Back

Back from a long blogging break and back from our 10 day Midwest vacation. We had a great time and were incredibly impressed with the girls' adaptability and good cheer. That's not to say that there weren't any bumps along the way, but all things considered it was a great success.
Here's a little summary of our trip along with my favorite pictures (For all of the photos go to: https://picasaweb.google.com/Margaret.G.Burman/10DayMidwestAdventure?feat=directlink)

We left around 7am on Friday the 10th and drove to Boston. A was entertained for the first part of the drive by some audio recordings of some of her favorite stories read by myself, Mike, and my parents (and some other family members) Once the stories were over though we were "entertained" by A's frequent asking of "if we were there yet" and "where's the airport". We parked the car at the park n' fly lot and took a shuttle to the airport (which, due to bridge construction, took longer than our Milwaukee-Madison flight would). We had left early, wanting to allow enough to get through security with our family of 4, but we were through security and at our gate by 9:30 and our flight wasn't until 11:50...and it was delayed. So we had a long time to wait at the gate, but the girls did amazingly well.

Tip for those of you with 3 year olds who have never flown or who have yet to sit in the "big" seat on their own: DO NOT BUILD UP HOW EXCITING IT WILL BE TO SEE THE HOUSES GET SMALLER AND SMALLER LIKE FAIRY HOUSES AND HOW YOU WILL FEEL LIKE A BIRD FLYING. Because when your small child is strapped into the seat, you know what they can see out the window? Nothing, nada, zilch, and it's very disappointing!

Neither girl slept on either flight, and I got quite the arm work out holding squirmy C on my lap, but both girls were in good spirits and we arrived in Madison on time, with all 10 pieces of luggage. Whoa!

The next morning we got up early again and drove to Chicago in a rented van with Bubbie and Grandpa Garry for Mike's cousin Justin's Bar Mitzvah. A took care of the "where will she nap?" dilemma by napping across two chairs during the service and C, who was trying to add a lot of her own thoughts to the ceremony, hung out with me in the main area of the temple for a lot of the service. But it was wonderful to see so many family members and C got to meet Super Bubbie for the first time.

I got to ride next to C in the back of the van, a rare treat!

We drove back to Madison mid afternoon and were glad to have the next 5 days travel free.

On Sunday we went to the Zoo. The Henry Vilas Zoo is beautiful and amazingly free. One of my favorite parts was the little vegetable garden with signs telling which vegetable is being grown for which animal. A's Rainbow Flower Fairy's favorite part seemed to be all the wooden paintings of animals with holes cut out for her to put her head in. But she also loved the playground area, seeing Joshua Giraffe, feeding the goats, going on the carousel and riding in a little train with Mike.

I'm not sure who's having more fun: Mike or Addie!

 

Despite appearances, this was not at the zoo! This is Tituf, Bubbie and Grandpa Garry's Newfoundland 

With Uncle Jon :)

On Monday we hung out with some other relatives at a playground and A had fun playing with her second cousin. 

 On Tuesday we visited the Madison Children's Museum. The museum was redone almost a year ago and I cannot speak highly enough about it. It was simply beautiful and inspirational. The Art Studio was phenomenal and I didn't want to leave. But since we had to, we came back again the next day for another visit!

Great Aunt Jill came to visit us in Madison and we celebrated an early Father's Day on Tuesday. Sadly I did not have any photos of our party. But here are some other ones from our time with Uncle Jon and Bubbie and Grandpa Garry.

 Our Madison stay culminated with a round of mini-golf. After dinner we put the girls in pajamas, packed up the car, and headed west towards Northfield, MN for our college reunion. We had thought this was a brilliant idea because we would be doing the long drive while both girls were sleeping. C did sleep, but we hadn't been counting on the fact that A would be wired and would excitedly shout "I'm going to college!" for  a majority of the drive, and wouldn't end up falling asleep until after midnight when we were in our room!

 It was great being back at Carleton and so wonderful to see so many friends. A enjoyed playing with a lot of our friends' kids as well. And apparently they were more exciting to take pictures of as I didn't take any photos of my own friends! It was a very different experience being there with two kids. But I was glad that we went and all in all it went much smoother than we had expected (with the exception of a large mirror falling off the wall of A and C's room, shattering into a million pieces, and amazingly not injuring either of them). 

A with her fairy wand

Fairy face paint (the glitter from this is still in her scalp!)

Crumpling up zoo book photo place mats is fun!

A in front of a discovered Fairy Park in someone's front yard

Family photo in front of the Carleton sign, and the only evidence that I was actually on this vacation!

On Sunday we headed north to Mendota Heights to spend the night with my extended family. We had a wonderful dinner and the men competed in a Father's Day obstacle course to win a coveted prize $5 off Applebee's coupon. 

The obstacle course!

That night A was having trouble sleeping and was saying how much she wanted to be home. I told her she could close her eyes and imagine that she was in her bed at home and think about the beanbag being of there, and the windows here etc, etc. She said, "Mommy, tomorrow night when we're back home will you shine my flashlight around my room so that I don't think that I'm back here?" !!! What?! She is constantly amazing me! 

Since the airline canceled our noon flight the next day and booked us on the 6 am flight, we had to wake up at 3:30 am to get ourselves to the airport on time. But we did it and after a full day of planes, shuttle buses and automobiles, we finally made it home to Saco.  And even though we thoroughly enjoyed our vacation... it feels good to back!