Road Trip!

I took a gamble and decided to take the kids solo to Sioux Falls to visit my brother, Toby, and his family.  I'm off work the rest of the year, so thought it would be a good time to do it.  I packed up the whole house while the kids were at daycare for a couple hours in the morning.  I packed soooo much stuff (yet still forgot Hailey's toothbrush).

Thursday

We left a little after 9.  It was actually not great weather - there was blowing snow and the drive out of the city was actually the slowest/worst.  The roads got better a little farther south, so we were able to cruise.  My original plan was to hit the road for Miles' first nap, stop for lunch about half way, and then drive the rest of the way.  We were going to stop at the Perkins in North Mankato - turns out it's closed. We kept going, with Hailey having a slight meltdown.  We stopped at a gas station/grocery store in Lake Crystal.  I put Miles in the cart while we ate from their food counter.  Hailey had mac n cheese, a donut, a bite of chicken and lots of ketchup.  We hopped back in the car and ended up making it the rest of the way with no meltdowns and I didn't even have to bust out the tablet!

 

We pulled into Sioux Falls and decided to meet Andrea and Charlie at Bloom, an indoor playplace... we got there and it was closed to the public :( We decided to head to the mall to the let the kids run around and burn off energy.  I still don't understand how malls are open, there are barely any stores open and very few people.  The kids were able to run through the hallways and had the play place almost to themselves.  We got them a snack of pretzels and then went and saw Santa.  Hailey did okay this time, she actually sat near him.  She the spilled her cup of water alllllll over.  We headed back to the play place for a bit before heading to Texas Roadhouse for dinner to meet Toby when he got off work.  The kids did so good! Hailey had so much fun chasing Charlie around and trying to be like him.

We got back to Toby's house to start getting ready for bed.  It was already passed my kid's bedtimes.  We had the basement so I set the kids up each in one of the rooms and then I slept on the couch.  The kids went to bed without issue and I was able to sit and chat with Toby and Andrea until almost midnight. Miles woke up at 2 to eat and then a little after 5 for the day, so I was definitely tired...

Charlie road the saddle while they sung Happy Birthday to Andrea

Friday

Toby had to go to work, Charlie had to go to school, and Andrea had to get some work done in the morning.  We ate some breakfast and then I took the kids to pick up their other cousin, Lily, to bring her to school.  She is at the same middle school that I went to.  It was so weird to see the school as an adult!  After we dropped her off, we headed over to the store to get groceries to make homemade pizza.  I started on the dough while Andrea kept the kids busy and then got Hailey down for an actual nap!  I even had to wake her up to get her ready to go to the Washington Pavilion.  We headed there for the afternoon.  The kids had a blast (only 1 meltdown!).  There are 3 floors of exhibits for the kids to run around and play in.  Hailey loved the one where she was flying as an insect and the one where you put a all in and goes through all sorts of obstacle things.  

After the Pavilion, we went back to the house to make homemade pizza and brownies. After dinner, we got the kids to bed and then watched some Ted Lasso and chatted.  I stayed up until midnight again, ooft.  I dream fed Miles before going to sleep, but he still woke up at 5:45 for the day, so I was dragging again.  

 

She stole Charlie's stuffed spiderman for her nap

Charlie making "Baby Hailey" smile

Miles started to army crawl everywhere, he uses his face as an assist

Saturday

We made pancakes, eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns for breakfast and hung around the house for the morning.  Around 2, I headed over to see Kourt and her family.  Miles had a massive blowout and had to wear some of Kourt's daughters old clothes, it was quite amusing.  Hailey had a lot of fun following her son around and playing with the toys.  From there, we went and got Lily so I could take their family pictures.  Andrea and I took my kids to the store to get stuff to make tacos for dinner.  Hailey HAD to be carried by Andrea the whole time.  We got the kids down for bed after dinner and watched some more Ted Lasso before I went downstairs and finished my book before bed (at 10:30ish, I'm not good at staying up late anymore).  Miles woke up at 2ish again and was up for the day around 6.

 

Toby's puppies - Nora and Rocky

Sunday

We had a quick breakfast and packed up quick to get on the road for Miles' nap.  Hailey was having a rough morning but finally calmed down for Andrea.  

We were on the road right around 9 and Miles napped almost the whole car ride.  He took a bottle in North Mankato and went back to sleep (which is probably why his nap schedule was messed up and he woke up around midnight last night, ugh).  We had zero meltdowns the whole car ride.... It was a Christmas miracle!! I did bust out the tablet for Hailey the last half hour though, just to ensure a peaceful finish.