There and Back Again

During this past weekend, we took a whirlwind trip down to Illinois. We were celebrating Rob's Grandma's 96th birthday and there was a big get-together Saturday afternoon. We had a wonderful time seeing many people we (or Rob) hasn't seen in years.

We set out with a small amount of fear and trepidation on account of Matthew's recent potty-training, but our fears went unfounded. I put him in plastic pants for the trip down, but he never needed them and told us everytime he needed to use the potty. One time we were close to the rest stop and we told him he needed to wait. He informed us every few minutes, "I'm keeping the pee-pee in!" And he did! I didn't even need the plastic pants on the way home. He never had an accident while we were there, either. And I must admit, it was very nice having only one child to change!

Both boys travelled well, although they barely napped in the car, which is unusual for both of them. When we arrived, we made a quick potty-stop at Grandma and Grandpa Litwiller's, got the wagon, and walk the few blocks to GG's house. (Rob's grandma) The boys we so excited to see everyone, which included Rob's aunt and uncle who had come up from Florida, both of Rob's brothers, and Aunt Kim (Dan's wife.) We had a nice supper and then Matthew got spoiled rotten with all of his early birthday presents. So far his favorite is the Doodle Pro, but we did watch Spongebob last night (one of his new videos). We'll get the Play-Doh kitchen set out later and I'm sure he'll love that one as well. As least he's old enough to know not to eat the Play-Doh.

We stayed up pretty late and the boys had a hard time settling down, but I didn't mind a bit. Our trip was so short that I wasn't going to fuss with bedtimes. (Besides--they crash on Sunday and Monday after these trips!) I was pretty tired, but I've been tired for a few weeks now with no known cause, so nothing new there.

On Saturday, the boys were up early (of course) and they spent their morning playing with their grandparents. They went for a walk in the wagon and Rob and I took that opportunity to go out a bit. Then we had our big get-together at lunch. That was fun, although Matthew was tired and clingy. He perked up for a little bit, but had a meltdown right as we were leaving. Ben was his usual congenial self, thankfully. We left after packing up the car and saying good-byes, and travelled home.

Both boys slept until supper where we tried to go to a Wendy's. A lady came out and told us that she had just had the worst meal ever and not to eat there. We found a DQ instead and then finished our trip home. Ben was pretty tired of carseats and was cranky for about an hour, but that's nothing new. He's usually cranky on the ride home, as soon as we leave the interstate.

Anyway, we're resting today and very thankful that we went. It would have been nice to have more time, but we're glad for the time we did have. I think I'll go watch Rob play Nintendo with my eyes closed......