Michigan Weekend

You might remember that just over 2 years ago our friends, the DeLanges, moved back to Michigan where they're from.  We've been good friends with them since before we were married - over 6 years!  When they lived in Milwaukee, we probably hung out with them once per week or every other week, so fairly often.  They moved to Michigan to be closer to their families when Bennett was only a month old, and their daughter, Briana, was about 7 months.

Now we don't see them nearly enough, but we try to see them 2-3 times per year.  It's hard with the little ones and that long drive.  You might remember that they were here when Eleanor was not even 2 months old yet, and that visit did not go well.  Two tiny babies and a sick toddler (poor Brie!) makes for a long and tiring weekend.

This trip went much better thank goodness!  It was our turn to drive to them.  We decided to leave on Thursday just before dinner, so that eating in the car would kill some time and entertain Bennett for awhile.  It worked pretty well.  We played for about 45 minutes, then he and Eleanor wanted to eat, which was another 30 minutes or so.  Then it was only a little over an hour before PJs/bedtime routine (in the car, which was a little challenging).  We had maybe a rough half hour where everyone was tired but not yet sleeping and both kids were crying.  The worst part of this drive was hitting Chicago traffic, but it wasn't too bad.  We got there in just about 5.5 hours.  Our drive home was similar, just seemed a little longer since we were tired from the weekend.

We pretty much spent the weekend relaxing - it was amazing!  Laurel and Alec have a crystal clear blue pool that was sitting at 85-86 degrees all weekend - perfect!!!  On Friday AND Saturday all four kids' naps overlapped by at least an hour, so all four adults could enjoy the pool and relax.  Sunday, church threw off the babies' schedules and so we did not get overlapping naps that day, but it was okay - the babies just swam with us.  The only time we left the house besides church on Sunday was to visit The Frederik Meijer Gardens and the boys went to Founders Brewery on Saturday night.  Thankfully our kids transitioned to bed well on Thursday night and napped pretty well the whole time...I had prepped Laurel for what would help each kid be successful so thanks for doing all that prep work Laurel!! :)  It really helped! :)

We had so much fun with our friends!!  Brie and Bennett got along as well as I'd think any two-year olds could and didn't get in many sharing arguments.  Ben had colored Brie a picture on our drive there, and she LOVED it.  Haha.  She carried it around for like 20 minutes, batting her eyes at him, smiling, and saying to anyone who would listen, "Ben made this for me."  They held hands a lot (well....Ben tried to hold her hand a lot, she was not always into it).  It was cute to listen to them playing together.  "Here you go, Brie." - Ben.  "Thank you," - Brie.  "You're welcome," -Ben.  So cute!  Although we also heard a lot of, "I NEED that!!!!" screams from both kids.  Lol.  Both ran around in their diapers/undies quite a bit playing outside in the baby pool. :)  And Leah (only 3 weeks older than Eleanor) is such an easy, sweet baby!  Eleanor was happy just to sit next to her and play.  She might have learned a thing or two, since Leah is pulling up and crawling all over....now today Eleanor started trying to pull up on everything! :-p  *sigh*

Brad and I both agreed that our favorite part was getting to relax in the pool and chat when the kids were napping (Sorry kids!  We still love you, but we need a break sometimes!).  Can't wait to see our friends again...we're hoping they'll come visit us next in October.

For some reason it's been a tradition to take a picture of Alec with the kids - lol!  This time was the toughest as all 4 were kind of squirrelly!

Here's the one from 5 months ago...such a difference!