Another Road Trip

Didn't think I'd agree to one so soon, huh?  Well my wonderful, gracious friends agreed to re-route our planned Holy Thursday meetup to avoid the horrific traffic we encountered en-route to Archie's therefore, we jumped back in the car and headed out.  Brian had school, so it was just the girls.  We met up with Jennie and Jack and had a ball playing outside and inside!

Archie's

Last week we made the long trek to visit Archie.  Archie is my Dad's mom, and the kids' great grandmother.  She is 92 years old. 

I was incredibly nervous about how the kids would do on a 6.5 hour drive.  As it turned out there was a ridiculous 20 mile stretch of construction which coupled with enough potty breaks for a newly potty trained red head we all know and love made for 9.5 hour drive. 

The kids did AWESOME!  I am not sure Pappy...recently renamed Pap (by that same red head) would agree with my assessment, but all in all, they did really well.  Brian has entered the "are we there yet?" stage and of course there were the many, many potty breaks, but there were no tears and minimal complaining, so I would say they did pretty great!

In addition to Archie, we got to see (great) Aunt Beth, (great) Aunt Sarah and Uncle Mike, my cousins Andrew and Matt and my mom's cousins Tom and Ann.  The kids adjusted so well and interacted with everyone as if they see them all time...which isn't the case at all, it had been just over two years. 

We spent quite a bit of time at a local park and the kids had a BLAST playing with Andrew.  He was so great with them and they ate it up! 

The ride home was much shorter (THANK THE LORD) and the kids did well.  Lilah fell asleep not far from home, so we had to deal with one potty accident, but one isn't bad.  We even drove under the Blue Angels performing!  Brian was super intrigued!

To say that Archie enjoyed Lilah would be the understatement of the century.

Brian and Archie got along too.  He is showing her a story he wrote in the car.

He is attempting to show off his missing tooth in this picture.

Mom's cousin Ann reading a story to the kiddos.  They adored her!

 

Pappy couldn't figure out how yogurt got all over his pants!

Had to do this for Cynthia :)

Doesn't she look ginormous in this pic?

Lilah kissing Archie's rear.

Archie's reaction to the rear kissing.

The Tornado, the Missed Flight and the Tubes

Over the weekend we went to my grandmother's 90th birthday party in Cape. We made a last minute decision to make the trip and decided it would be best for Mom and I to fly with the kids. When we booked the trip a week out we had no idea that the weather forecast would change so drastically in a week's time. By Thursday night we were more than a little nervous about the severe weather coming our way, but we figured we would just make it work.

Friday when the tornadoes hit the area we were in the last row of an airplane and were forced to evacuate back into the airport tunnels. Let me tell you, it was an adventure. I had the foresight to make Brian pee before we left the plane, knowing there were no bathrooms in the tunnels. After sitting in the tunnel for over an hour with 3000 people (give or take), we finally boarded our plane and were off to St. Louis.

The kids did really well until we were asked to buckle up and prepare for landing. Brian had an absolute fit and laid in the floor screaming. It was a joy, let me tell ya!

Once we finally got into St. Louis we were toast, so we got our rental, headed down the road a ways and then found a nice hotel to stay the night in.

The party and family visit were very nice. I will post more about that later when I get picture uploaded and I steal some from Teri!

The trip back was not so very nice. We missed our flight. It was a nightmare. I cannot even talk about it really. We ended up making the decision to drive back home because the kids had ENT appointments at 10a.m. Monday morning. I knew it would be hell, but I also knew both kids needed tubes and if we missed the appointment, that would only delay them getting the tubes.

We made it back without too much trouble. We were very tired, but okay. I was right about the tubes, and now I am just waiting on Children's to call me with the date and time. We have asked that they both have the surgery on the same day. It will be a long day, but better than two very long days! Brian will also have that ABR the audiologist has been pushing me to do while he's out. I will post the surgery dates when I have them!

Random Pictures from Chicago

Whenever I go somewhere I get a little camera happy. Brian is not amused...
So here is a photo dump from our Chicago visit. Enjoy!

John Hancock

While in Chicago for Thanksgiving we got the chance to visit the John Hancock Center for a fabulous brunch! I am serious...it was the best brunch I have ever had in my entire life. Highly recommend it!! It was fun for us too to get to see my cousins enjoying the experience. They have lived in Chicago their whole lives and had never been up in the Hancock Building!! They really liked it and so did we!

No lids at this fancy brunch!!

They had a train display that Brian really enjoyed. The Thomas train was not working, which was very frustrating for him, but it was still pretty neat anyway!