Our Little Place In The World: Our Vacation Recap

We're baaaaaaack!!!

So, did ya miss us?!?! I know Ann did ( ;-) Hi Ann! Miss you too love!)

So after a month long hiatus, I guess its time to fill you in on what's been going on (and no, I"m not pregnant again - and yes, we are done…and if I have to answer either of those questions again I might lose my mind).

We took a two week vacation, and life imploded with "to-do's" before leaving. You know, like packing and shit. Our traveling circus of 5 doesn't travel light. For two weeks away (in fall-ish weather) we took: 3 car seats, 3 suitcases, 1 pack-n-play, 1 stroller, and 4 carry-on bags. Oye.

And in the midst of all that chaos, trying to find and piece together all the "winter" clothes the kids would need, we had life to live too. The kids had the annual book parade and pot luck at their school.

Then we hit the road. We flew to Chicago first. B had never flown before…and it showed. J and A were fabulous, entertained most of the trip thanks to the iPad and Fire. B on the other hand. Well, we are lucky it was an empty flight. The middle seat next to me (and him in my lap) was empty, and the lady in the window seat was one of the sweetest - and completely enamored with B (and willing to look the other way and not get angry when he screamed the ENTIRE descent).

On our first full day there we headed out to the Brookfield Zoo (and totally lucked out with it being free zoo day!).

Then it was back to Aunt Sandy and Uncle Don's to run off the remaining energy, dinner and bed. Speaking of bed, the kids still talk about sleeping at Aunt Sandy and Uncle Don's - they set up at tent (a tent!) in their basement (complete with fake pine trees outside the door) for J and A to sleep in while Justin, B and I were in the room "next door". HEAVEN to them!

On Wednesday I took the day to travel downtown and meet up with a friend of mine in the crochet community. We met through Instagram, and since she's from the area, and I was in the area, and Justin agreed to take the kids so I could sneak away, I took the opportunity to have a park and crochet day. And to top it off, I got to see the Bean! And if you look SUPER closely in the picture below (the one of my feet) there is a couple standing under the Bean on the right side near the tree - that's Allen and Allie!!! Didn't even know we were there at the same time until we had both left - LOL

Thursday was a rainy day, but it didn't stop the kids from having a blast. Justin took J and A to a local play ground (yes in the rain) to play while B napped, then it was off to the local children's museum.

Friday was packed with packing up our stuff, heading over to Uncle Chuck and Aunt Cheri's, getting my nails done, and rehearsal dinner fun for Justin me and J. By the grace of God A and B were angels for the babysitters.

Saturday we hung out around Uncle Chuck's house, playing hide and Seek with Uncle Chris and Aunt Natalie before it was time to get all dolled up for the wedding. We made the decision the day before to leave B home with a baby sitter for the ceremony (we were originally going to take him). And we are so glad we did. It would have been nice for him to meet all the relatives, but there was no way he was going to sit quietly through the full catholic mass wedding.

J was the ring bearer and he did such a fantastic job. I wish I had better pictures, all mine turned out blurry :(

After the ceremony we took J and A back to the house before heading off to the reception sans kiddos. Needless to say Justin and I had a great time on our little date, and it was so much fun drinking and dancing the night away with my siblings and cousins. Congrats Chuck and Bridget, it was a fabulous night.

On Sunday we left Chicago for Pittsburgh. We coupled the trip for the wedding with a trip to see Justin's family - as a way of saving some money on plane tickets. But that meant a 9 hour car drive with the kiddos. Fortunately they generally do pretty good, and we were able to take our time and stop as often as needed.

We were supposed to take 80 all the way across. We made it about an hour and a half into the trip when the kids started to get a little punchy. At that moment, I happened to look up and see a billboard for "Donuts and Dinosaurs Exit 39". Score, the perfect reason to stop.

Turns out its a farm stand selling fresh donuts, jams and butters (we bought pumpkin butter, apple butter, blackberry jam, and maple syrup) along side some giant dinosaur skeletons made from old railroad steel. After running around looking at dinosaurs and eating the delicious fresh donuts, we loaded back up and got back on the road. About 30 miles later, Justin asks me what state we are in.

Did you notice that supposed to back there? Somewhere along the line (I was crocheting in the car and not paying a lick of attention) 94 and 80 cross over each other. And somehow Justin didn't notice. The last real idea we had of where we were was when we saw the sign welcoming us to Indiana (which was the correct direction we were supposed to be heading in). Then somewhere around mile 61 Justin was seeing signs for MDOT (probably not in Indiana anymore). Apparently, when 94 and 80 crossed, we ended up on 94, and were (when we noticed it) 67 miles into Michigan (hence the maple syrup at the farm stand….it was all making sense now). Luckily we didn't really add too much time to our trip, and the detour was fun. So nothing really lost in the experience, just some fun gained.

We arrived safely in Pittsburgh, and the fun continued.

We hit up one a few of the local playgrounds and spent as much time as possible outside.

We drove out to Ohio to visit Gram, and the kids spent hours playing in the leaves and discovering new forms of wildlife (fuzzy caterpillars and stink bugs!). J even caught a fish! That night we had a bonfire and roasted hot dogs and s'mores (that's all J kept asking for while we were in Pittsburgh, he wanted a bonfire).

On Thursday we headed over to the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh to learn and explore.

Then it was back to the house and back outside for lots of running, hide and seek, and football with the uncles.

We got home late Saturday night, and were all very thankful to be back in our bed (and I have never been so excited to see a baby gate or a high chair in my life).

Justin's leave was through Tuesday, so we took full advantage of what was likely his last Sunday off for a while (its getting hard for him to get leave approved), and instead of adulting and getting back to our normal routine, we headed north to a pumpkin patch as a family.

Corn mazes, shaved ice, barrels to roll in, hay slides, and pumpkins OH MY! While all very tired and adjusting to the time difference, we all pushed through and had a blast (except for B, who screamed the entire hour long drive up and back - thankfully he was happy as can be there, especially while sneaking tastes of the shaved ice).