Time to Slow Down - Part 2

The day after Mike got home from DC, he drove home to be at church on Sunday. The kids and I stayed at my parents' house so we could chop off an hour and a half off our drive to Chicago the next day. We left for Chicago on July 2nd, which was the first time we've made the trip with 3 kiddos in tow. We have a history of not-so-great car rides...lots of screaming and crying (first from the kids and eventually from mom and dad). Needless to say, we were a little curious to see how this trip would go.

I used to be staunchly opposed to the car DVD player. Then I had kids. I will admit that there have been trips to Chicago when a DVD has been playing virtually the entire time. It was worth the sanity that it saved.  I decided to be proactive this time, so I planned ahead and made some activities for the kids to do in the car. I wrapped each one up and put them in a "surprise bag" so every so often during the trip, the kids could open them up and (in theory) play with that activity until it was time for the next one.

A couple of the most popular ones were:
  *The Rice Shaker - I took a clean peanut butter jar and filled it with rice and small things like a button, pin, lego guy, sea shell, toy lizard, etc. for the kids to find. Then I superglued the lid on to prevent a major disaster! This was fun for both kids, even just to shake for the noise.
  *4 yogurt cups that I stole from my mom. Norah stacked, restacked and stacked again for about 30 minutes straight.
  *Beanie Babies that I found in a box of old stuff in the basement.

A couple of things that I was excited about, but didn't go over as well as I thought they would:
  *A road atlas and star stickers. The intention was that we'd put stickers on the map as we passed through certain cities. We put stickers on a couple of cities, but Tate got tired of it quickly, and Norah apparently visited towns in northern WI that the rest of us missed. :)
  *Homemade Lace-ups - I took foam sheets, cut them into shapes and then punched holes in them so Tate could lace them with shoelaces. This turned out okay, but caused more arguing over the shoelaces. Overall, I think Tate played with these for 15 minutes.

Partway into the trip, Tate was complaining that his tummy hurt. Since he had been awake since like 5:15 that morning, I told him he probably just needed to take a nap. He's never been much of a car sleeper, so it was a long shot, but worth a try, right? Well, I learned that he really did have a tummy ache when he launched his cookies all over the back seat. Thankfully we were stopped at a gas station when it happened. My loving husband cleaned up the mess inside the car while I took the kids in for lunch at the attached Wendy's. After being on the road about 30 minutes after lunch (of which Tate ate very little), Tate said that he had to go to the bathroom, so we pulled off at the next exit and I rushed into the bathroom with him....just a little too late. We made it back out to the car minus one undergarment. The poor boy obviously wasn't feeling well.


The trip improved dramatically when we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house! Everyone was happy to be there. We were excited to be able to meet our new nephew Caleb, who was born 25 days before Anja. It's going to be so fun to watch these two grow up!



Caleb - Born on 1/5/12 and Anja - Born on 1/30/12



The bigger kids had fun in the pool and sprinkler.

 We spent the 4th of July with extended family. In the morning Mike had a chance to visit his Grandpa at his nursing home. In the afternoon we headed to his Aunt and Uncle's house. Tate had a BLAST with his 2nd cousin Jonathan. Me...I spent most of the day laying in the guest room with a headache. Thankfully I knew their were lots of people there to help out!


Grandma and Grandpa's grandchild population went from zero to 5 in 3 1/2 years! I don't think they mind!

 Just like that, our trip to Chicago was done, but what would a trip to Chicago be without mention of food? We had deep dish Chicago style pizza the first night we were there (yum) and Mike and I went to a sandwich place one day for lunch while the kids were napping. After we ordered our food, we realized that they didn't take credit, so Mike had to head back to his parents' for the cash that I had left in my purse that I had unfortunatley decided not to bring along. I stayed at the shop as collateral. It wasn't too long after Mike left that the men started harassing me (all in good fun). They were convinced that he wasn't coming back, so they wondered if they could pawn my wedding ring to pay for our meal. The best was when one guy suggested that maybe my husband had gone out and found a young girl - to which I replied, "Are you calling me old?" Maybe I do need to accept that I don't look 20 any more. When I finally got to eat my sandwich, I was not disappointed. I am rarely disappointed with food in Chicago. The only thing I was disappointed with this time was that I didn't get a Chicago style hotdog.

We decided that we'd break up the trip home with a stop in Eau Claire for a little hotel fun. Swimming was the fun we knew we'd have - everyone sleeping in the same room was something we weren't sure would be fun. Much to our surprise, all 3 kids were asleep by 8:30. Mike made a Culver's run and brought back treats to eat while we sat in the dark. Then after 4 days of waking up at 5:something a.m., Tate slept until...drum roll please...8:30! And that was only because his sisters have a hard time being quiet.

For the most part, I would say the long car ride went well. I do have to give props to parents who take cross-country trips with their small children. My neck was sore after hours of being turned around picking things up off the floor and handing out snacks and surprises. It was a lot of work, but fairly pleasant.

We got home on the afternoon of Friday July 6th. You might think we could breath a sigh of relief. I mean, who doesn't like the feeling of home after being gone for an extended period of time? That's a story for Time to Slow Down - Part 3.