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Family Returning From Vacation Stops For A Quick Bathroom Break, Buys $2 Million Winning Lottery Ticket

By Alaa Elassar, CNN

(CNN) -- A New Jersey family returning home from vacation in North Carolina caught a lucky break.

While driving through Maryland in July, they stopped at a 7-Eleven store in Germantown to quickly use the bathroom, pick up snacks and even buy some lottery tickets.

They devoured the snacks on their way home, but didn't check their Cash4Life, Mega Millions and Powerball tickets until this week.

To their surprise, they won a whopping $2 million.

Their Powerball Quick Pick ticket with Power Play matched the first five numbers from the July 24 drawing: 1, 4, 11, 59 and 67. They had only missed the Powerball.

"I couldn't believe we matched all of the numbers except the Powerball," the mom told Maryland Lottery. "I had to download the (mobile) app so I could scan the ticket to know for sure."

When her husband came home, she greeted him with lots of screams and excitement.

"I had to look at the ticket several times," he said. "It's amazing that we were only off by one number."

The husband, an operator, and his wife, a paraprofessional, have three children. They plan to use their winnings to pay off debt and bolster their savings.

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