Our trip started off seeing family. Our home base for four days was at my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We saw great-grandparents and the kids were able to play with their cousins for three nights in a row. It was a full four days, but so worth it to see our babes make memories with extended family members.
Next, we headed to New Glarus, Wisconsin to an old farm house. The kids played for hours upon hours on the tire swings outside and we enjoyed visiting some coffee houses and breweries in the area. I'll be honest, this wasn't my favorite stop, mainly because of the VRBO we were staying in, but it was good for me to be out of my comfort zone. My mom came for a night (she was in the area) so Kevin and I could go out for a day date. Bacon and eggs every morning made us feel like we were living on a working farm. We also were able to visit a dairy farm and milk a cow and feed a calf. Who knew that the most exciting thing would not be bottle feeding a calf, but playing with baby kittens?
After New Glarus we went to the Wisconsin Dells where we stayed at Great Wolf Lodge for two nights. Guys, the kids couldn't get enough of it. It was our first time and they loved it. It is sensory overload, for sure, but getting a cabana helped and so did a set of grandparents. Kevin's parents came to the Dells to help and it made our time there so much more enjoyable.
Our last spot was Fort Atkinson, Iowa near Decorah. We stayed in a real life log cabin. It was comfy, tastefully decorated, and had every amenity for a family of five. The home was surrounded by woods and corn fields and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and enjoyed it immensely. I might have had to visit an optometrist at this stop because I had a small glass bead in my eye (so random), but it was still one of my favorite parts of the trip. I'm already trying to talk Kevin into a weekend getaway to that very spot sometime in the future.
I think the #1 thing I learned from our time away from home as a family was it was worth it. It was most definitely hard, but so worth the uncomfortable mattresses, endless sibling arguments in the back seat, and living out of a suitcase. The uninterrupted time together as a family was priceless, so was seeing our kids stretch themselves in the water at Great Wolf Lodge and figuring out that in fact Luke can sleep in a big bed off the floor all by himself. I also learned that it's okay to be uncomfortable and not let my OCD get the best of me. Kevin and I both learned to bite our tongues when things got a little hairy. (This is what saved us.) Although I would not classify those twelve days as a vacation at all, it was most certainly a trip that I will look back on fondly for a long time.
And the second most important thing I learned on the trip: take lots of family pictures. GUYS, I did not get a good family picture over our span of twelve days in the car together. I got precisely one family picture, you can see at the top of this post where Luke is hiding and Lily's face is still scarred from her run in with a poisonous plant in our yard. What the what? I know. How is that possible, you ask? I think it's because I have three babes? I think it's because my husband isn't into pictures? I think it's because I was more worried about nap time than a cute family picture on Instagram? I think it's absolutely because I just kept forgetting. Ugh! Next road trip I will be that woman asking strangers to take pictures of her family at a random rest stop because no child is crying at that very moment. Lesson learned.
We are already dreaming up our next trip together as a family and if it is anything like this one, it will be just what we need when we need it.
No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. -Lin Yutang
How lovely it is to travel and how lovely it is to come home.
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