An Enjoyable Kind of Hectic

Our trip to WI started at 3 am on Wednesday morning. Holy crap. That’s early. Somehow, (not to toot my own horn here), I managed to be relatively organized the night before (which was a miracle given all of the last minute Xmas stuff I had to do that Monday and Tuesday), which allowed for me to have just enough time to get up, throw on some clothes, get the car packed up and then wait until the very last minute before we left to get the kids up and in the car. We attempted to do this and not wake them, but Alex immediately woke up in his typical chipper morning mood and screamed, “Dada!!!” as soon as he saw Josh and then did not sleep the rest of the way. Avery slept until we put her in the car and then when asked, we told her where we were going. From that point on – she talked. And, talked and talked and talked. The one good thing about flying that early is that there are no flight delays. We managed to get in on time, get the car and get to Opa and Grandma’s house by 1:30 that afternoon. The rest of the day was spent sledding (first time for both kids – they loved it)

and relaxing while waiting for Lexi, Will and Annabel to arrive. The rest of the time at Opa and Grandma’s entailed more sledding, hanging out with Opa and Grandma





putting stickers on our noses



and then on our cousin's head



going out for all you can eat prime rib (which, in true Epting fashion, I managed to eat a portion and a half of even after being sick all that afternoon. I'm including a picture of just because I think that it is hilarious that Lexi has stickers all over her belly and left them there for dinner)




baking cookies

, terrorizing poor Annabel (this look on her face is pretty much a constant when around my children - I think that she was still mad about the sticker incident)



decorating the tree, wrapping gifts, getting ready for Santa (note - broccoli was about the only thing on the menu for Rudolph - we figured he wouldn't expect much from a house that had only been lived in for 3 days prior to his arrival!)




and then finally – opening gifts. Wow. There were a lot of gifts. Avery was in heaven.


Now, this is where the slightly more hectic part of the trip starts. That afternoon, we packed everything up (which is a job in and of itself – for any of you who know the Hollands, we aren’t the most “organized,” so, as you can imagine, our stuff and the kid’s stuff was EVERYWHERE) and headed down to Nancy and Tom’s for Xmas dinner. Of course, on the way there, we first had to stop at the hotel and check in. Then, we had to swing by Sara’s house to get the pack n play for Alex. Anyway – once there, it was great.

We had a great time seeing everyone and, as always, enjoyed our time at the “Kid’s Table.” To think, I used to be so angry when I had to sit there growing up. Now, it is the happenin' place to be - I think that it has something to do with the mass quantities of wine.

That night, we stayed at a hotel, which was a bit of a challenge, as Alex had no interest in going back to sleep once we got there. I think that we all finally got to sleep around 12:30 AM.

The next morning, we met up with Sara and her whole family for our annual Christmas get together. That afternoon, we went back to Sara’s to hang out and let the kids rest – note – Avery wanted nothing to do with a nap, as Chad no longer sleeps during the day and heaven forbid she can’t hang out with one of the big kids (not to mention, she was pretty obsessed with Chad – at one point, letting him have more toys than her “because he is a nice man.”)

Once the babies woke (and after I dealt with a massive meltdown due to Avery getting no sleep), we went to Becky’s house and spent the rest of the afternoon and dinner there with her kids and Melissa and her 3 boys. Clearly, Alex wasn't as thrilled with this photo op as we were...





As always, it was great to catch up AND to meet the newest member of the clan – little Brayden.



The next morning, we called a cab (which was somewhat chaotic, as I had to install 2 car seats in the car - the guy thought that I was crazy) and went to the airport. All in all, the flights home weren’t too bad. Although, we were 3 hours delayed, which was somewhat of a challenge with 2 kids in an airport that wasn’t at all kid friendly with about 100000 people running around and 4 sets of stairs which were ever so tempting for my 18 month to walk (aka, fall) down, but we managed. As you can imagine, I had no time (nor any interest) for photo taking during this airport adventure.


Poor Josh had attempted to leave one day before us and got stuck in Chicago for the night, but did get home the same day as we did and was able to deal with plowing the driveway and fixing our heat that crashed while we were gone. On top of it, he managed to get the flu somewhere along the line, so he got to deal with that while also dealing with the lack of heat and plow.

To top that all off, we arrived to find our car seat had been totally busted by baggage claim and then it was so windy and cold when we went to the car that the car door slammed shut on my head. It was at that point that I lost it. Calmly and Quietly, but I lost it. Just kind of sat there and cried for a minute with Alex looking at me going “Mamma. Mamma.” As though he was trying to say, “It’s ok, Mamma. Don’t cry.” But, there was no stopping me at that point.

So, yes, although, hectic, that last part of the trip was still very enjoyable. Until that moment. At that point, enjoyable hectic turned to really #$Q#$%ing, get me the hell home hectic.

Here's to a flu-free, less windy 2011...