Our First Family of Five Trip

It was time to pack up the kids and head to Iowa!

Leaving Springfield...

…about 30 minutes in...

…and 60 minutes in...

(Ben is not pictured because my camera/arm doesn't reach around that way, so here's a quick one from when we arrived).

We had planned on leaving right before nap times.  Traveling with 3 kids under 3 all the way to Iowa (about 6 hours away!) was quite an undertaking, especially with the baby who still nursed every 2-3 hours.  We had planned on leaving right before nap time.  But 9:00 am rolled around and we were all packed and ready to go.  We were too anxious to wait, so we just went for it.  Ben had just finished eating and we had borrowed DVD players for the car, so they should be fine, right??  Right!  The drive there went surprisingly well!  All of them were asleep about an hour into the drive.  We stopped about noon to grab lunch, feed Ben, and off we went to finish the last half of the trip.

It was late afternoon when we arrived, and the kids jumped straight into the pool!  I don't have pictures of the pool time because I was a nervous-wreck the whole time (pools make me too scared around these kids!) and didn't have enough hands to hold back fearless Avery and snap pictures.

It was surprisingly cool for early July.  We took advantage and spent Day 2 at the zoo.  Des Moines has a GREAT zoo.  It's just big enough to get to see it all, but small enough to not be overwhelming or exhausting.

These three like their neon

A fun train ride that took us by the lion, tiger, and giraffe exhibits

Avery loved the room with all the frogs!

What a sweet girl :)

Ben was along for the trip, too.  He was a champ.  Relaxed in the stroller, slept, and did great having to nurse in the car

Afterwards, John and Rudy went swimming again while Avery and I took a much needed nap!  I have never had a chance before this trip to get to sleep with Avery.  She does so well going down for bed in her crib, and she actually asks for her bed when I've tried to lay with her in my bed.  But this time she had no choice.  It was nice to get to snuggle with her for a change.  And I hear Rudy had a blast swimming with all the guys!

Day 3 we had some baseball games to see!  It was so chilly that I ran to the mall to buy the kids sweatshirts/jackets.  Who would have thought to pack those for a trip in July?!  Daniel's game was up first.  Rudy was back and forth between watching the game and joining in the game with the other boys and their friends on the empty field.  

That evening we were able to see Mike play.  And again, Rudy was watching or playing baseball himself.

And Avery?  She played with the rocks, oblivious to a game going on around her.

Ben got lots of love and attention all weekend.  He was chatty, smiley, and all around a good baby.  

:)

And Avery got her first pedicure!  So pretty!

Even with all the activities from our trip, Rudy's highlight was yet again the batting cage in their basement.  He was nonstop asking, "Hit balls wif me?" to the guys.  It was all he wanted to do.  We had to convince him to do anything else.  He would wake up, still half asleep, and mutter, "Me hit balls, Dad."  And speaking of Dad, John and I were old news to him.  We both felt neglected all weekend…on the drive home I told John, "If I think this is bad, how am I going to handle when he's a teenager?!"  My little boy is growing up too fast… 

The drive home did not go as smoothly.  We left close to bedtime, thinking we could drive straight through and the kids would all be sleeping.  They were sooo tired, too tired probably.  Rudy fell asleep almost immediately.  We thought, "This is too good to be true."  But Avery had a hard time getting to sleep.  She screaming and cried for almost an hour, begging to be held.  We even pulled over at one point just so I could give her a hug.  She finally got to sleep, though and all was good.  Until about one hour away from home when Rudy woke up and screamed and cried the rest of the way home.  Thankfully, we got inside and everyone went to sleep pretty easily and quickly.  All things considered, it went pretty well.  But if I could have guessed which time would have been best to drive, I would have picked the opposite for sure!  

The next day was the 4th of July and we took the kids to a neighborhood party that is held across the street from our house.  The kids got face paintings, played on the firetruck, learned some new outdoor games, drank lots of lemon aide, and enjoyed some yummy banana splits! 

Rudy picked to have his entire face painted like a dog..

and Avery chose a lady bug and a pretty flower.

checking herself out in the truck...

That evening some friends came over for a little cook-out and playtime (and I was too worn out for any more pictures!).  We attempted to see fireworks from our house, but they were just barely visible.  Avery was already in bed and Rudy wasn't too interested.  Maybe in a couple years we will get to see them all together..