeah. No one's like, get a little more caffeine in him. There's a great coffee store.

I don't know if you've ever taken Addy into it near you. That's just this Puerto Rican coffee place that has these just huge bags and like just full of beans. And it's, I love going in there. I will always get a cup of coffee when I'm in New York City there. But more than anything else, I just like walking in and the smell sort of smells. Yeah. Should we go back to how often people in Iceland almost hook up with their cousins?

Sure. Do you think when they say blue balls there, it's that they realize that the last minute they're about to have sex with their cousin? Or do you think they say blue balls because it's just so cold there that their balls are just naturally blue? I don't know. Is that like, can you use blue balls as an expression if your balls are blue all the time? That's what I'm getting at. I think that's not fair. You know, I have a, I mean, no, this is a family show, but I have a stance on blue balls.

Interesting. That men will not appreciate, but I stand by it. Okay. Not a thing. Not a thing. It's not a thing. It's an excuse that guys say, they're like, oh, it hurts. I have to otherwise.

It's like, oh, wow. Wow. Not real. Not real. Not real, never been real. yeah yeah so that's a real hot take that's a hot take on cold balls yeah thank you brenda thank you hey we're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors support comes from uplift desk hey poshi yes uv you got an uplift desk and your productivity is just through the roof right

i love it i just feel better it's weird to love a desk but i love my desk but it took forever to put it together, right? It took like seven days of just hard labor, eight hours a day. No, tell me more. What? No, it was pretty quick. Really? Yeah. But like Pashi, were you bummed that there was only one version of the desk and you had to do that one with no modifications? No, bro, bro, bro. There's so many customizations on this thing. The shape of the desk was exactly what I wanted. The length. I mean, well, the height's not really an issue because I always keep it way up because I'm standing on my little rock and roller. And you're no shorty. Yeah. No. It's great. It's a beautiful desk and I love standing up to do work all day because sitting down just you feel lethargic because you are lethargic. You're not doing anything. But when you're standing up, you feel better, have more energy, more productive. Still pretty hurtful considering I sit for the entirety of my talk show and you're just like attacking us. You used to stand at the beginning of years and then you were like, I don't know, I get tired standing. People don't like my legs. People don't like my legs. Transform your workplace and unlock your full potential with the all new. Uplift v3 standing desk. Go to Upliftdesk.com slash trips and use our code

Trips to get four free accessories, free, same-day shipping, free returns, and an industry-leading 15-year warranty that covers your entire desk, plus an extra discount off your entire order. That's U-P-L-I-F-D-E-S-K dot com slash trips. For this exclusive offer, it's only available through our Link. Support for today's episode comes from Square. Hey, Bashi.

Yes, Sufi. You only pay with cash money on the barrelhead, right? What? Are you telling me you've tapped to pay? I'm a big tapper. I believe in tapping. I need to teach mom how to tap. Oh, yeah, mom can't tap.

She can't tap, Dan, she can't tap pay. No, no, but she's got to be able to because it's the future. And the future's here. Oh, it is here? Tell me more about the future. Especially now that it's the present. Well, Square, the system powering like half the places I've go. If you've ever tapped to pay and thought, whoa, that was fast, it was probably Square. Because whether you're selling lattes, cutting hair, detailing cars, or running a design studio,

Square helps you run your business without running yourself into the ground. Look, I was slow to tap, Posh. I'll just admit it. Yeah. Got a lot of shade from my wife and kids. Always taking out my big old dad wallet. and now they're like just tap and it's great I go to my local coffee place

tap boom drinking my coffee you get it you know the holidays are coming up and McKenzie and I will go to a lot of craft fairs and things

and so there's all these little vendors and these little kiosks and booths and all the good ones they've got that square so you can just tap and pay that's so good you know sometimes I'm so sad that we live so far away

and then I hear that you go to craft fair and I'm pretty, I feel safe with a whole country between us. If you're starting a business or running one that deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and grow without slowing down right now. You can get up to $200 off square hardware at square.com slash go slash trips. That's SQUARE.com slash GO slash trips. Run your business smarter with Square.

