Aunt Kelly

A weekend with AUNT KELLY!

This has been a much anticipated trip for my kids. They have been anxiously waiting, asking, packing and getting ready to go visit Aunt Kel. Friday morning was one of the longest mornings of my life. We were leaving around 1pm so that meant that I had almost 6 hours to distract them. There were even tears, "why can't we leave for Aunt Kelly's now?" And 2 and 4 year olds don't understand that Aunt Kelly has to work till 5.

After finally making it to 1pm, driving 4 hours and 20 minutes (without stopping), we arrived in the wonderful city of Madison for a fun filled weekend.

Any house not there own is always WAY more exciting. The spiderman table cloth that Kel had bought for our visit was the first thing they saw and that was just the beginning. She had fun movies (they just enjoyed looking at all the cases), Dr Seuss books, she had a pull up bar (lots of hanging on that), she had a yoga mat that acted as our flying carpet for the weekend, she has carpeted stairs that they enjoyed sliding down, a huge exercise ball (what kid wouldn't have fun with a huge exercise ball?), a large trunk that was our treasure chest and we borrowed some wooden spoons for playing pirates. Not only does she have a fun house, she also had two great parks, a coffee shop and a fabulous zoo.

Saturday morning, after a 6:15 wake up call (thank you boys of mine), we enjoyed cinnamon rolls for breakfast and headed off to their fabulous FREE zoo. The Des Moines Zoo should take notes from the Madison Zoo.

It turned out to be the perfect day for wandering around the zoo, sunny, warm, beautiful.
Me and my gang.The Madison Zoo was perfect for my little ones. They had fun animals to keep their attention, a train ride, a fun kids park and Aunt Kelly was with us, what could be better. My two favorite blue eyed girls.Checking out the Polar Bear.A few of the highlights included, lots of different monkeys, lions, tigers, polar bear, brown bear, flamingos, alligators, giraffes, camels, rhinos, seals, otters, huge turtles. So many fun animals to see.Rex being stubborn and refusing to look at me.Playing in the cool kids area.Titan enjoyed munching on the zoo map.Next was snack time on the train.And snack continued on the bench.Trying out the different heads.I'm not sure why Myla is making this face but it is perfect!Quinton's hair is fitting to be the lion.Another good monkey face.Kelly got a little nervous when we walked by the much anticipated Rhinos and they were not there at the beginning, luckily we looped back around and they were out enjoying their lunch. They were so awesome! Quite regularly when we talk to Kel on the phone Quinn asks about the rhinos so we were very relieved that they were finally out to see.I would not want to meet one of these guys out of the cage....eeeekkkkk. My kids enjoying the park. It was a wonderful weekend. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing sister who loves me and my kids so much. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Before you look at these next few pictures I must explain....

I was determined to not have to stop on the way to or from Madison. I was successful. 4 hours and 20 minutes both directions and my kids were champions. You see, since I was by myself with all 4 of my kids, it would have required a very long stop to get them all out of the car, taken into the bathroom and buckled back into the car. So, I chose pull-up. Put them all in pull-ups, set their water cup, a couple of different kinds of snacks in zip lock bags at their reach (stuck two pilllows between the back two carseats and put their snacks in between them), I was able to reach Titan if needed and whoever was sitting behind me. The big kids did fabulous. They all took a little nap both ways and then enjoyed all their little bags of snacks.

Titan did fabulous as well. On the way there he enjoyed a self fed baby food and some breast milk in the sippy cup. On the way home, he still was very content but decided to squeeze the baby food all over himself, the enjoyed many, many baby teething cookies. As you look at these next few pictures, don't judge. I survived the car ride with 4 happy children, even if Titan ate a few too many cookies.

This is what my little man looked like when we got home.... Dan thought he puked on himself.He looks awfully happy and proud of his mess if you ask me!It was everywhere!They were all in desperate need of a bath when we got home!Daddy welcomed us with excited hugs and kisses and listened attentively as my kids gave him a play by play by play by play by play of all the exciting things we did with Aunt Kelly!

I'm not sure Kelly's house has recovered after my 4 children but we sure had a great trip!