If you ever hear of a friend traveling with a toddler, have compassion. Toddlers are assertive. Always on the go, they hate the word “no”. They can’t talk, but they want to. They are frustrated. The like to explore. They test your boundaries on purpose, just to get a laugh.
It’s a tough gig for one, double crazy for two. Luckily for us our friends and family – everyone rolled out the welcome mat and took control to make sure we had all the necessities and more (thank you thank you thank you).
Still, it was maniacal at times. Katie was sick from motion in the van and on the plane. PJ didn’t want to sleep in his tent. We went from care-taking 25% of the waking day, to 100%. Man was it cruel.
If I’m sounding like we had zero fun, I apologize. Nothing is farther from the truth. We saw old friends and our family got to meet the rest of our families. There was a spa day for Stacey, I was pulled around Palos by Paolo (thanks again for the bike!), Rachel and Ken. We even had 16 people for dinner in Greek Town on the last night.
The trip north reminded us of how much we love tall trees and fertile soil, and miss our friends and family. We’ll do it again soon – maybe when the kids are five or so.
Pictures from the trip are found here.
Here are some highlights:
Sun rise over the pond in Galena, IL.
Aunt Betty plays with the kids.
Katie chasing Aunt Kelly's cats.
PJ and Grandma Jean learnin'.
Katie on the slide at Little John Lake.
PJ and Grandpa Joe at Cloud Gate (The Bean).
Doyle cousins computing.
