1. We took a quick driving trip to Ohio to visit my sister and her family. Although 11 driving hours each way with five children isn't the first thing I think of when I ponder fun things to do, but our time with them was totally worth all of those hours in the car. The kids actually did very well in the car, so I really can't complain. We decided to leave on Thursday after Josh got home from work, and just drive a couple of hours to "take the edge off" of the long journey. Well, Josh and I got sucked into our book on tape (I'll get to that), before we knew it, it was 11:30pm and we had four sleeping children. So, by the time we got checked into our hotel room, it was as if the kids had just had a really great power nap, and they were ready to par-tay! Annnnd, because I am a minimalist, and knew my sweet sister had a second pack-in-play waiting for us at her house, I thought, "how bad can it be for the twins to share a pack-in-play for one night?" I concluded that anything can be done for one night, and it would be foolish to waste car space on a second baby bed for a short night of sleep. Oh boy was I wrong! If you add up all of the factors against Josh and I getting any sleep that night- hotel, long & late power nap for kids, all seven of us crammed in a small hotel room, twin one-year-olds, etc...I really don't think that second cage-bed would have made much difference, but I tell you, I was cursing all things beds that night while AWAKE pretty much the whole d#$*^ night.
2. With large quantities of coffee in our systems (mine and Josh's), the journey continued the next day without a hitch. After arriving at my sisters, we were well taken care of, and we had a second baby bed!! We hardly saw the three older boys the whole time because they were busy playing indoors and outdoors with their cousins. They had the time of their lives, and begged us to stay in Ohio. Their request was tempting, but since going AWOL is frowned upon, we denied their requests and journeyed home. Plus, my sister needed to get her house back in order after the twins had rearranged everything.
3. Speaking of the twins, we had the extra eight arms that we have been wishing for ever since they were born! Ahhh, it was so nice to have a team of willing and capable helpers to give Josh and I a break from digging them out or off of various places.
4. So, the highlight of our trip, and really the main reason for the journey, was to witness Abe and Jude's First Holy Communion. It was beautiful, and they were the most handsome boys of the whole crowd. My sister hosted a fantastic celebration afterward- good food, good fun and good company.
On this trip we confirmed that Ben LOVES animals. We were able to spend some time with my sister's in-laws, whose house is the location of all of their farm animals. They have a cow and goats, and Ben was in awe of them all, and we almost couldn't prey his little fingers off of the fence to leave. Ben also loved her dog and cat (at her house) and would squat down to talk to the dog as often as he could. Sam, on the other hand, has a deep fear of dogs, but by the end of our trip would actually walk passed the sleeping dog to get to whatever he needed.
5. So, that book on tape was, the book Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. I can't recommend it enough. I actually read it back when... I was pregnant with the twins, living in the mouse-infested hotel for almost four months, after being without our belongings for five months, at which point the housing company told us it would be "yet another week" until our house was ready...and it got me through that last week of waiting. It actually only took me a short time to read it, but that book really put my "hard times" in perspective, and all of a sudden I felt like I was in Disneyland compared to what the main character suffered through. It is a true story, and is definitely one of the best books I have ever read, and Josh would agree that it is one of the top reads of the hand full of books he has read.
Thank you Schmiesing Family for hosting a bunch of sleep deprived, and loud, crazy Conways. We always feel so welcome in your home, and it is so nice to visit a place that we are merely adding to the noise and fun, not creating it! Also, thanks for the virus you sent us home with:)
6. Hooray, we finished school for the summer! The local schools do not finish until almost the end of June, so we will have a nice month of enjoying local amenities before the crowds hit. To celebrate our hard work, the family went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I have to say that our wild brood is usually very well behaved at restaurants, but this was not one of our better experiences- it was a combination of us and the restaurant both having an "off" night that made the evening a disappointment- some of the highlights were Henry cutting his finger with a steak knife while attempting to cut a peanut, and Ben throwing a plate on the floor which shattered loud enough to grab the attention of the entire place.
7. Unrelated to anything else, Josh was given a day off of work yesterday as a "family day" which is just an excuse for a four day weekend, but we'll take it! He signed us up for an invitation for a few military and their families for VIP status at the filming of the Today Show down on the shore for the Today Show's concert series featuring the band Fun. As tempting as it was, I declined to attend with the three younger boys, so he and Henry and Sean left the house at 4:30am in morning and drove to the shore. They had a blast and had front row standing for the boys' first concert. The four of us stay-behinders enjoyed seeing them multiple times on TV. William would wave and say, "Hi Dad!" And then disappointingly say, "Why isn't he waving at me."
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