xoxoxoWell our trip to Minneapolis is winding down … we’re in our hotel in West Virginia for the final night. We’ve got about 7 hours to go – it was just too much to do in one day. We are really looking forward to getting home (and having home cooked meals) and getting back into our routine. Plus, Nana will be there when we get home tomorrow!!! Unfortunately, we both have to work on Monday. Ugh.
We had a great time in Minneapolis seeing Kay graduate and Ben play baseball … and visiting my family in Wisconsin and friends in Chicago. (We even have Portillos to bring home…and I had Lou Malnati’s Pizza last night, yeah!)
The kids have been 100X better than we anticipated (thank God to the person who invented CAR TVs!!) Snacks helped too. They get a little cranky after about 8 hours, but what’s to be expected, ya know?
The trip wasn’t TOTALLY uneventful … poor Sam got two speeding tickets in Wisconsin – the last one at 1:30 in the morning and only 15 miles from our hotel. The trooper was a …witch. With a B. Funny insert: the trooper asked Sam why he was speeding to which he WANTED to reply “to get there faster, DUH” (but he didn’t say that of course) … and when she wrote him the ticket he tossed it on the dashboard and as we drove away he said “Man she was a b—ch!” All three kids had just woken up (it was 1:30 in the morning) and they kept saying “man she was a b---ch” until he finally got them to believe he said she was a WITCH. The (not so) funny thing is that we re-routed our GPS to take us off the highway and through back roads because it was the shortest distance, rather than the fastest time. Had we not have done that … it’s likely that Sam wouldn’t have gotten that second ticket. All about choices.
We are afraid Zach’s future might be in the police field – he was the OFFICIAL watcher of the no U-turn signs, no left turn signs, caution signs, are we speeding, etc. Every U-turn, he was all over Sam about why we were turning around, was there a no U-Turn sign, etc. What a goof.
Oh and by the way we got a cracked windshield … just our luck, right, since our car has a cracked windshield too?! We hit traffic in some areas, but NOTHING like the traffic we hit coming back to Chicago last night … we officially decided there is no way in hedoublehockeysticks could we live with that much traffic anymore.
Just a quick thanks to the friends and family who showed us above and beyond hospitality….as well as our babysitter, Liz, who watched the animals for us this last week.
Well …… Signing out from Huntington, WV ….
Lots of love to all …
Rachel
PS: Congrats to our nanny Rachel who got married tonight!
Well since the CHICAGO CUBS can’t seem to get a win lately, we were fortunate that we got to see Ben’s baseball team (THE CUBS) WIN on Thursday in Minneapolis.
Ben pitched the first 2 innings and had 5 strike outs and only gave up one run. (Let me clarify – the one run – it was hit by a kid that was at least twice the size of ALL of the other kids. He was like Sam’s height!) Ben was walked twice and he stole 5 bases (UNREAL!)
Anyway, here’s some pictures of the future MLB star :)
On our way back from Minnesota we were able to stop in Fond du Lac, WI to visit my family – we had a great afternoon with a picnic and all the kids had a blast playing together. I loved meeting my niece who I had never met before, and seeing all my other nieces and nephews! Everyone has gotten so big …. where did the time go??
Holy shoot, holy crud and dang-it are Zach’s favorite new words. Yes, I know. He’s a potty mouth. However, all three apply to what Marley Willy has done to our steps going upstairs. He has not chewed up ANYTHING … except for this. Of course, this is something that can’t just be replaced – it is going to take a major renovation to fix. We really can’t complain though – he has been a great puppy so far – and he even has a few little tricks now, like sit and shake…..if only we can make him STAY that would be good. My poor neighbor Kurt has been dubbed the dog catcher – every time the dog accidentally gets out (which means every time he pushes the kids aside when they open the front door), Kurt sees me trying to chase he comes to the rescue and gets him back home!
Anyone have any idea on how to get him to stop chewing this?
On our way to Minneapolis we were able to make a stop “home” to visit friends … here’s some pictures from the visit.
We went to the Mall of America today since the weather was (go figure) gloomy! Along with the carousel that the girls LOVE, Zach wanted to go on his first roller coaster, the Orange Crush. He was pretty freaked out, BUT (surprisingly) he didn’t cry!
Kay and Kory rode a few of the rides too .. got some great pictures. We also had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe – and if you have been with my blog for awhile, you’ll remember that last year when we took Zach to RFC he cried and cried because he was afraid of the thunder, and the frog. NOT this time – he thought it was way cool. Amazing what a year will do to a kid!
Building race cars at Lego Land – he was so serious! 
