Road Trip!

We took an extended family road trip - for as far as Dennis and I can recall – only the second time as a family. We hit the road on Thursday and headed due east to AdventureLand on the east side of Des Moines. I’m not a big amusement park fan. They’re right up there with shopping malls and Tea Party rallies, but my kid and husband were SO excited. I’m still not sure who was more psyched!

We hit the park at 11 and played until 3, and it was fun. It was perfect for a 5 year old.

Addie, to my surprise is a bit of a dare devil. She wanted to go on EVERYTHING. Luckily her daddy can still sit and spin. Her momma can’t even push the merry-go-round at the playground, so I’m basically zero fun. We all agreed that the log ride was the BEST and walking around in wet undies is totally worth it.

After AdventureLand we continued east to Iowa City to my beloved friend Kathryn’s home (see her blog to the left). I was so excited to see her new (to me) digs, and her beautiful family. Seriously. She has the most beautiful children and sooo sweet and engaging. They both were completely welcoming and excited to have us. Addie loved them both, although I wish she wouldn’t have been so pooped from all of her previous adventures at the amusement park. There were a few meltdowns . . .

My favorite part of our stay there was the next morning when Alex comes into the living room in his Toy Story underwear to show me his favorite book – Captain Underpants appropriately enough! Then came little Lila with her pink bear and her thumb in her mouth. She climbed right up in bed with me and we all had a little chat. How great is that?

And Howes, how come y’all have to live so stinkin’ far away?

We hit the road for Chicago Friday morning. We made great time until I-90. We could SEE the city, but it still took an hour to reach Michigan Ave. We had plans to hit the shore that afternoon, but by the time we parked, checked in to “Hotel Felix” and made it downtown, it was late, late, late. All we had time to do was grab some grub and then skedaddle back to our hotel before a nasty storm hit the city – 70 mph winds and hail. It was a tad dicey there for a bit . . .

Friday night was Rocky’s graduation ceremony. No photos here since my ancient camera eats batteries, but the key note was given by some famous-ish chef who was Chris Farley reincarnated. I swear. We then all hit the restaurant where Rocky now works as one of their chefs – Branch 27. All I can say is YUM. We sat and ate until 11:30, and Addie hung in there like a trooper until she passed out on my lap at about 10:30.

She was SUCH a good girl the entire trip. Just a delight. It made us so proud.

Saturday we hit the beach. It was a beautiful day. We had planned to go to the Shed Aquarium, but it was too nice to be inside all day. We were at North Ave. Beach with mom and Aunt Loretta (thanks to Dennis’ extreme generosity in parking the car – practically in Wisconsin). The moral of this story – don’t drive in the city. Use your feet, man. It’s the way to go.

After the beach we said goodbye to G-ma and Aunt Loretta and then the Popes walked the city. We walked from Navy Pier to Millennium Park and then back to our hotel. Chicago is such a great city.

We drove home Sunday. Addie again amazed me with her travel skillz. We had bukue DVDs for her to watch, but she never even asked for a movie. My kid loves to travel, (thank you Jesus!) and I’m already looking forward to our next road trip.