The Great Western Trek, part the last (finally!)

So, I know you've all forgotten about our Big Trip back in May, BUT, being the meticulous person I am, I can't in good conscience write about current things (like, oh, I don't know, WEDDINGS) until I've finished up with past things.

So we left off still in Minnesooota.   Our next stop was a longer visit with Uncle Dave & Aunt Katie in Chicago.

Katies and bunny!

Sadly, the weather didn't cooperate too well.  We were able to make it to the Lincoln Park Zoo, however.

mmm, sneakers and denim skirt -- SOOO "homeschooling mom"

I guess we wore Joseph out.

too tired even to finish his Teddy Grahams!

Because of the rain we spent a lot of time inside doing puzzles.

Moxie the cat helped

I realized afterwards that we had brought backpacks full of activities for the kids... which were left out in the car and which no one (meaning me) thought to fetch in the rain.  So Uncle Dave & Aunt Katie got to experience what it's like keeping children entertained, or at least out of trouble, inside all day. :)  However, it WAS Memorial Day weekend, which, as any racefan knows, means THE INDIANAPOLIS 500!!  So watching a bunch of funny-looking cars go zooming around and around a track over and over kept the kids occupied for a couple hours.  Joseph was FASCINATED.  The race ending was pretty spectacular, too.  Poor J.R. Hildebrand.

Finally, the last day we were there, the sun broke out, so we took our traditional walk down to the awesome park.

hooray for sunshine!

Dave got a chance, once again, to practice keeping small children alive.

yes, those ARE bunny ears.

Katie knows a willing slave when she sees one...

It was a lovely visit, and we're so grateful for their willingness to put up with us for so long! :)  I highly recommend staying with them whenever you're in Chicago.  Katie is an excellent cook.

After Chicago we made our way to Sandusky, Ohio, to stay in what we told the children was "a hotel."  What we didn't tell them until we pulled into the parking lot was that it wasn't just ANY old hotel, it was a GREAT WOLF LODGE!!  We are now officially the COOLEST parents EVER!!

For the uninitiated (or just those who still have money in their wallets), it's a giant hotel with a water park in the middle.

...a water park with a giant bucket that dumps something like 500 gallons of water every 10 minutes

Since we arrived right after the holiday weekend, there was hardly anyone else there.  There were almost no waits for the slides, so we were able to stage races.

the inner tube with more, ahem, ballast, wins!

Daniel was a WILD MAN.  It was like the biggest bathtub he'd ever seen in his life!

he's trying to figure out how to climb up to the baby water slide

Jo-jo had a great time -- so many slides just his size!

Of course, half the fun of the hotel was the cub's cabin in the room with BUNKBEDS!

wild animals not included

We spent just one night there, and then headed back to our beloved Steubenville family, who graciously hosted us even though THEY had just returned from vacation themselves!  But as Rachel said, "Hey, you guys are family, you don't count as houseguests!"  I know the frenzied feeling I sometimes get preparing for houseguests, so I'm always glad when someone HASN'T bent over backwards to host us. :)

We had such a lovely time, as always!  With all our kids, whenever we get together now it's an automatic party!

pool party!

look at this bathing beauty!

the "baby" pool

splashing action shot!

I'm all wet!  and loving it!

Libby and Daniel play so nicely together

...when they're not stealing toys from each other, that is

After 2 fun days in Steubenville it was time to wend our weary way home (with a quick stop at Eat N Park to bring back smiley face cookies for a family whose oldest daughter is an incoming freshman).  It wasn't too hard saying goodbye because we knew we'd see everyone again in a couple more months for THE WEDDING!

We always try to stop in places with play towers so the kids can climb and stretch their legs.  We found a new favorite place right near Cheat Lake -- much better than the stinky BK at Frostburg -- with a little slide just right for little tykes!

with help from Sis

and Sissie!

We were happy to be home at last, and ESPECIALLY happy that home was still standing!


The next day we rounded up our pets, learning in the process that one member of the family who watched our rabbit discovered that she is deathly allergic to rabbits... halfway through our trip!  God love them.  I don't think the squeaky cheese from Wisconsin quite made up for it. :) 

Many thanks and blessings to all generous friends and family members, who made this trip even possible!

THE END!

Unreal

The weekend passed like a dream.

junior bridesmaid with the bride

 How did my little baby cousin -- whose was the first diaper I ever changed -- get old enough to be a bride?

It was a beautiful weekend.  Loads of pictures to come!

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

{pretty}

Miss Junior Bridesmaid, all hemmed and ready to shine!

