Pat and Lara’s Wedding in Kansas City

We headed to Kansas City on Thursday to celebrate Mike’s brother Pat and his fiancé Lara’s wedding.  The road trip up was fantastic and took us a little over 9 hours with a few potty stops, and a stop for lunch and playing at the park.  We left after loading up in the morning and drove until lunchtime with the kiddos watching their movies, coloring and reading books.  After grabbing lunch we pulled up at this amazing park and played for a bit before heading out again.  Then both of the kiddos napped and Mike and I got some “date time” in.  He worked on his best man speech and we enjoyed the scenery and conversation.  The kiddos ended up sleeping until we were about 30 minutes out from the hotel so we made the final push.  It was again a great travel day.   Once at the hotel we grabbed dinner and then Thomas started complaining about not feeling well…boo!  After a little recharge we met a few people and Mike’s family in the hotel lobby/bar area.  After a bit of mingling we headed back up to the room to get the kiddos to sleep and all was well until it wasn't and T was up throwing up in the middle of the night.  When your tummy isn’t feeling the best and you haven’t had much to eat…pounding Shirley Temples and maraschino cherries might make anyone hurl!  Thankfully for him it was quick and once everything was out he was able to go back to sleep and never had any further episodes.

On Friday morning Thomas was up and eating so after some morning time at the hotel we got out and went to explore Union Station.  The entire building is a must see if your in KC.  The architecture and building were absolutely breathtaking.  The building housed many things to do/see, restaurants, and connecting tunnels to other buildings in the downtown area.  We decided to explore Science City before meeting Mike’s parents and Grandparents for lunch.  We had a great time exploring the science area and the kiddos were able to burn off some energy.  Then it was naptime and getting ready for rehearsal and Groom’s dinner.

The boys headed over to practice their roles in the wedding, while Elin was still asleep.  Thankfully our shy guy really enjoys being a “big helper” and a “big brother” and did great walking down the isle after a little coaching from Daddy.  Phew, Mike and I had talked about the possibility of his nerves getting him, but knew if we could get him in a good place he would be successful, after his practice success, we were fairly certain the wedding day would work out too…

After rehearsal we got ourselves ready and then it was time to head to the dinner portion of the night.  It was held at a brewery where we had some very yummy BBQ and were able to kick off the wedding weekend.  That night we lugged the kiddos to a bar so we could continue hanging out with the family and also meet up with some of our Denver friends who had come in for the wedding.  The kiddos both fell asleep while we were there and after about an hour we headed back to the hotel for bedtime.  Our kiddos were troopers and we were so thankful that they could hang so we could still be out and about enjoying a little “adult” time. 

Saturday morning came early and we were again back at it.  We thought the kiddos would need to burn some energy so we went to Union Station again to see some more things, but we were wrong, they were exhausted.  For lunch Thomas and Mike joined Pat and the other groomsmen for a pre wedding lunch while Elin and I met a friend and then met up for naps.  By the time I got to the hotel, Thomas was already sound asleep and Elin was close behind.  Mike was ready and off to help get Pat ready and take the wedding pictures and while the kiddos slept I relaxed and then got myself ready.  They both got great naps in and woke up with just enough time to get them ready and get us out the door in time for family pictures.  The wedding went off without a hitch and Thomas did a great job walking down the isle.   His mama did everything in her power to resist the urge to take her own pictures and instead waited on the professional photographers pictures which you can see here.  After the ceremony he also ran back to escort his flower girl back down the isle and Elin did a pretty good job of staying quiet during the ceremony too.  Then it was time for mingling and the cocktail hour.  Thomas and Elin were both hungry and ready for their much awaited “fizzy drinks.”   After dinner and the speeches it was time for the dance and the kiddos were ready to rock and roll.   After lots of “fizzy drinks,” dancing and catching up with family and friends the kiddos crashed and Mike and I rested our feet before heading back to the hotel. On Sunday morning after some rest we had breakfast with the family and then loaded up and were on the road home again.  We planned to do things about the same and stop in Tulsa (1/2 way) for a late lunch/play date but we were rained out.  We stopped for lunch and got some wiggles out and then continued on the road.  The kiddos were both exhausted so this worked and they slept, watched movies, and chilled until our dinner stop and more in the car wiggles to get out.  Rain on a road trip is a real bummer.  It was another road trip without any hiccups…so wonderful and glad that the kiddos are are flexible with travel as they are.   What a great wedding weekend with the Laschen family and congratulations again to Pat and Lara!

