Usually we head to Chicago over Labor Day weekend to get together with my IWU friends. This year, however, a family reunion in Bemidji was planned and my cousin was getting married, so we had to push back our normal trip. Instead, we decided to head out for Blake's 2nd birthday. A bit of a bummer because it was a much shorter trip, but pretty awesome we were able to be there for his birthday!
We left Friday morning. M got to experience forward facing in her carseat for the first time. I had planned to keep her rear facing until she turned 2, but decided that the 6 hour trip would go much more smoothly if we flipped her around. She did great! And appears to be a big fan of facing forward.
I have to say the Blu-ray player in the new van was a bonus. M enjoyed wearing the headphones and watching TV. She watched a bit of Ferngully, Planet 51 & Franklin during the 12 hours in the car.
We arrived at J & L's house around 3 and M had about an hour or so to wander around before Blake got home and familiarize herself with all of his toys, lol. Louis took us on a tour of their new casa and it's really nice! Plenty of room for their soon-to-be family of 4!!! M even had her own room to sleep in which was SUPER nice for everyone!
Blake took a little bit of time to warm up to all of us after he got home, but we all went up to the park and the kids really warmed up to each other over their mutual love of playground equipment and wagons/cars.
After hitting up the park for a while, we headed out to Red Robin to grab some dinner. M, as usual, inhaled practically everything we put in front of her, including a chocolate shake, lol. After dinner we headed back to J & L's. The kids played for a while before we put them both to bed. Jenny very lovingly put together a floor bed just from Miss M to sleep in and be brought all of her bedtime necessities, so bedtime went smoothly and she slept peacefully all night.
The following morning, the day of Blake's birthday party, both kids were up at 6:30. The very first thing M saw when we arrived at J & L's house was the kid sized table loaded with Playdoh. All day we heard "Mattie pee-doh?" So, in the morning J was an awesome Aunt and opened it up for both kids to play. M was in heaven.
M was so excited by the whole thing that Blake got hugs! After the joys of playdoh wore off, the kids decided to play with trains and then chase each other in circles...over and over and over again.
Louis was in charge of planning Blake's party this year. He came up with the awesome idea to blow up a bunch of balloons and let the kids run around in a "balloon pit" in the basement. M and Blake had to test it out before the party started.
Cheers to the mastermind of an activity that kept the kids busy for quite some time:
And then the kids were told it was time to get ready so we could eat some lunch.
The rest of Blake's party and our trip to come tomorrow!
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