We Must Be Crazy

Taking 3 kids (ages 4.5, 3 and 4 months) on vacation isn’t really a ‘vacation’, it is just taking the elaborate production of baby/kid-care on the road. Matthew needs meds 7 times a day, he eats 6 times a day and I pump milk for him 5 times a day. We have something to do every 30 minutes of our waking day and that is just for Matthew.

Anyway, every 5 years Darren’s extended family has a reunion in Minnesota. So, we packed up the Expedition with all of our baby/kid paraphernalia and drove the 2800 miles round-trip. We had some moments of complete chaos, when 2 of the 3 would be screaming, but overall the kids did really well being in the car for the 48 hours plus. More importantly, we had a great time visiting w/the 100+ members of the family for those 7 days.

Highlights from the week:

Jackson turned 3! I ordered a cake from the local grocery store and should have been more specific, as I didn’t expect to have flowers on a “Happy Birthday Jackson” cake. We just flattened the flowers with Toy Story 3 figurines and it was great.

The resort was wonderful, on Leech Lake with a small beach for the kids to play in the sand. The weather was ideal; high seventies during the day. We enjoyed the beach, the lake, the boat, the turtle races, the food, the drink, the games, and the time spent catching up.

The kids had a blast especially playing with cousin Myranda (early teen). She was the Pied-Piper of the preschool set playing hide and seek, chase, etc. Jackson has become fond of saying, “I willy willy like Muh-wanda” and “where’s Muh-wanda?” I thought he might cry when I said she wasn’t coming home with us.

We were reminded again how lucky we are to have the family we do. They are fun, loving (some may even say fun-loving), and all around fantastic people. We’d love to hang out with them even if we weren’t related!

The week was all too short and we look forward to seeing everyone again…hopefully sooner than 5 years from now.