Thanksgiving

We went all the way to WI this year for Thanksgiving. We went to see J's Mom, Aunt Chris, Uncle Mike, Aunt Kari, cousin Kallan, his grandma and grandpa. We had a BLAST! We left on Wed about 1. The kids were so good in the car. We only stopped twice for a 7 hour ride. Once for gas and to pee and the other time for a quick park stop and dinner. We arrived in Madison about 8. Our hotel was very nice and the kids were soooo excited. We got everything to bed about 10 (way too late but calming it down was hard). Nobody slept great and everyone was up way too early. After waking at 530 am (ugh) we made everyone lay there till they all fell back to sleep for an hour (E slept cuddling withe me. Best hour ever). By 8:45 we gave up and headed to IHOP for breakfast. The kids had never been. C and E loved it. Scarfed down pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs. Av refused to even touch the toast. J was not thrilled. E was being CRAZY and nothing I had or was doing was calming him. I finally gave in and let him play with a little creamer. Just as J said it ended up splattering all over John and a lady by us. Again J was not thrilled. Last time he will ever take us to IHOP. hehehh After that we went swimming. It was so much fun. Very nice pool. C was over confident in her ability to swim. She kind of forgot in the last few months so was very frustrated. We got her back in her water wings and she was fine after that. E does not love the water like the girls did. After that we got dressed and headed over to Aunt Chris's. We played and made crafts there. The girls loved Kallan (she's 8). After a very yummy dinner (which E slept through and the girls were not impressed by) and a little more playing we headed back to the hotel. We hung out as a fam for a few hours and then went to bed. The girls slept great. E not so much. On Friday I went shopping with J's Aunts and he went to hang with his uncle and let the girls play with Kallan at her house. By 4 we were back at Aunt Chris's for an early dinner and then headed into town to see the town's tree lighting. It was so fun. Perfect weather. First there is a parade of fire trucks that are all decorated with Santa riding in the last one. Santa is lifted up to the tree with a big ladder and after a count down the tree comes on. The kids LOVED it. They all saw Santa and ended up with 3 mini candy canes. They could not stop talking about how they got 3 candy canes. After that we went back to Chris's house for dessert and then back to the hotel. We got the kids in bed earlier (830) that night. They were tired. We all slept till 8 so that was great. On Sat Kallan came to swim with us. When C invited Kallan to come swim w us she told her, "the baby pool is hot." heheh No baby pool just a hot tub. C did a much better job swimming and was much more happy. We swam for awhile. E was much more happier when I let him just play and splash on the stairs. After that we grabbed lunch and headed over to J's grandparents. We hung with them for awhile and then said goodbye to head home. The trip home was as good as it could be. We only had to stop once!! We have some great car travelers.