Get started today. Sounds like somebody's getting crafts for Christmas. Oh no. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. Planning family trips can get chaotic But my Apple card makes things way easier I applied right for my iPhone Got approved in minutes

And now I can get daily cash back On everything travel related I saw it in action When you picked up the bill last time I was in L.A. Well, you didn't have your wallet or your phone No, my phone was in my pocket But you love your Apple card, right? Well, yes

Because when I use Apple card with Apple Pay I can just tap to pay and I'm done I can track my purchases in the wallet app Get up to 3% back and even stash it in a high-yield Apple Savings account that I opened through Apple Card. Subject credit approval. Savings available to Apple Card owners, subject to eligibility, savings at Apple Card by Goldman Sachs Bank, USA member FDIC terms, and more at AppleCard.com. During the Volvo Fall Experience event, discover exceptional offers and thoughtful design that leaves plenty of room for autumn adventures.

And see for yourself how Volvo's legendary safety brings peace of mind to every country. crisp morning commute. This September, Lisa 2026XE90 plug-in hybrid from $599 biweekly at 3.99% during the Volvo Fall Experience event. Condition supply, visit your local

Volvo retailer or go to explore Volvo.com. Let's hear our next story. What's up, Seth and Josh? My name is Daniel. I'm from Philly. I'm huge fan of the pot. I started listening about a month ago and have just been tearing through episodes since then. And it's just got me thinking a lot about the trips I took growing up with my family.

I come from a core four family as well, just like you two, my mom, my dad, my sister and I. And we grew up going to Wellfleet for a number of years. Wellfleet is on Cape Cod. It's really like a, you know, kind of hippy, crunchy granola part of the Cape. Really beautiful, really natural, lots of woods. And I just have so many great memories of going there every summer. we usually went right after school let out around late June. And when we went up, we would always divide the drive up into two days.

So the first day, we would go to our family friends housing Greenwich, Connecticut, spend the night, see them, and then the next morning go the rest of the way to the Cape. And this is around 2002, and we drive up to Greenwich, spend the night, and there was a really bad storm that night, raining and thunder and lightning the whole night. And it clears up by the daytime, so we get back in the car and make the rest of the trip to the Cape. And when we get to our house that we were renting for the week, we get out and kind of immediately notice that there are a lot of flies around. And, you know, don't really think much of it. Our house is really nestled in the woods. So we just kind of keep it pushing and go into the

house and spend our first night. Next day in the morning, we get out of the car or get out to the car to go to the beach and we notice the flies are still there. So, you know, a little odd but we just keep keep it moving to get to the to the beach and we um when we drive to the parking lot of the beach the flies have followed us so at this point my dad turns to my mom and says you know i think we better check this out my mom wisely moves me and my sister uh you know a little bit away just not really sure what to expect and my dad opens the hood of the car and immediately jumps back and yells out and he finds a large day dead groundhog slumped over the wheel under the hood, flies everywhere swarming around it, long dead.

Our hypothesis is that he, during the storm in Greenwich, got his way into the hood. Not sure if he was going there to die or died later on, but he was long dead at this point. And, you know, the car had been running a fair bit since then. So he was a little bit cooked on there as well. So really not. what you want to find in the middle of your vacation, in the hood of your car. But my dad, ever the hero, decides to take care of this and my mom and me and my sister stay at the beach. So he drives back to the house and calls the town operator essentially to figure out what to do or who to help with this. And it's a Sunday. So all businesses that would normally be able to help him are closed and unavailable. And the operator, he basically asks, you know, is there anyone from animal control that can help me out with this. And she quickly corrects him and says,

sir, animal control is only for animals that are alive. So she essentially tells him that he's on his own and wishes him luck and hangs up the phone. My dad then looks for anything around the house to help him remove this. And for years, I was under the impression that he had used a stick or something to pry off the groundhog.

And he corrected me when I cross-referenced the story with him a couple weeks ago. And he told me that he only had large garbage bags. So essentially had to dog poop method, this groundhog, you know, inversing the bag, getting it in, and then, you know, reversing it to put it in the bag. And he told me it did not all come off in one piece. So here's my dad in the middle of Wellfleet, just removing a groundhog piece by piece, flies swarming around him off of his car. and you know has to double bag it put it in the trash can near the house and then promptly comes back to the pond where we are

to immediately get in the water and wash off, rinse off the air of dead groundhog that he had been surrounded by for hours and hours massive shout out to my dad for dealing with that and honestly great vibes going out to the groundhog hope he's in a better place and it really just lives on in our family stories as really just a memorable moment for Wellfleet, a memorable moment for our family, and hope you enjoyed it as well.

