(we were) on the road again...

S's Grandpa A turned 90 on April 7. He is doing so good and living in his own home yet too! We are blessed to be in his family and decided to make the trek to MI for his 90th birthday party the Saturday following his birthday. After making this decision, S gets an email from work informing him of a manager's meeting in Chicago that he needs to attend Tuesday night through Thursday that same week. At first we thought it would mean we couldn't make the trip to MI, bu then we realized that with Mom and Dad B's help, we could make it work quite well. So S flew to Chicago Tuesday, and Mom and Dad B drove to our place. Then Wednesday Dad and Mom B, the kids and I drove to Chicago. We stayed in the same hotel S was in (us with S obviously =), and during S's meetings on Thursday, the rest of us went to the Brookfield zoo, not far from our hotel. After S's meetings were finished on Thursday, we picked him up and continued on to MI where we met up with S's sister M and her husband C and enjoyed the rest of the weekend altogether. On with the pictures!

It was 40 degrees F, windy, and drizzly for our trip to the zoo, but we had fun anyway!

S and little C crashing at our hotel in MI

Friday we spent most of the day with S's Grandma B. She is 92 and still lives on her own! It is always great to see her and she loves watching the kids. Her apartment was pretty cozy with all of us visiting, so for supper we went down to the community room where C & M made us pasta for supper. S's Uncle S and Aunt B joined as well. The kids did just great - they were happy with room to run around and dance!

You can always count on Grandma B for a bowl of ice cream!

Grandma with our family

Grandma and Grace

Saturday morning we swam in the hotel pool. The kids loved it, of course!

Saturday afternoon was Grandpa A's 90th birthday party (the whole reason for the trip!). It was held at Grandpa's church, open house style. And there was a fabulous spread of appetizers and treats made by S's Aunt Sally and cousin Brett, who is a professional chef.

All his kids (pictured are Aunt J, Uncle D, and Mom B with Grandpa) and spouses were there, and most of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren as well. Then he had siblings and cousins and some nieces and nephews come too! Grandpa is not used to having people fuss over him, but turning 90 is a good reason for people to fuss and he really enjoyed visiting with everyone. It was nice to see a smile on his face all afternoon.

Great-grands singing Happy Birthday to Grandpa A

Grandpa with our family

It was a lot of fun for us to catch up with S's cousins, too. All our kids are very similar in ages! We had 7 of them under age 6 there that afternoon! Being that there were so many little ones who needed some entertaining, S's cousin K (who has no kids! but is in college now studying to be a pharmacist so S had a lot of fun talking with him and reassuring him he would make it through classes like Organic Chem) and K's girlfriend B put together an Easter egg hunt. The kids all had so much fun searching for the many eggs. Thanks so much you guys!

The littles! Best shot we got... =)

We visited Grandma B and Grandpa A one more time on Sunday and then started the trek home, staying in Rockford that night (bad motel, don't get me started). This picture was from an emergency potty stop at a really dirty gas station - G did her best to spruce the place up!

Splitting up the 11 hour trip between 2 days meant pretty easy travel days. We caravanned with M & C and the adults rotated cars depending on who G wanted sitting in the back of the van with her. Here she was knitting with Auntie M, who was crocheting. G thought that was pretty cool. =)

Dad B's birthday was the following day, so when we stopped for ice cream Monday afternoon, we decided to get an ice cream cake to celebrate! We all sang happy birthday and made quite a rukus. It was a great little birthday party, and the nice people at DQ even cut the cake into slices for us. Happy birthday Papa!

"No honey, this horse is just for sitting on. No, I do not have any money for the horse. No, I do not know if it does anything else. I think it is just for sitting on and taking pictures. How about that?! Say cheese! =)"

For the next week, if you asked W what his favorite part of the trip was, he would tell you "Watching the scooper trucks dig dirt!" This was the scene across the parking lot of DQ. And we had to put W in the van fussing and crying for the last leg home.

And it was so good to be home! But oh, the laundry...
What a great trip full of time spent with family - we are truly blessed.