We are near the end of a two-week Midwest bender. Jordan was right to say – its a trip. Not a vacation. (We’re tired but happy!) I’ll do my best to post pics of all of it.
Wed 7/10 – JNE drive to Pittsburgh and stay with great friends from Notre Dame – the Baltruzaks. (Mollie is Natalie’s first friend from when she is 5 days old. Luke and Elliott hadn’t met yet, but became fast friends)
Thurs 7/11 – Drive to Indy and stay at Doug & Michelle’s. Pool party with awesome and super fun cousins! Hannah (recent college grad), Derek (sophomore in college) and Nathan (high school senior) were all there!
Fri 7/12 – Nana, Pop, and JAC come to Indy too. Erin and Conor fly to Indy.
Sat 7/13 – Cousin Kyle’s and Meghan’s wedding!!!
Sun 7/14 – Day trip to South Bend to see the Kennedys and Busers
Mon 7/15 – Easy day at Nana’s. Lala sleepover.
Tues 7/16 – Pool party at Nana’s!
Wed 7/17 – Anniversary celebration to Hamilton and drinks with friends
Thurs 7/18 – Becky’s birthday! (Erin’s the same age as Becky for 72 hours.) Road trip to Green Bay!
Fri 7/19 – Super hot day. Spent it at a pool with awesome slides. STORMS – see below.
Sat 7/20 – Aunt Lisa’s birthday! We had to bag our plan to go to the cabin b/c of the storms. See below!
Sun 7/21 – My bday. Hang out with Mike, Aunt Lisa & fam. Bay beach. BBQ at Rachel’s.
Mon 7/22 – AM in Green Bay. Drive back to Barrington. Back in the pool and yummy bday dinner – salad nicoise.
Tues 7/23 – J leaves for MA. Lala comes up again.
Wed 7/24 – ENEC flies home
Here’s the Green Bay portion of the trip. Leah came in from Alaska. We spent a ton of time with Becky (the baby lover) and her family. We also got to see some of my cousins – Mike came up from Madison area and Rachel had us all over for a BBQ!
By far the scariest part of the trip was terrible thunderstorms turned into tornado / microburst. Elliott was at his first sleepover up at the cabin an hour away – where a microburst hit and leveled trees about 1/4 mile away from the cabin. He was with Uncle Rob, Aunt Leah, Trevor and Mackenzie. Rob and Leah did an amazing job staying level-headed and protecting the kids from really knowing what was going on. They sang songs during the loudest part of the storm – spoonful of sugar. They slept close together inside the cabin, pulling together mats and cushions from the camper and in the cabin. A tree fell on the roof and took out the power. Jordan, Grandpa, Grandma, Natalie and I had a much easier time, inside a house that kept power and watching The Parent Trap.
Kenzie, you are a cutie!!
Great Grandma, meet my good friend Sophie
Nat and Kenzie played with Natalie’s first kitchen from when she was 1! N made a great kitchen set up for K!
Aunt Becky and Cam – I love my time with you esp. by the pool. Don’t you love my scuba suit?!?
Bath time is the best time! Thanks for buying me a Green Bay tubby Grandma!
Nat and Grandma made many specials treats – here are juice ice cubes. The biggest hit was Natalie root beer floats though!
Cameron is such a baby lover too – he cares so much for Conor! He never was too far away and was a great help by giving him toys in the car. (He was shocked that Conor threw 6 toys during a 27 minute car ride)
Two cuties!
Best buds at Bay Beach! (in front of the Tilt a Whirl)
Bay Beach was bouncin’…. so we played some camp games while in line. Even Grandpa!
Rachie hosted a BBQ at her beautiful house in De Pere! (Pic of little cousin Charlie – 6 weeks younger than Conor – is on someone else’s camera!)
More Aunt Becky time… too bad this fun, loving, extremely attentive auntie didn’t live closer!
BBQ Fun… Mackenzie (almost 4), Conor, Cameron (5), Natalie (8.5), Elliott (6), Charlie (4 weeks), Trevor (7.5), Peter (2)
We had such an amazing visit… all the way up to the last morning, dubbed Camp Grandma (with water balloons, hide and seek and tee pee / fairy house building)
Grandpa is a changed man over the past 15 years… he used to never smile for the camera and now look at that grin! 3 daughters’ weddings and 6 grandkids later!