Our mini vacation....

It is sooooo good to be home! Don't get me wrong, we had a great time, but there is something about being back in your own home, sleeping in your own bed, that is nice. Although there are downsides as well, 3 super spoiled kiddos, mountains of laundry and stuff to unpack and put away.
On Saturday night we boarded our train heading west to Indiana. We went out to visit with brian's family for his parent's 30th wedding anniversary. We made the last minute decision to take the train after we were faced with the fact that if we drove we would be driving through one huge snow storm which eventually dumped 20" of snow at our house on sunday. That proved to be the right choice. All 3 kiddos did super on the ride out. We boarded our train in Albany at 8 , and by 8:45 they were out and didn't hear a peep from them until 6:30 the next morning (their usual wake up time). They ate breakfast in the dining car, watched a movie and did a lil coloring and then we were in South Bend! Talk about easy trip!
While in Indiana we were able to meet up with Adam & Stacey and their family. The boys really loved getting to drive Adam's giant tractor and seeing the baby pigs! On Wednesday we took the monsters to chicago for the day. We went to the field museum of natural history to see the dinosaur bones ( a huge deal for a 4 yr old who loves dinosaurs!), and then we went and met up with my friend Steph and her daughter anna (who is 3 weeks older than emily) for dinner at the rainforest cafe- another exciting adventure for 2 lil boys!
On Friday brian's brother mark came up with his new puppy and also brought his wii. Jake really loved playing with addie, and they both loved the boxing game on the wii. Why not- its a chance to fight each other and mommy doesn't yell at us. heeee heeee
On Saturday we snuck up to south bend with brian's brothers and had some photos taken for a suprise gift for brian's parents annivesary. We had the kids give the photos to them that night at their anniversary party. It was great to catch up with a lot of relatives that we haven't seen in a long time at the party.
Then late sunday night/early monday morning (12:30am) we boarded our train in south bend to head home. This ride was a lot longer than on the way home, as we had 10 hours to keep the kiddos entertained, but overall they did well.
Aside from the fact that the boys managed to have a bout with the puke bug, the diarreah bug, then snotty head colds- not all on the same day- we had a good time.
Brian and I are taking advantage of the fact that today is a state holiday and don't have to work to unpack, clean and tackle our mountain of laundry while jake and emily nap and Josh is at school.