{happy}

yes, that is the Cartoon Guide to Statistics.  And yes, Joseph picked it off the shelf to look at.  I think this qualifies as a {happy} moment, at least from his statistician daddy's point of view :)

{funny}

no caption I can think of would enhance this

{real}

this is what all kid-height surfaces in my house look like -- books, puzzles, books, random baby toys, and books

Be sure to check out Like Mother, Like Daughter for more {phfr}!

busybusybusy

I have so many more posts I want to publish, but every spare minute lately has been absorbed by crafty things, notably sewing!

can't tell you what this is yet.  the big reveal will come in about a month.  isn't it cute though??

adding a little bling to an otherwise plain jersey dress  (inspiration from Anna and her enthusiasm for Alabama Style)

One non-sewing item:  summer means farmer's market, and farmer's market means... jam and pies!!

making do without a pie dish (HOW have I survived 10 years of marriage without one??) -- a rectangular peach pie.  fortunately the flavor is not dependent upon the shape.  yum-a-licious.

And most importantly...

Miriam's junior bridesmaid dress, getting ready to be shortened.  doesn't it look delicious?  the sheen is amazing.

Hope to be back on the bloggysphere next week!

About the Boy (the Sequel)

Just some gratuitous Daniel pictures I recently uploaded.

Hmmm, whoooo could have made this mess?

I suspect Mr. Fishie Lips!  (he's been doing this A LOT lately -- it must feel good on his new teethies)

Look!  I'm up!

Look!  I'm down!

mmmm, nectarine....

it's so tart, I love it!  (he ate the whole thing -- I had to fish the pit out of his mouth, under protest of course)

Welcome Anthony William!

Meet my brother's new son:

isn't he just the cutest little godson ever??

born Sunday night, 10 minutes before his older brother's birthday!

Congrats Joe and Rie, and big brother Damien!

The Great Western Trek, Homeward Bound

One of the things I had really wanted to do for this trip was to keep a family travel journal.  I was inspired by this post years ago, and I figured the girls were old enough now to enjoy adding to it, to record the interesting and funny things that happened on the trip.  Everyone has such different perspectives on what goes on, especially in the back seat where parents can't always hear. :)  This was such a long trip, too, that I knew I would forget so many of those little details that make each trip unique.

But in my many trips shopping for supplies I forgot to buy a notebook.  Sigh.

Looking back through our pictures does help jump start the memory, though.  So here is my extremely belated attempt to continue documenting our wonderful trip.

Our first day heading east we went to the Mall of America.  The last time we were there, Katie was the baby.  So it had changed a lot.  Readers may be shocked to know that it is no longer a Camp Snoopy -- it's some Nickelodeon-themed land now.

Fie!

I guess Snoopy was too out of touch with today's generation of consumers.

But the rides are still fun.

the look on Miriam's face is priceless -- clearly she's conflicted b/c she knows she's probably too old for the ride but she doesn't want to miss out!

Uncle Dan came with us too!  Jo-jo loves his Uncle Dan, who was so obliging and rode all kinds of rides with the kids.

note: on the zoom-around-the-corner cars, put the bigger person on the outside (note Katie getting squished)

I was so thrilled to ride these swings again!  This was one of my very favorite rides at the REAL Camp Snoopy in my younger days.  Jo-jo wasn't sure what to think -- as we lifted into the air he begged to get down, but he didn't panic.  He admitted to enjoying the ride afterwards.

Remember that rambling roller coaster in the first picture?  That was the girls' first roller coaster ride ever!  It turns out Katie is an adrenaline junkie.  This is Mr. Pickles' impression of Katie when he rode with her the first time:

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  This is soooooooo fuuuuuuuuuuun!!!!!!!!!  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!"

It was lots of fun!  Really!

From the Mall (at which we did zero actual shopping) we went straight to some dear friends' who live south of The Cities.  Their oldest was a toddler at our wedding -- all the rest of our kids' birthdays are within a couple months of each other.

Everyone had a buddy, even the babies.

We love spending time with their family -- once again, it was good being with another family who have the same vision.  Plus, they have a trampoline!

And a kickball field!  Their oldest spent a good part of the afternoon mowing it.

The little boys preferred baseball.

 

despite how it looks, no small person was harmed in the making of this photo

While Mr. Pickles and Mr. Moose were happily talking about numbers, we women took all the kids to a local nature preserve which had an AWESOME area for kids.  The park provided shovels and encouraged the kids to play and dig in a stream which ran down a hill.

you can't really tell from the picture, but this stream drops down pretty steeply towards the top right

puddles, oh joy!

getting as muddy as possible was a requirement

Daniel was my little baby backpack buddy

The place was a general outdoor kid heaven.  It was so refreshing -- so many nature centers we've been to have been stay-on-the-trail-and-look-but-don't-touch kind of places -- but this one actively encouraged the kids to dig in and get dirty and experiment with the environment.

Did I mention get dirty?

the fun crew, minus Jo-jo who wasn't feeling cooperative

The evening before we left, we roasted marshmallows in their outdoor grill. 

There were only a couple toasting forks to go around, so we improvised with sticks.

All around a very, very fun couple days.

we're blessed with such good friends