Here it is. After about two weeks being home, I have finally put together a little video of our trip.
We took a pretty big trip last year, but for some reason this year seemed like a bigger trip. Maybe it was because the girls are one year older and can do more. I think that was because we drove instead of flying. Last year we were able to take advantage of getting two kids on a plane for free. Looks like that isn't going to be happening anymore.
After our trip last year, Jason was desperately wanting to go visit his sister, Kelly, in Appleton, Wisconsin. It was then that I realized that Jason and I have not been out to Minnesota to visit my oldest brother, Ted in almost 10 years. I am pretty sure we had figured out this year's vacation about a year in advance. Luckily Kelly lived only about 5 hours away from Ted, so that made the trip very feasible for us. We also decided to do much of the driving through the night with hopes that the girls would sleep in the car. The longest ride we had been on with the girls had only been about 5 hours long, so we had no clue how they would handle a 16-hour drive to Wisconsin.
On Friday afternoon, I packed up the car and the kids and went to pick up Jason from his work. We left around 4:00pm and didn't arrive at Kelly's house until about 10:30 the next morning. With having to stop for both dinner and breakfast, and stops for gas, it took us about 18 hours to get there. It was a long haul, but we survived. I was impressed with how the girls did.
On the drive out, we ended following this huge thunderstorm all the way from Jason's work to Omaha, Nebraska. For that entire time, the girls were awake. They then woke up again around 3:00am and were wide awake for a few hours. We were concerned with how they would handle it, but they surprised us once again. Jason and I took turns driving while the other napped on the back seat in the van.
We spent our first day in Wisconsin walking around like zombies. The girls were fine; they slept in the car. Kelly and her husband, Jason, took us to Bay Beach in Green Bay on Sunday. That was a blast. It is a small amusement park that is designed for families with VERY reasonable prices. The girls had a lot of fun too. Meghan's favorite ride was the Ferris Wheel. A girl after my own heart.
On Monday, we were on our own. Both Kelly and Jason had to work, so we decided to take the girls to a movie. This was Jason's first experience taking the girls to a movie theater, and it was great. We went to see "Monsters vs. Aliens". We quickly realized that we weren't in Colorado anymore when we went to the concession stand where alcohol was for sale there in addition to the standard concessions. I had never heard of that before.
Tuesday we went to the Children's Museum in Appleton as Kelly and Jason both had to work again. We had a great time. I never had the opportunity to take the girls to a place like this before. I loved how they offered kids rain coats for the kids to wear when playing in the water room. We could have spent all day there if we wanted to.
Kelly was off on Wednesday, and although the weather wasn't cooperating, we decided to go ahead and drive to Lake Michigan anyway. It took us just over an hour to get there, and it sure was beautiful! I wish the weather was nice enough for us to swim! The sand was wonderful and the girls still had fun playing in the sand. We even managed to gather some shells for Nana.
We really enjoyed our time with Kelly and Jason. We ended up playing games nearly every night we were there. My Jason was so excited about the games we played there that he went ahead and ordered a ton of new games for us to play together. Kelly and Jason had a ton of great games that were good for two players. After dinner on Wednesday, we packed up the kids and the car, and we headed off to visit my brother.
It was wonderful visiting my brother and his family. They have come out to Colorado to visit several times, but we never had the opportunity to go visit them until now. What a memorable time it was. The girls LOVED playing with their cousins, Ella and Simon.
On Thursday we took the kids on a little hike before lunch, and then they got to swim after naps. The girls loved swimming in the pool! It was much better than our pool which is a little wading pool. Audrey sat on the ladder for much of the time as she wasn't used to how rough Simon and Ella were playing, but she eventually got over it and jumped around just like everyone else. Jason even got to play softball with Ted and his team that evening.
The cool thing about this trip is that we were able to share Simon's 5th birthday with them. How cool. On Friday we got to go to the Mall of America where Simon and Ella both got to bring a friend with them to share their birthdays with. Ella and her friend went on the rides and Simon took his friend to the underwater adventure. We took that opportunity to take the girls on the giant Ferris Wheel and to Build-A-Bear. The girls each got their own little puppies and named them Charlie and Ruby. After TONS of walking, we took the girls out for some ice cream. I was so proud of how the girls did in the mall. We told them ahead of time that we were not going to bring the stroller, so they had to walk the entire time. And they did.
We were having so much fun that we decided to go with my brother to the fireworks show being held at the High School by their house. Again, the girls did wonderfully. With Minnesota being much further North than Colorado, the sun sets much later than it does here. That meant that the fireworks show didn't start at least until 10:00pm.
I had found some glow sticks at the dollar store earlier that week, so I thought it would be perfect for the kids for the fireworks show. Each kid got a necklace and a bracelet and I only spent $3. Very cool. The fireworks were right in front of us and bigger than ever. The girls had never been to a show before, and I don't think we can ever skip one again. They loved it. There's nothing like being able to feel the pound in your chest as you watch the colors flash across the sky. It totally reminded me of all the years I would go to shows like this as a kid. Especially after being there with my brother. I had forgotten how much I miss being around him. Even though he manages to tease me frequently, I still miss him. That's his way of telling me he loves me.
Saturday we got to spend the 4th of July with my brother's small group from his church at a BBQ. These people totally lived in our dream house. Still within minutes from town, nestled off the road, surrounded by wonderfully large trees, nice large yard, and a beautiful house. Some day we will have something like that. That night my brother and Carolyn grilled some great ribs and put on a fireworks show of our own. That was fun.
It reminded me of "the good ol' days" when my dad and his brother used to put on shows for us when I was little. We could hear the "oohs" and "aahs" from my Nana the entire time. It didn't matter if she had already seen that sort of firecracker before, she would still "ooh" and "aah".
Sunday we went to Ted and Carolyn's church where we got to meet some more of their friends and support group as Ted and Carolyn go off and plant a church of their own. Congratulations guys! We savored our last moments with Ted, Carolyn, and the kids before we had to head home. What a great time we had. It made me miss them so much.
It's not that I didn't enjoy my time with Kelly and Jason, it's just different spending time with someone you grew up with. I know Jason would say he really enjoyed spending time with Kelly. Both parts of our trip were so wonderful and so fun. We had a great time.
We left my brother's house around 6:45pm and arrived home at 7:30am. Again, we were zombies that entire day, but we sure were glad to be sleeping in our own bed again. The cats were glad to see us home too. What a great time we had. There's just one problem...where do we go next year?
