Well, my goal with this blog was to post at least once a week...but a trip to Illinois interrupted that goal! We left home on 1/14 with grandson, Calvin, 5, in tow...4+ hours in the car and thank goodness for DVD players and Nintendo DS! He still asked "are we there yet" a few times, but overall it was a good trip. Arrived at Will's (7) house and stayed overnight.
Left Friday morning with both boys for our big trip to Illinois...they had never been there and with no school the following Monday, we had the opportunity to show them where their Dad/Mom grew up and lived...and visit the great grandparents and extended family. I tried really hard to document the trip, but it was BUSY! We had not traveled with youngsters in the car for many years! But what fun we had. We stopped at the famous Iowa 80 truckstop for lunch...they checked out the video games, toys, ate lunch and exercised their legs walking around before we got back in the car to continue the trip. We counted the states we were visiting and Papa tried to throw in a little history along the way...that teacher in him just comes out sometimes! The boys listened patiently...most of the time. Then something would catch their eyes and the questions would start again.
We arrived in Washington, Illinois, on Friday evening and had dinner with Great Grandma & Grandpa Addler, Nancy & Dave and Bruce & Chris. The boys got roughed up by Dave & Bruce...something they probably needed after being in the car most of the day. We spent the next 2 nights staying at my brother John's house...he and Les and the girls, Kayla & Megan provided all the fun the boys needed being away from home. Kayla, 7, and Megan, 5, are great friends of the boys...they have fun together at the resort each summer so it was special to see them in the winter...the kids played non-stop. I had packed 4 bingo cards from the lodge and a bag of "prizes" to play in the car...and the boys thought it was so cool they played several games with Kayla & Megan. It was heart-warming to watch them have so much fun with their "cousins". We went to visit Great Grandma Lee on Saturday afternoon, along with my brother, Dave, & Brenda, Kristin & Rob. Will & Calvin found quiet ways to entertain themselves and again, were so well-behaved in a different environment. We were proud of them and told them so. We left our car with my brother and drove our "new" car home...leaving on Sunday morning for the trip back.
Well, this trip back was very eventful! We had reserved a night at The Hotel Rome in Wisconsin Dells. As we got closer to that destination, we started telling the boys about the Dells...well, enough said...when we got off the exit the "wows" and "look look" started non-stop. They were so excited...and I think we were thinking...are we really going to go down those water slides??? We arrived at the hotel, registered and the boys spotted the arcade area and asked to go...I think the arcades proved to be the FUN spot of the hotel. We did drag them away from there and checked into our room as they oohed and aahed over the bunkbeds in the room. We all got our swimsuits on and trekked over to the water park...and had a blast for 3+ hours! Even these old folks had fun! We swam, floated down the lazy river, sat in the hot tub and "played" with the boys. We were surprised at how much fun it was...for these old folks! Now we can say we've been to a water park...it makes our pool at the resort a little less exciting but...no...we're not adding those slides and fountains! The Dells has it all...and I'm sure we'll be back!
We arrived in Shakopee MN Monday afternoon, dropped off a very exhausted Will and continued our trip to Bemidji to drop off our other short person...we heard later from all their parents that they were very tired boys!! Well, I think the grandparents were tired too!
We are so thankful that we were able to spend this time with the older grandsons...and we look forward to future trips with the other grandkids...and we think 2 at a time is a good number! If the kids on the trip outnumber the grandparents...it could be scary! So, Ben & Nathan, you're next...just let us get rested up first! And thanks, parents, for letting us create such blessed memories with our grandsons!
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