It's All About The Kids

If you've been reading my blog for the last 5 months, it's been all about the house.  Well, life this past week has been all about the kids. 

So here's a little run down of our summer escape to the good old midwest USA.

It started like this:

OH MY GOD

Ok, stop right here.  If you have three young kids and you put them in a car for 10 hours, you can only hope and pray this happens.  And chances are it won't.  Not unless you drug them or bribe them or deprive them of sleep the night before.  We did none of that and it happened.  It happened for a good 45 minutes.  And those 45 minutes were amazing.

We pulled into my parents' driveway in Wisconsin later that day and set up camp.  Setting up involves taking over their house.  And yard.  Thank goodness their yard is big.

Where's George?

The biggest hit was the water balloon filler.  This piece of plastic provided over an hour of fun.

The only thing they couldn't do was tie them.  I sacrificed two fingers for that hour of intense rapid balloon filling and no fighting.  Ended up being totally worth it.

Not sure my dad will appreciate finding all the balloon pieces in the yard next time he's out on the tractor.

But George loved it.

Water balloons can't fill a whole week, so we took a 2-hour road trip north to Green Bay, WI.  

If you are a sports fan, related to a sports fan or ever watched the sports report on the evening news between September and January in any year you have been alive, you may have heard of the Green Bay Packers.

Last year was our first visit to Green Bay during Training Camp.  This year was our return trip.  It only got better.  I have to dedicate a whole post to the 48-hour adventure that was full of amazing memories.  But here's a sneak peek.

Yes, that's him.  We ran right into Aaron Rodgers.  It was amazing, he signed autographs, we're texting buddies.

We also went to Lambeau Field, aka: the mecca of football.  This may appeal to nobody but me. 

We watched many Packer games growing up in WI.  It is part of life here.  When I grew up and left WI, the Packers became more important to me.  It's a connection to my home, to my family, to my childhood.  That I'm imposing on my own kids.  And they love it. 

Cousins!

Back to the rest of the week.  All time inbetween parents and Green Bay has been spent squatting at my brother's house in Illinois. 

The best part of being there is the connection between my youngest and their oldest.  They are 2 months apart, so when we get together, it's like managing twins.  Not that I know anything about twins.  I live across the street from a family with twins and I can't even begin to imagine how they operate.  But when George and Charlie get together, I feel like I get a glimmer here and there of how life might be when you have to buy two of everything. 

Even buckets.  Two buckets.  For their heads!