Thanks so much, guys. Keep up the good work. That's amazing. The only good thing about that, do you know what it is? When you find a Groundhog dead in your car, two more weeks of summer. I like that all the places that could help were closed, like the Groundhog Moore. Dead Groundhog Gooders, that place is only open for Monday through Friday. Yeah, engine, engine, roadkill removal.

Engine cleanup, yeah. I'm very curious. McKenzie, my wife, her family used to have... Say it like Borat. McKenzie, my wife. Her family used to have a house in North Truro, which is very close to Wellfleet. And there is a pond that she always used to go to that she calls just the magical pond. And I wonder if that's where they were swimming at the time.

It was your family used to, sorry, McKenzie's family had a tradition where they would kill groundhogs and put it in tourist cars. Yeah, it's really, I would say a couple of summers ago, there was a dead skunk under the porch at my in-law's house. And my in-laws weren't there. And I heard just Alexi and her sister talking about like, what are we going to do? Who are we going to call to get the dead skunk? And finally, I kind of perked up. I was probably playing a word game or something on my phone. And I said, I can get rid of a dead skunk?

And they were like, you can? And I'm like, yeah, dude. Same thing. Like a live animal I won't know part of. But like a skunk carcass, I'll go to town. Plus, I felt like if I could interact with a skunk carcass, I'd have something to blame my odor on for the next couple days. Like a pre-existing skunky order You know, all of a sudden they can be like

Oh, Seth stinks And they'd be like, actually it's because he's helpful Yeah, you're still dining outside on that one Oh, I'm dining out on dead skunk Downing outside. Put it on a little shovel Carried it Over to the woods, gave it a big old chuck

Oh, that was your solution? One piece, I will say, like the two-piece groundhog That is definitely a... Yeah, I left the car, I left my car in New Hampshire when I did that Pee-Wee-Herman show on Broadway and then went back and

squirrels had moved into my sort of like engine for the winter and had to get a bunch of stuff fixed up. We've had our cars that have been squirreled and you kind of know when you open up the hood and there's a thousand nut shells.

Yeah, you're like, this isn't a nut car. Yeah. You're like, who put these nuts in here? nuts yeah um yeah it's uh dead dead animals it's hard to mackenzie never wants to like deal with them and i get it no one wants to um but uh but it is like you do sort of feel like you want to call animal control and you want someone to tell you what to do i called dad once um my old dog pickles had run onto our balcony and like there was a mouse and he sort of like you know hit the mouse with his paw and I was like get out of there and the mouse was like

struggling it wasn't yeah it wasn't gonna recover from this one yeah but I got this mouse and I had to put it out of its misery which I you know I hate doing and I didn't know what to do and it's like I don't am I gonna get like a hammer that seemed a little violent and I called dad and he I was like there's this mouse I don't know what to do I can like get it onto a a dust pan but I was Do I have to smash it? And he's like, well, he's like, is it bigger than a piece of poop? And I said, no. He's like, just flush it down the toilet.

So I didn't feel not proud of myself, but that was how that mouse met a tent. Can I throw something out there? Sure. If given the choice, I would prefer hammer. Yeah, probably. You know what I mean? So just, yeah, that's great. that uh i certainly don't want like the means of my demise being chosen vis-a-vis the size of me

versus a piece of poop my god were you there in amsterdam uh when there was a pigeon in the middle of the road we were eating lunch at a cafe um and it was like on one of those uh trips where you brought a bunch of s andl people we're having lunch and there's his pigeon that's just sort of like waddling around and cars keep driving not like their wheels aren't going over it but it's cars are passing over it and it was just like a weird situation

to be sitting having lunch and watching this thing and I went inside and to the owner of the restaurant I was like there's this pigeon I don't know if you can do anything and he was like a pigeon and I was like yeah and he's like okay and he like grabbed a bag came out, put the pigeon in the bag,

and swung it against a tree as hard as he could. And that was it. Like, that was the hammer option. Oh, my God. By the way, like, it seems like every one of these animals that crosses your path is like, oh, fuck, posh. No, don't go tell that guy. No.