Driving Back to Texas

Our original plan was to leave to head back to Texas after lunch, but with the weather forecast we decided we needed to get on the road sooner.  We packed up most of our stuff on Thursday night so we were ready to load the car as soon as we woke up.  We were up, packed up, and on the road by 8:15 a.m.. The kiddos were exhausted from all the Minnesota fun but Thomas (who has stronger will power than most) refused to nap the whole trip again!  Elin fell asleep about 10 and slept until our first stop at 11:45.  We then had a potty break, got lunch and then it was back on the road.  We had very windy, blowing snow conditions which kept us both on our toes as Mike drove.   About 3:15 the kiddos started to get really squirrely as Thomas was tired and Elin was done in the car.  Thankfully we were close to our mid point stop in Kansas City.  Upon our future sister in law’s recommendation we called ahead and found out about a rec center that had a pool for the kids to swim at.  We pulled in not a moment to soon, and just shy of complete frustration melt downs from all of us.   I took the kids swimming while Mike went and took Stella for some exercise.   We then grabbed dinner and packed back into the car for the 2nd half of the trip.  The kids were asleep within the first hour and Mike and I decided that we would drive as far as we could, even possibly ending up at home.  About 10:30 we made the call that we would push on the last 4 hours and sleep in our own beds.  It didn’t hurt that the weather forecast for Saturday was for 70 degrees.  After 2 weeks of freezing temperatures we were ready for some outside time and our own beds.  The kiddos slept and we made a few stops but we again had an uneventful trip home.  We pulled into the neighborhood at 1:30 a.m. ish, it was a long day, 17 hours to be exact! 

Getting inside was a massive scramble as the kids were over tired and confused and Thomas was very upset that he didn’t drive the car?!  A dream I guess, but it made for a very irrational and hysterically sad little boy.  Mike grabbed the stuff from the car and we were all sound asleep by 2 a.m.  Glad the trip was over, but thankful that it went as safe and easy as it did. 

Road Trippin’ from Texas to Minnesota

*this is a boring post-for our family’s record books-feel free to skip it!

We took off on our 1st long road trip with 2 littles on Friday afternoon about noon.  We originally planned to leave about 2, but we had back checking on the weather and rain/freezing rain was heading into Texas and Oklahoma a little sooner than we expected so we thought it best to try to get ahead of it. 

We ended up starting out the drive and Elin took a nap while Thomas watched a movie.  When Elin woke up she quickly told us she had to go potty and so started a 15 hour road trip with a little girl who refused to go potty in a diaper.  She must have thought we were nuts because we were pulling out all the stops trying to convince her it was a good idea, no luck.  So we made our first pit stop, got gas, and froze as it was cold and raining. 

We then continued to drive along at this point it was close to 4 p.m., and Thomas still hadn’t napped.  So we thought if we could make it to dinner about 5, he could eat and then end up going to sleep sometime after that.  We ended up being able to drive until 5:45 before the littlest one wanted to go potty again and we stopped for dinner.  After getting some wiggles out and grabbing dinner we were back in the car. 

We were still battling rain but the roads at this point were not icy so that was great.  We drove a little further and needed to stop for another potty break and then the best thing happened, both of the kiddos went to sleep!  It was now 7:30 and we were just about to Joplin, Kansas.  After doing some talking with our parents, our impromptu meteorologists, and consulting my radar app on my phone, we realized that the freezing rain was going to keep following us until Kansas City, our original stopping point for the night.   We decided it would be best if we kept pushing on and stopped in Des Moines, Iowa. 

In the middle of our drive as he was sleeping Thomas’ nose started to bleed, Elin woke up one more time to go potty, and we considered stopping until we saw cars coming up behind us covered in ice.  We also got a text message from one of Mike’s co workers that was making the same drive but got out of town a bit later and they were driving through freezing rain about 2 hours behind us.  That was all we needed to push on.  We arrived at the hotel about 1 a.m. (I think) got everyone inside and we were all quickly asleep.  It was a long 12 hours in the car, but it totally could have been worse!

Once we woke up we had breakfast and then got ready to get the kids into the pool.  That is when the key situation happened.  Somehow between breakfast and Mike running out to the car, the keys were misplaced, and we thought Elin may have flushed them in the toilet.  After we both calmly frantically searched it wasn’t until I was on the phone with my parents and Mike was calling the dealership; that I thought to check by our breakfast area.  Low and behold, they were in the coffee machine!  Elin, seriously?  So then we regrouped, cancelled the tow truck and got the kiddos in their swimming suits.  While Mike took them swimming, I took Stella outside for some exercise.  We then loaded up and were on the road for our last 3.5 hours in the car to Woodbury, MN.

We had one potty break and filled up on gas and then the kiddos, both exhausted from swimming, took naps until we pulled into Nana and Papa’s house.  We had safely made it to Minnesota and the first 16 hour road trip wasn’t that bad, in fact I would say it was pretty easy, but it made me nervous our trip back to Texas would be more difficult.  Anyway onto MN freezing cold, snow, and family adventures!