Before our trip even started, Kaitlyn went to the after hours pediatrics care center in Altamonte and was diagnosed with double ear infections. I honestly thought that she and I would stay home, and let James and Nathan go by themselves, but Kaitlyn made such a turnaround between that visit to the pediatric center and the next morning that I decided to proceed with the trip. Now in our midst was only a *small* winter ice storm looming over Cedar Rapids (our flight's destination). This storm was so *small* that I got 4 or 5 warnings from friends on Facebook about it (after posting that we were supposed to be flying to Iowa that day), AND a warning from my dear mother, telling me not to go. Meanwhile, the in-laws' mouths are zippered shut. See? SICK!
We got to the airport without a hitch and got on the flight and left on time. We had a very nice plane ride to Cedar Rapids, nothing sticking out in my head about problems... I even have a post-flight picture to prove it!
Gary and Marilyn were there to greet us and pick us up. The original plan was to load in their van and drive onward to Clinton County. God gave us a break, he pushed the storm back far enough for our flight to get in, but not enough for us to drive the extra hour and a half to get to Clinton County. Gary had made reservations at the local AmericInn for us, so we decided to stay in Cedar Rapids for the night. My stress level plummeted... I literally was THANKING MY CRAZY IN-LAWS for not making us drive on ice. We got checked into the hotel just in time to see the ice start accumulating on the cars in the parking lot. Well, it wasn't enough ice to keep us from going out for Chinese food. Ha.
We got to the restaurant and ordered dinner. James really really wanted a grilled cheese, but alas, normal Chinese restaurants don't have grilled cheese sandwiches. He was very disappointed until Mommy's soup showed up (Wanton soup, no less.. with vegetables in it!), and I sent some broccoli across the table for James. He welcomed it by saying, "Broccoli! My favorite!" So funny!
We all devoured our dinners and headed back to the hotel for the night.
The kids literally didn't get to sleep until about 11 PM, which is midnight by my watch. Nathan and I hung out in Gary and Marilyn's room next door to try to get the kids to sleep, but they were just so wound up, that by the time I went in the room to go to bed, they were both still awake. Thankfully though, as soon as I fell asleep, I think they did. Daddy must have come to bed soon after that.
Daddy woke up to James talking. He was saying something like, "DADDY! Go tell Kaitlyn to be quiet!" She was snoring so loudly from her super stuffed up nose. James was up at the crack of 6:30! Wow! And with that, Kaitlyn woke up and so did I.
We headed to breakfast, and to James' delight, they had doughnuts. I asked him if I could try a bite, he said yes, but to be careful because it was really slimy! :)
We got our stuff packed up, checked out and headed to Clinton County. We left a little earlier than planned, which made Marilyn and I a little weary about traveling on the roads. Everything went perfect until the last 1/8 mile to Grandma and Grandpa Wilcke's house. We almost got stuck in the snow on the top of a hill. Gary had to back up the van and gun it around a corner to get us up and over. It worked, and on we went to see Dorothy.
We stayed at Dorothy's house most of the afternoon, kids had naps, all that good stuff. Then later we headed over to Randy and Marcy's house for the rest of the night.
Beth and Chris arrived late on Friday night, so on Saturday morning, Nathan and Chris took James and Harrison sledding. James had gotten to go sledding with Luke's boys Tommy and Gage the day before, so he was primed (aka not scared) for this time around. They were so cute in their layers, all cozy! At one point, Chris told James to pull the sled back up the hill. James ignored him, so Chris had to tell him again. James' reply? "No! I have to be 24 or 25!" ??? LOL.We got to the airport without a hitch and got on the flight and left on time. We had a very nice plane ride to Cedar Rapids, nothing sticking out in my head about problems... I even have a post-flight picture to prove it!
Gary and Marilyn were there to greet us and pick us up. The original plan was to load in their van and drive onward to Clinton County. God gave us a break, he pushed the storm back far enough for our flight to get in, but not enough for us to drive the extra hour and a half to get to Clinton County. Gary had made reservations at the local AmericInn for us, so we decided to stay in Cedar Rapids for the night. My stress level plummeted... I literally was THANKING MY CRAZY IN-LAWS for not making us drive on ice. We got checked into the hotel just in time to see the ice start accumulating on the cars in the parking lot. Well, it wasn't enough ice to keep us from going out for Chinese food. Ha.
We got to the restaurant and ordered dinner. James really really wanted a grilled cheese, but alas, normal Chinese restaurants don't have grilled cheese sandwiches. He was very disappointed until Mommy's soup showed up (Wanton soup, no less.. with vegetables in it!), and I sent some broccoli across the table for James. He welcomed it by saying, "Broccoli! My favorite!" So funny!
We all devoured our dinners and headed back to the hotel for the night.
The kids literally didn't get to sleep until about 11 PM, which is midnight by my watch. Nathan and I hung out in Gary and Marilyn's room next door to try to get the kids to sleep, but they were just so wound up, that by the time I went in the room to go to bed, they were both still awake. Thankfully though, as soon as I fell asleep, I think they did. Daddy must have come to bed soon after that.
Daddy woke up to James talking. He was saying something like, "DADDY! Go tell Kaitlyn to be quiet!" She was snoring so loudly from her super stuffed up nose. James was up at the crack of 6:30! Wow! And with that, Kaitlyn woke up and so did I.
We headed to breakfast, and to James' delight, they had doughnuts. I asked him if I could try a bite, he said yes, but to be careful because it was really slimy! :)
We got our stuff packed up, checked out and headed to Clinton County. We left a little earlier than planned, which made Marilyn and I a little weary about traveling on the roads. Everything went perfect until the last 1/8 mile to Grandma and Grandpa Wilcke's house. We almost got stuck in the snow on the top of a hill. Gary had to back up the van and gun it around a corner to get us up and over. It worked, and on we went to see Dorothy.
We stayed at Dorothy's house most of the afternoon, kids had naps, all that good stuff. Then later we headed over to Randy and Marcy's house for the rest of the night.
Kaitlyn started a new thing while we were gone. She'd ask to be held by saying, "Hold me?" and then when I'd pick her up, she'd say, "Thank you!" Such a cutie. She also ate about a box of Cheerios all by herself. She was a hungry girl! At one point, she squeaked out "bye bye Bennett" perfectly. :)
We got to spend some time with Grandpa Wilcke after he came home from the hospital on Saturday. We took the kids over to see him on Sunday and took some pictures of our families with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa. Lee is very thin, very fragile, but still seemed to enjoy having family around, as long as it wasn't too loud.
On Sunday, we woke up to a balmy -10 degrees. By 9:00 AM it had warmed up significantly to a -8 degrees. The weather was soooo deceiving. It was gorgeous and sunny outside, but every so often you could see blowing snow across the farmland. At around 2 PM it was time for us to leave, so we said goodbye to everyone and all piled in the van. This time we had Chris with us too, so we were literally packed into the van. 7 seats, 7 people. :) It was a fun trip, a cold, bit scary, couldn't see out the backseat window from the ice on it, getting kinda carsick, trip. But finally we arrived at the Cedar Rapids airport and all went well. I almost forgot my phone in the van which would have been detrimental, but at least I figured out that I had left it right away. Thanks guardian angel! While eating dinner, I quickly checked to see what the weather was like in Orlando. AHHHHHHHH, 74 degrees. NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!
Neither kid slept on the plane, which was absolutely amazing to me. They both crashed in the car though, and were very easily transported to their beds.
Thank goodness we're home for a while now!
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