No. I was telling for other people, I mean, look, I didn't like it either, but people were in distress watching this. Well, that's great. I'm sure they felt a lot better once they saw it get smashed against us. Oh, rest in peace, pigeon and groundhog and mouse. Rest in peace, pigeon and groundhog and mouse.

Yeah, thank you, Daniel. Thank you, Daniel. Great story. Also, can I just say Daniel saying he's from Philly? Sounds like a normal person. Been watching that new show, Task from the makers of Mayor Vee's doing. It's fantastic. Ruffalo, all-time great guy.

But man, oh man, they're there died in a lot. out on that Philly accent. Oh, really? Yeah. And I feel like they do this thing, like, real early on, they have characters, say, like, too many Philly things. Like, Mark Ruffalo's like, you coming home early? I'm going to make some scrapple.

Maybe I'll stop by for a water ice. And you're like, all right. We know it's in Philly. I have to, like, talk about these weird foods. Anyway, though, it's great. I highly recommend it. Oh, great. I'll check it out.

We've got one more story before we get into some questions. Very exciting. by the way, if you've heard your story so far, very exciting because now you're getting, you know, you're going to get the posh treatment. If you've been mentioned so far, if we've listened to your own stories,

poshi has to put one of your names in a song. It's a really cool thing. Congratulations on your... Congratulations, Brenda, Daniel, and... Hi, Seth and Josh. This is Cheryl from Wilmet, Illinois. I want to tell you about a family trip we took in March 2012.

My sons were 18 and 22, both in college, and although they went to different universities, they miraculously had the same spring break. My husband and I decided to book a cruise for the four of us. The usual routine was that my husband and I would get up early, eat breakfast, and hang out by the pool, and the boys would mosey over when I finally woke up closer to lunchtime. One morning, I was guiltily saving chairs for them

when I heard Mike, the cruise director, announced that the synchronized swimming competition was about to begin. And as long as I was out of my lounge chair, I walked over to check it out. I was expecting a group of 10-year-old girls who had worked up a routine while becoming new best friends this week on the cruise. Instead, I see my son standing at the side of the pool with huge shit-eating grins on their faces. I try to process this. Didn't he say synchronized swimming? My sons are definitely not synchronized, nor are they particularly good swimmers.

They were here the whole time? I thought they were still sleeping. I look carefully at these two impostors and wonder what they've done with my real sons. Before I get their attention, the chariots of fire theme song starts to play. That's fantastic. My boys raised their hands over their heads, and first my younger son, Jesse, and then my older boy, Rob, do a sideways dive into the pool, followed and turned by three other college-d-age boys. The crowd starts to laugh. half and cheer. The five boys form a circle and do handstands with their unbelievably long legs

sticking out of the water. They emerge, put their hands on each other's shoulders, and spit water in great arcs like the Buckingham Fountain. Then they move clockwise and spin like ballerinas with their hands over their heads. For the grand finale, the boys lift Jesse into the air and throw all six foot five of him into the water with a huge splash. They get out of the pool and take big bow to the whistles and cheers of the crowd. They receive their medals while the crowd applause, and I get in line behind a group of girls in bikinis waiting to talk to them. I finally get to the front of the line, and I literally don't know what question to ask first. The story of how they join the pool Olympics synchronized swim team sounds much like the story of how most of

their quote-unquote plans get made. Somebody met somebody somewhere who needed two more guys for a team, and my boys looked at each other, shrug their shoulders and said, okay. Although there were over 3,000 people on the ship, my boys had achieved some level of notoriety. They had already won the Guest v. Crew Volleyball tournament and the three-on-three basketball. Rob had danced in the Michael Jackson Dance Contest, and Jesse was a finalist in Cruz was karaoke idol.

An older couple riding handicapped scooters wheeled up to me when the ship docked in St. Martin and told me how much fun they had had playing Texas Hold'em with my sons in the casino. This probably goes without saying, but my boys were and still are gamers. It's a lot of fun being their mom. That vacation was for me one of our best. I treasured every day with them. Looming ahead was the reality that Rob, was graduating college in a few weeks and starting a new job, and I didn't know when the four of us would be vacationing together again.

Thanks for listening. Love the podcast. Suva got a little choked up. I got choked up at the end. Yeah. That was so sweet. What a great story. Yeah. I mean, those are great brothers. That sort of now I'm getting choked up. I caught me, I wasn't choked up at all listening to their synchronized swimming story.

