I recently needed to take a week off work because Matthew was going to be out of town. For those of you that don't know, since Bowen was born, Matthew and I have been working opposite shifts so that we don't need daycare. Matthew starts his day bright and early at 6:30am. By the time he is pulling up in front of the house at 3:45pm, I am ready for work and waiting. Some days he doesn't even turn the engine off and I hop in and drive to work. (Although we have 2 vehicles, we always leave the van where the children are since it's the only vehicle that can fit 4 car seats.) My shift at the hospital is 4pm-12:30am. Once I get off work, I usually have a few errands to run (groceries, gas, drop off recyclables, basically everything that's easier to do alone than while hauling 4 young children in!) and then I go home to get as much sleep as I can until the kiddos start waking me up. I am super lucky, though. Most days they sleep in until 9am. So back to the original point I was making...Matthew needed to go to San Diego for a conference and since I didn't have anyone to watch the kids all night for a week, it was easier for me to request vacation time. Then I started thinking that it would be wonderful to be back in Iowa and Nebraska with family, so with careful planning I decided to make the drive alone with the kids. I have never driven that far alone and never with 4 kids. I checked the weather reports vigorously and the forecast was predicted to be perfect for driving conditions. I thought that we would stop halfway and spend the night in a hotel, but since I wasn't tired (too excited to see everyone!) I decided that it would be easier to keep driving while the kids were sleeping in their car seats than it would be to stop, wake them up, and somehow manage to get them, our luggage, and a pack 'n play into the hotel. They turned out to be fantastic travelers and we made the 800 mile trip in about 13.5 hours. I am one proud momma! (I couldn't have done it without the van's DVD player- it's awesome!)
The first night we arrived in Red Oak at my Dad's house. My nephews Masen and Hudson were there, too, so the kids had a fun sleepover.
Enjoying spending time with Grandpa McGrew
Grandpa and Grandma McGrew with all of their grandchildren
(look at all of those little boys and just one princess!)
Grandpa is feeding Bowen a pear
My dad helped me with the daring task of taking the kids out for lunch. We went to Subway and lunch went smoothly. Mostly because Bowen cooperated very nicely (as you'll see below- he slept the whole time in the stroller).
Tried to get a good picture of me with the kids....it's more difficult than it looks.
I love this picture of my dad with my kids. So cute!
Then we said goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma McGrew and left Red Oak for Lake Waconda to visit more family.
Since our family wasn't able to celebrate Gavin's birthday in Ohio, my mom had a little party for him at her house (complete with Spider-man cupcakes). Poor Gavin was convinced that he was 5 years old, though, since he had had two birthday parties!
Singing "Happy Birthday" to Gavin
The boys love this train whistle they found in Grandma's toy box.
Papa Calvin with Tysen and Gavin
My grandma taught Bowen how to drink from a straw. He likes apple juice!
My lovely sisters
Tysen doesn't love the party hat.
My mom and I
Alexa and Great-Grandpa Morse
We always try to get a "sisters picture" when we all get together since unfortunately because I live in Ohio, that doesn't happen very often. It never fails though....Kara always gets the giggles and they are contagious. I don't even know what she's laughing about. I think Tianna was saying some random numbers like 82, 84 and she thought it was hilarious. I was laughing at her.
This is Kara trying to calm down :) She actually has to look away. Alexa came over because she wanted to know why we were laughing so much.
Cute picture of the girls.
And back to being silly again!
Great-Grandma loves snuggling with Bowen.
The kids found a toy doctor kit in the toy room and they had fun taking care of their first patient, Aunt Kara.
I love how excited he is to give Kara a shot in the hand, ouch!
How would you like to have your blood pressure checked at the same time you get a shot in the wrist? I bet it would be a high reading! Kara was a pretty good patient. She was only screaming a little :)
More snuggles with Great-Grandma
Gavin is showing Great-Grandpa video games on the iPad.
Then we went to Bellevue to visit the Briggs side of the family. The kids had fun with their cousin, Dezirae.
Tysen, Dezirae, and Gavin
It was really cold in Iowa and Nebraska and so we struggled a bit to find indoor entertainment for the kids. We ended up taking them to a McDonalds with a playland so they could climb, run, and play. Of course, they had the most fun when the monster (Grandpa McGrew) was chasing them!
I thought it was really cute to see my dad inside the climbing structure.
The monster is gobbling up the children as they come down the slide!
Now Alexa and Gavin are attacking the monster!
After the playland, we went to see the movie "Wreck it Ralph." I really enjoyed the movie. Alexa and Gavin were really into it, but Tysen had a hard time sitting still. Bowen got fussy briefly and then fell asleep for most of the movie.
It's colder in Iowa than in Ohio!
After the movie, we went to the Bass Pro Shop and walked around so the kids could see the aquariums and animals.
We had a great trip. The drive is just so long, but it was worth it to see everyone. Looking forward to the next time!
