(Alternately titled: The Time We Trekked Across the Midwest Only to Come Down with the Plague)
Pretty much the same day we bought the minivan, Dave started talking about heading northward for a family trip. He
really wanted to make it to visit family before all the snow melted! After planning for a while and talking to some seasoned road tripping veterans, we decided to get the party started at about 3:00 AM one weekday. We made it to Dallas to stop for breakfast before the crazies even woke up for the day! Day #1 of driving went smoothly. We decided to stay at a hotel with an indoor pool in Kansas City to give the girls a little play time. Unfortunately, the pool was a teensy bit on the chilly side, but oh well.
[Cuties in swim suits]
[Piper figured out how to eat these genius squeezy things.]
Blah blah, 19 driving hours later, and we made it to Minnesota! Piper decided to sit out the first snow play session.
We wanted to get some photos done of the cousins while we were in Minneapolis, so the Livingston girls had their first hair appointments. (Cousin Cailynn, on the other hand, is a seasoned salon pro).
[Always so serious]
[First braid EVER]
["Mommy, I a princess!"]
We went to this neat little store where you basically rent studio time for an hour. There were backdrop choices available as well as Easter-themed props. You show up with your own camera, and you even have the option to hook up to their flash thingies. (I'm pretty sure that's the technical term for them). Bonus: you could rent bunnies for your photo shoot!
[Pre- photo shoot kisses]
[Can you tell which one of us wasn't a fan of the bunnies??]
[Cailynn = professional model and bunny enthusiast]
As it turns out, taking pictures of three toddlers is like herding cats. Cats on crack, that is.
Then came the part of the trip for which I have no photo coverage-- you're welcome. Some of the family had recently recovered from a stomach bug which was passed to us! Grandpa and Myla were stricken with it first, soon-to-be followed by Piper, Grandma J, and myself. Dave miraculously avoided it, so he became the laundry man and concierge. While awful, the bug only lasted 24 hours and prevented me from gaining vacation weight.
Other notable additions: At age 27, I still cry every time I throw up. And I'm pretty sure I told Dave I would "rather give birth than go through this!" He wasn't a fan of that comment.
[Dave and Myles managed to go out and play with some bubbles when she started feeling better]
Grandma gave all the girls Easter baskets! She went monogramming crazy since they all have weirdo names that can't be found on the store shelves. :)
We decided to go on with our regularly scheduled barbeque lunch the
day after the plague. Praise Jesus, recovery came quickly.
[Cousin hugs]
[Cousin tears]
[Cailynn has way cooler toys than we do]
[Post-barbeque nap]
We decided to take a little trip to the Mall of America! We purchased nothing. We aren't really a family of shoppers. We can do some serious damage at Buccee's, though. Myla actually enjoyed the rides. (And we all held on securely to our lunches).
Since we had to cancel a big family gathering because of illness, we tried to make up for it by having a family dinner a few days later. Not everyone could make it, but we had a lovely time.
[Precious moments with Pop Pop. Piper really took to him.]
[Myla made herself at home and made tons of pretend dinners for Granny.]
[Pop Pop, Granny, Dave+Myla, Me, Grandma Janet, Piper+ Grandpa Jeff. 4 Generations]!
The next day, we made our way the 5.5 hour trip to Wisconsin by way of an A&W rest stop. This was my first trip to an A&W ever. It didn't blow my socks off.
[Nothing like a good case of toddler carseat-head]
[French fries: a teething baby's favorite food]
We made it to Wisco where Myla decided she was too lazy to bring her own pizza to her face. Enter: Grandma.
In Madison, Dave and I were able to sneak off for a little date day. We headed to the
Great Dane Pub for lunch. It was FAB. I had a Devil's Lake Red Lager and the Wisconsin Cheddar Mac-- served with a soft, warm pretzel. Kill me with carbs. (Can you tell I was feeling back to 100%?) I don't even know what Dave had, because hello, Cheddar Mac.
*Not pictured: 2 days after we arrived in Wisconsin, Dave was stricken with a milder version of the plague. He then passed it along to his mother and sister. Meanwhile, we got a call that 50% of the attendees at our make-up family dinner two days earlier in Minnesota were taken out as well! Gah!
[Hotel lobbying in Monona, Wisconsin]
[Pulling up, but she still seems pretty far from walking.]
This is probably difficult to see, but Dave and I picked up a toy from a cute little shop in downtown Madison. It is a bag of fruits and veggies that you can "cut" with a knife. Piper looks like a creepy little butcher in a few pictures.
Due to our obvious contagion, we has to cancel our last leg of the trip. We had planned on heading to Chicago for a day/night to spend time with some of Dave's old friends and their families. Though there is
no good time to be sick, there were many reasons not to expose these friends to a virus! (One is an accountant in the midst of tax season, two ladies are nurses, two friends have a 6-month-old precious baby. It just wasn't worth the risk).
We decided to take a long, slow road home by way of St. Louis! We explored downtown for half a day.
[and by way of Cracker Barrel, obviously.]
We planned on taking 3 slow days to drive home, but decided we felt good enough to just push through on day 2. So, our first driving day home lasted 6 hours (to St. Louis), and our second driving day home was 14 solid hours. Fun times, I tell ya. Myla passed out in the back clutching her baby. She would wake up every now and then and scream, "NOOOOO!" when she realized we were still in the car. All in all, the girls were champs. As long as they were provided with a steady flow of snacks, they were good to go. They are pretty much like Dave... :)
Not bad for our family road trip initiation, huh?