I know, but it's the end. It's the sort of the... Also, just what more could you ask than to have kids that are gamers? Yeah, gamers and gamers that are that an old couple in their sort of, you know, electric wheelchairs would be like, hey, we love playing Texas Hold'em with your boys.

It sounds like universally beloved by just being good time guys. I'm also crying because I've never in my life wanted to go on a cruise, and now I think I'm going to get fucking tricked into doing one. I'm crying about being on day three of a cruise. My kids haven't done anything. Nobody's saying they're a fun hang.

They haven't done anything synchronized. Oh, yeah. That was the best. What a great story. What fun kids. Yeah, shout out to Jesse and Rob. Jesse and Rob. Man, what I wouldn't give to be on a boat with those two, wildcats.

Yeah. Also, Will Mett, and we should point out, is the first place we ever lived. Yeah. Shout out to Will Matt. Yeah, as real babies. Yeah. That's great. We, on one of our, you know, guys weekends, our previous fantasy football draft weekends,

that we had a pool and we, uh, broke into two-man teams and had a, uh, synchronized swimming contest. And it was, uh, it's so dumb, but it's so fun. And it's one of the best. I mean, I think about it all the time. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, just like, because it's the same process as like playing, you know, pick up football

where you come into a huddle and you drop a play and you come to an agreement. like all right you go you run this way you do this but it's just like all of a sudden it's two of you and it's okay okay we'll take three steps and we'll jump in and we come up and just stick your hands in the spin around three times and like there's such planning and you won't be good at it but it is such a delight to watch also i will say i love like real synchronized swimming i'm a huge fan of it as an Olympic event. Yeah. I think it's incredible.

All those old sort of like Busby Berkeley things of, you know, the women and the great, like, bathing costumes. And, yeah, that's a great, it's a great sort of pool activity. I mean, I definitely, I mean, I feel like we have a couple more pool weekends left, and I feel like I might try to bribe the boys into doing a synchronized swimming contest. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Just to see what they can do. Yeah.

I was, where was I? Maybe I want to say I was in Oslo and I went swimming. You could like sort of swim at this, in the North Sea maybe. And there was a morning where I was up before all my friends. And I was like, I want to, I'm going to go for this swim. I want to go swim out there. And there's this cool place with these like, you know, these public docks. And I went down there.

And there was this big group of. college age kids, boys and girls, and they were splashing around. And then they were sort of doing that thing where they were all jumping in, like one after the other. And then they asked if I could take a video, or I took a video. And then a guy came over and I thought he was going to be like, hey, man, not cool. But he was like, can you send me that video? And I was so happy to be able to be like, yes, like this is a great memory of this day for you guys. It means something to me, but I It'll mean a lot more to you. So I hope there's some good picks and videos from that cruise.

Thank you, Cheryl. Congrats on being a great mom to sort of guide your sons into a life of gamerism and making people happy. Yeah. Just because you mentioned Oslo made me think of Boswell. Oh, yeah. For the Pittsburgh Steelers. Chris Boswell.

Yeah. Who is very good at kicking. And when he kicks a field goal, people will say, Bingo Boswell. Yeah. And I showed highlights of the game to Ash, and he kicked a very long field goal to win the game against the Jets. And then we were walking to school, and he was explaining the game to Axel, which was very sweet. And then he goes, and then at the end, bingo bongo kicked the field goal. Calling him bingo bongo was maybe so happy.

And yeah, there you go. Bongo. Oh, yeah. Love it. Hey, we're going to take a quick break and hear from some of our sponsors. Support comes from Blue Land. Hey, Paghi. Yes, Sufi.

You and I share something. What's that? We don't enjoy microplastics. No, I've never enjoyed them. No. You know, I just don't get what all the hubbub's about. That's why I've made the switch to Blue Land across all the cleaning products around my house. Their products meet the highest standard of clean.

They're effective, yet gentle. on my family and planet. Blue Land was also named an EPA, a safer choice partner of the year. From cleaning sprays and toilet bowl cleaner to dishwasher and laundry detergent tablets, Bluelands formulas are 100% micropastic free, made with certified clean ingredients free from chlorine bleach and harsh chemicals that are safe to use around my family. I love not having to choose between the safe option and what actually gets my house clean. Blue Land is on a mission to make it easy for everyone to make sustainable choices.

