What a trip! We made so many memories these past 6 days. I was amazed at how well the kids all did together – they all seemed to get along so well and all of them seemed to have matured so much since we saw everyone in September (including our kids.. I hope). We had lots of outside time, lots of meals together, some fun adventures, and just quality time.
Thursday
We were out the door a little after 5 am. The kids did not sleep – they sang very loudly for a while, not singing the same songs. It was entertaining. It was very foggy out! I was white knuckled driving for a while. We stopped about 90 minutes in for a bathroom break and some more coffee. It was lighter when we left and a little easier to drive.
We stopped about 90 minutes later to grab some Panera for lunch. After eating, we headed another hour-ish to Iowa City to their Children’s Museum. Wow, we were impressed! The place was awesome! So many room with so many activities. The kids loved the exhibit with forces and little pieces of cloth that were sucked in to some tubes and then spit out so they had to catch them. After playing, Dan and Sheri took Miles so he could nap and we drove about 2+ hours before stopping again. We did a potty break and handed Hailey off to Dan and Sheri. It was nice to have some adult conversation without kids screaming or asking for help with the tablet because they clicked on an ad.
We got to the hotel after about 2 more hours of driving and got situated. We headed to the pool to swim a little. The water was not warm! I was also hoping there would be a hot tub.. but there wasn’t. We had dinner in the lobby from a delicious Thai restaurant in downtown Columbia.
Bed time was not so fun. Miles and Hailey alternated being up about every hour, Miles wanted water refill 4 times! Hailey shared the bed with me and she can sure take up space. She was, at one point, lying perpendicular to me and kicked me in the face…
Friday
At 5:45, Miles’ little head popped up from his pack n play and says “It’s green!”… the sound machine was definitely still red. We had breakfast in the hotel and then watched some cartoons. Once everyone else was up, we headed off to Jeff and Nancy’s to play outside and run around.
We went to the zoo — Miles fell asleep on the drive over and I stayed in the car with him for about 15ish minutes to get him a little more nap time. The zoo is free! And had great exhibits. The animals were all very active. We all thought it was so cool to watch the giraffes run. Miles LOVED the gorillas. After a couple of hours at the zoo, we went back to the hotel for a short rest before heading back to Jeff and Nancy’s for dinner. Kids loved playing. They were enjoying wandering around the house with Walkie Talkies and saying things like “Blue Cat, do your mission then return to HQ (which was downstairs).
Saturday
The kids were up early, but way better than the night before. I went for a 8 mile run. It felt so good! The weather was great, a little cool but perfect for running. I did get chased by a dog in a neighborhood when I had to head off the trail due to a detour. After my run, I showered and headed over to Jeff and Nancy’s to meet everyone else. The kids played outside, Miles really wanted to go on the wheeler. The kids went kitty hunting and played hide and seek. I took Miles back to the hotel so that he could nap. It took a bit but when he finally calmed down, he took a great nap snuggled next to me. He woke up from his nap though so sweaty! And grumpy.
We went to the pool and swam just a little bit before heading downtown for the party. The kids had so much fun running around the party. Tim was surprised! The food was great, it was amazing to see the people that showed up for the party, such an amazing group of people for an awesome person! Hailey loved clapping at everyone’s story and singing Happy Birthday. We got the kids home and in bed around 9pm.
Sunday
They kiddos slept in until about 620. I took them to the breakfast area and they didn’t really eat. We did some tablet time, then they hung out with Grandma and Grandpa. Joel got back from pickleball around 10 and we went down to the pool to swim with the cousins.
I headed out to do lunch with a friend from college. It was so awesome to catch up with her! We went to The Shack and then went back to her parent’s house to chat. After that, I met everyone over at Tim’s house to check out his place and say hello. Miles was cranky. Hailey ate 3 crispy creme donuts….
We packed up and went to have dinner at Jeff and Nancy’s. I took Miles home early since he was still sort of cranky. We went to the grocery store and wandered around a bit before going to the hotel.
Monday
The kids slept in until 7! Hailey woke up at 1 am singing Happy Birthday but went right back to sleep. Miles woke up at 5 am but Joel told him not to get up yet… and they both ended up not getting back up until 7, WHAT!
We went over to Jeff and Nancy’s and the kids played outside. We decided to go to SkyZone about 45 minutes away. The person working there was SO generous, he let us in for free and gave us socks because we have a membership elsewhere. He also let all of Russ and Michelle’s family in for free and got them socks as well.
After SkyZone, we went back to the hotel to change. Hailey and I walked over to CVS to pick out a card for Toby’s birthday. Hailey picked out a $10 singing hedgehog card, but she was so excited about it! We had dinner at Jeff and Nancy’s and then celebrated Toby’s birthday with some ice cream cake from Cold Stone. Side note, the cookie dough cake from there is AMAZING. The kids played a bit longer, the littles all played Grandpa Monster and hid under the bed stealing his shoes and laughing so hard.
We headed back to the hotel after some family pictures to get to bed since we were driving home early.
Tuesday
We were out the door around 5. The kids were CRANKY. We stopped and got Starbucks about half hour into the ride. Joel moved the car seats apart since the kids were fighting and Hailey was mad because Miles was looking at her. We gave in and gave them tablets a couple of hours into the ride. Miles was pretty cute when he would get into an ad or something he couldn’t get out of, he would say “Help Hailey” and hand it to her to fix. I took a little rest and Joel drove. We stopped in Waverley, IA for lunch at a McDonalds – they have the largest McDonalds Play Place in Iowa – it was great! Joel and I ate HyVee Chinese food and then made our way the rest of the way home sans kiddos (Dan and Sheri were amazing and took the kids in their car). It was great to be back in our house after a long day in the car.
Just some other pictures that I didn’t fit into the other spots:
