Illinois

We just returned from our Spring Break trip to Illinois. I think we were the only people from Florida who actually traveled north! Carl had a conference in Tampa the first weekend of his break, so Ben and I flew from Orlando Thursday morning so that we could have a few extra days in IL. We were planning on leaving for Orlando at 5:00am and Ben woke up at 4:30am throwing up in his bed. After an early morning bath, he did not fall back asleep in the car, so I was very nervous about how our solo flight was going to go. I prayed the whole way to the airport that the flight would not be full so that Ben could have his own seat (as opposed to sitting on my lap the whole way!). Thankfully, he did get his own seat, which totally saved the day! He thought he was pretty big stuff sitting in the seat like a big boy and had extra room to stretch out.

Aunt Kimmie brought Ben finger paints. This was his first time, and he wasn't too sure about getting his hands dirty!

On Friday, we met Nico, Connor and Lucas at the new Five Points in Washington. They had an amazing zero entry pool with fountains for the kids to play in. The boys had a great time, but Ben's lips were completely blue the last 45 minutes we were in the pool. He's used to having the warm Florida sun keep him warm while swimming!

We hosted a baby shower for our friend, Kristin, on Saturday. She is having a baby girl in May! It was great to see old college friends and meet Jess's Connor and Eva's Berit for the first time. Ben helped Kristin open gifts and had a great time playing with Baby Kinsella's new toys!

We headed to the Zeller's on Saturday night. We walked in through the garage, which means Ben saw the laundry room as soon as we arrived. He was so excited about a new washer/dryer to play with that he did not even eat his supper. Em has a cute video of Ben and Jude posted here. Ben was not very good at sharing the Tide bottle, so luckily Jude's sweet kitchen set and big boy bed were enough to distract them. They spent the last part of the evening wrestling. I wish I would have gotten some pictures of them taking each other down! Ben is definitely Mr. Cautious, so I was completely amazed that he was having fun and not running to me crying!!

I was terrible about taking pictures the rest of the week! Carl and Ben spent the day at Allen and Rita's on Monday. It was here that Ben rediscovered the old Little Tikes washer/dryer set. He had so much fun that Carl ended up bringing it back to Gridley. Ben spent most of his time the rest of the week doing laundry.

Ben was also able to see all of his great-grandparents and aunts and uncles while we were home. On Wednesday, he had a lot of fun serving my side of the family coffee and muffins that he had made in his kitchen. They literally pulled up chairs to make a half circle around him while he showed off all of this tricks. He was soaking up all of the attention that comes with being the first great-grandchild!

On Friday, I was able to spend the afternoon with my mom and Grandma Myers. We visited a few different fabric stores to pick out fabric for the bedding Grandma is going to make for Ella's nursery (yep, we decided on a name!). It was great to spend time with Grandma and I can't wait to see how everything turns out. She is the most amazing seamstress I know!!

Carl and I were also able to see some of Carl's old friends from HS and go out on a couple of dates. By the end of the week, Ben was getting pretty overtired and cranky, so it was nice to leave him with my parents for a couple of nights!

We ended our trip with the annual Irish Party at Carl's parents. We had a great day with the extended Drake and Beagles families and all of the cousins. Ben loved all of the Irish toasts at the beginning of the meal and was also a fan of the awesome potato soup and corned beef!

While we had a great trip, it was SO nice to get home! As our plane landed, they announced that it was 85 degrees out! Ben took a 3.5 hour nap on Monday and we have spent most of our time outdoors since we've been home! It is hard to believe that when we fly home in August we will be a family of 4 -Yikes!!