We believe that hardworking clean products can be the norm, not the exception, so that you can do better for your family and the planet at the same time. I really dig the laundry tablets posh because we're dealing with, we're in the grass-stained era with the boys, and they do a real number on them. Shout out to the tablets. I also like, I mean, those tablets, they go in this cute little tin. It's not this huge bottle. Yeah.

It's not this huge plastic tub of these weird pods. It's just a cute little tin. Cute little tin with cute little tablets that clings your clothes. Poshy loves a cute little tin. Blueland has a special offer for listeners right now. Get 50% off your first order by going to blueland.com slash trips. You won't want to miss this. Bluland.com slash trips for 15% off.

That's blu land.com slash trips to get 15% off. Here we go. We may have some Q at A's. What do we got, Sam? Yeah, we got a couple of questions. We have two questions, so I'm going to see up the one. All right. Hi, this is Terry from Minneapolis.

I'm a huge fan of your show, and I have a question about the intro song that you had Jeff Tweedy write for you. What parameters, if anything, did you give to him when you asked him to write it? Did it have to be a certain length? Did it just have to include your names and the pod name? and just curious if there were rounds of revisions or if you were happy with the first go-around. I guess that's it. Thanks. Love the show.

Thanks for the question. And it's so funny that we did discuss this at the top of this episode. Yeah. But, you know, one of our producers, Rob, basically said, hey, I know I basically have a connection to Jeff Tweedy. He knew we were huge fans of Wilco. He kind of independently thought,

I feel like this show Family Trips ties in to the idea of road trips and Wilco is a great road trip band and... Yeah, that's sort of like Americana. Yeah. And that sort of country... Passenger side is one of the great driving-in-a-car songs of all time. Yeah, we put together a list like of possible intro songs, of existing songs. And then Rob was like, I think doing something unique to you is better.

and you had met Jeff Tweedy previously. I met Tweety a few times, and so he'd been on my show. But we didn't reach out, and I even said, Rob said, what do you think about tweeting? I'm like, I guess I could reach out. And he said, well, let me just, let me see if I can even make contact. And then basically, he just came back with the song. Rob said, how's this?

Yeah. So we never gave parameters. We never gave length. I mean, I'm assuming Rob gave some direction. But it was one of the great hit, plays of my life. Yeah. Yeah. I, you know, I don't, I listen to the podcast at double speed to sort of write the songs. But every now and again, when I am just listening to it at regular speed and that song kicks in, I kind of forget sometimes how much I like it.

Yeah. And yeah, I really, I love it. And we're so appreciative. It's so cool to love a song so much that the person who wrote and performed it doesn't even remember. The other time in my life I've had that is my first stand-up special on Netflix Lobby Baby. I licensed a Hold Steady song. So the two bands that mean the most are Wilco and the Hold Steady. And I know Craig Finn in the same way. I know Jeff Tweedy.

And so we licensed the song. And then I asked for the closing credits, could you write a song about, like just lobby baby like the fact that my son was born in the lobby now by the way nobody listens to the closing songs of a stand-up special this was literally

muddy that came out of the budget that added no value save for the fact that when I first got a song from my favorite band about my son God it's a real tough one today

burst into tears and it's such a fucking jam but I can't believe that like throughout my life I'm going to be able to go back to this song that my favorite band wrote about Axel Yeah

It's really good Yeah Um yeah There you got lucky We're very lucky We're very lucky So thank you for the question

and thank you, the standing thank you forever to Jeff Tweedy. I think we got one more question here. Hey, Seth and Josh. This is Ayla. Seth, I was just wondering if you and your family have talked about getting another dog. I'm really sorry to hear about Frisbee. And also, Josh, just wondering how your dogs are doing. Thanks. I really love the pod.

Thank you so much for that very sweet question. I do think one day we will get another dog, but only when the kids want another dog. I think they started from a weird place where we had this dog that existed before they were around. And by the time they were kids, Frisbee was an old dog that didn't really do any of the fun dog things, like run over to them, noodle with them, want to cuddle with them. And so I weirdly think that, like, while they're sad that Frisbee's gone, they're not like, we got to get another one, though. Right. You know, we need to get another lump under a blanket. Yeah.

