Travelin'

We took advantage of the nice weekend to travel to Illinois and Iowa to visit Ed's Grandparents. It was perfect weather for it, and there were tons of family in town to visit. We corraled Nana and Papa into going too so that we could get a new picture of Ed I/II/III/IV!

 

So, we headed out friday around lunch time, Ed took a half day and we hit the road when Rowan was done with school. So we arrived in Moline around 430pm.  On our way, one of our stops for gas and lunch was in Beloit, and we were lucky enough to meet Ronald McDonald in person! Kids weren't so thrilled. The only way we could get a picture was with Ed and I in it as well.

 

 

 

 

Once we arrived in Moline, the fun started. Poor Great Papa wasn't feeling well, but he handled the commotion quite well. There were a ton of people in town, kids galore. Nicki was in Chicago visiting her boyfriend, so they were in town with his son. Ted had Tara's 4 boys while she and Eric were house hunting, so they stopped by. Eveyone was heading to Mitch's football game, so we got to see Jenna, Carter and Peyton. Kelly, Maddie and Jack stopped. Meg and Chuch were watching Syndey and Dylan while Graham and Kim were in Vegas for a friends wedding. And Chad was in town with his 4 girls too. Friday only the boys visited, and Saturday morning EVERYONE was there at the same time. They all headed to a pumpkin patch when we headed to Iowa to visit Grandpa Dick.

Griffin and Eddie (lower left picture above) are only 10 days apart. Griffin is the older of the two. Was funny to watch them play, because Griffin has 3 big brothers so he knows how to deal with the rough and tough play, but yet he is sensitive, so when they were alone he was all about playing with Eddie.

Here are 17 of the 21 (i think?) great grandchildren. Only ones missing are Kieran, Grady, Madden and Mitch. We hardly have this many together at the same time at Christmas.

This was our first attempt at the Ed picture. Eddie wasn't having it at all. Ed III and Great Papa weren't much for smiling either.

But you give a boy a blanket and a pacifier, and he is golden. Of course we stole the pacifier for the picture. But everyone was able to smile then.

Here are a few more from the Moline crew. Rowan, Sydney and Kate at the bottom. I will have to find the picture from when the three of them were like 6 months old together. That is why we needed a new one of the 3 of them. So cute. Eddie and Dylan had a few rumbles over Mater. Nana and Rowan were playing Plumber Crack on her iPad, so Eddie wanted things put in his pants. Great Papa helped him out with that.

I think Great Papa and Grandma Jan were ready for us all to leave by noon on Saturday. They tolerate the crowd very well though.

 

So then we were on our way to Iowa to see Grandpa Dick. We arrived around 1pm, had some take out Chinese, and played lots of games. Rowan was pulling out new games left and right. Eddie was all about the marbles. Rowan at one point was trying to teach Grandpa Dick all about the iPad. We entertained them all for a few hours then stopped for some ice cream at Orange Leaf, and then hit the road home. It's always nice to have a day at home. We got home around 9pm. Usually Ed and I are keeping each other awake when driving, so we tried a 5 hour energy for the first time. And it was great. We both were wide awake and had no problem going to sleep when we got home. My new rescue drink. Might need to try it on my night shifts from now on. Could get pricey though!