And so I, yeah, so, but if they ever, you know, turned the corner and they met somebody else's dog and they were like, we want a dog like this, I think we would jump at the opportunity. But we don't want to get another dog that is a dog for the parent. when the kids aren't that interested. Yeah. Also, I feel like maybe your kids need to be a little bit older so that at least Ash could take some responsibility for the dog and maybe walking the dog duties. Although, man, it's so weird.

Like, that's the thing about, like, New York City. Yeah. I mean, I guess, you know, if you got a 15-year-old, they'll probably be walking themselves to school so they can go out in the morning and walk the dog. Yeah. But, you know, it is something where I feel like, it's going to be me.

And then, yeah, my dogs are good. Our old girl, Debbie, is 14, and, you know, she's certainly from her youth has slowed down a bit. Not that she was ever fast, but she's great. And she shows these bursts of, you know, speed every now and again. If she see something that she wants to run after or if it's, you know, she's coming in for breakfast in the morning. Sometimes she gets that in her mind and will run. and it's very exciting or McKenzie will bring the dogs up to the barn every now and again and we'll run with them sort of through through the ring where the horses ride.

Woody's great. He's the nicest dog I've ever had. Is he really the nicest dog you've ever had? Yeah. He just, he is so, so friendly. And, like, I don't have to worry about him with, like, he loves kids and babies and he goes up to them and his tail waggs so hard, but he's not going to jump on anyone he's not going to bite anyone how long you've had him now uh just over two years wow uh yeah he fit right in august 15th of this year was two years so yeah we love having them and uh yeah and how much in the bed are the dogs uh debby all night every night and woody starts in the bed and then he's got a bed next to the bed a dog bed next to the bed and he'll go down to that sometimes i'd say

like 50% of the time but then as soon as there's movement he's up and he's he's, like, standing on my chest. Great. Yeah. It's a good feeling. He also, he, like, he yawns throughout the day, but he yawns in the morning so vocally, like, he really makes a meal of it to be like, oh, I guess we're getting up now, right? And he actually growled at me this morning when I was in the closet, putting my clothes on because I sort of took a quick shower. and he was like,

what are you doing this for? Usually take me straight out and then I guess I was taken too long and he walked into the closet growling at me to be like, what are you doing? That's great. Yeah.

I think when you lose a pet, you often, you know, lovingly remember things that drove you crazy. But when Frisbee slept in bed with us, she would do a thing where she would in the middle of the night just crawl out from underneath the covers,

stand in the middle of the bed, and shake her entire body and we called it the helicopter because it was like and then she would like come back and get underneath the covers and so we are we are romanticizing

how much we loved a thing that was always just a total sleep interrupter but right I've got I have received some very nice frisbee this is a

yarn frisbee that someone made yeah there's a lot of there's a lot of nice it looks like her looks very much like her it does look like her it's um yeah and uh yeah she was uh she was a very it's great you know that i mean again you had it with pickles certainly but sometimes when you're like oh my god 14 years yeah like you know i so i had that dog longer than any place i've ever lived you know what i mean so yeah it's really yeah um uh thank you for the question uh thank you for

the kindness and i'm so thankful that um that debby and woody are still with us Yeah. All right, everybody. I think that's it. It was lovely to spend an afternoon listening to your stories and your questions, and I'm sorry, I cried twice. Our producer Sam also wrote in just chat, chatted us to say that she was crying as well.

So you got us all over here. She was crying because we never stay on task. She was crying because we both forgot to hit record. Yeah. And Jeff was just. laughing at all of it. Just as just laughing. It's no heart.

All right. Thank you, everybody. We love you. Thank you. It turns out he was a cousin So it only seemed right Super Weird Sleepover And Daniel's cape drips were always

So good But one was quite defeated Dead Groundhog found under the hood It had co-wagiculated At first his father tried Animal control They said do it yourself So he went rock and roll

Remove it piece by piece And wouldn't come out whole That is so freaking close A Chero brought a college voice out on a cruise Before they graduated Fated everything fun they could do Because they are the greatest Nice swimming to garyoki shows

Basketball and volleyball You know that they play dos A little Texas hold them You gotta love these bros Got to love these bros Thank you listeners For all your stories We really love you guys

Even when they strike a nerve And they make soup you cry A great trip you take with your family But there is nothing better That's where you can make so great memories and they will last forever