Taylor & Stacie Get Hitched

The kids had been looking forward to Taylor and Stacie's wedding ever since we told them we were flying up to Illinois.  There were many questions about what a plane ride would feel like.  I tried to assure them that if they liked the roller coasters at Disney World, then a plane ride would be a piece of cake.

We were up by 3:00 a.m. Thursday morning and drove through pouring rain, thunder and lightning to get to the airport.  Fortunately we had a few hours for the storms to subside before our take-off time.  When we checked in our baggage we prayed it would make it to our final destination after the ticket counter lady handed us our tickets and called us by name, "Ted, Elizabeth, Joshua, & Harry."  I never heard Caroline's name, but Todd said it sounded wrong, too.  When we boarded the plane and it was backing up from the gate, Henry got all excited to see the airplane ramp agents on the ground holding the orange florescent sticks in the shape of an X.  All of a sudden it got real for him.  Take-off was filled with squeals of excitement.  They reacted much like they did on the rides at Disney.  Fortunately, the people around us seemed happy for their excitement (even at 6:00 a.m.).

On the second flight we had a very attentive flight attendant who gave the kids coloring sheets, crayons, and had them earn their "wings."

Caroline had a bit of motion sickness halfway through the flight, but fortunately fell asleep.  I think it was more that she was tired from waking up so early and hungry (because she didn't like any of the snacks on the airplane - who doesn't like those Biscoff cookies?!!).

In Illinois, we met up with Grandma, Grandpa, Fred, & Taylor.  We made it!  We discovered that there was so much to walk to from our hotel which made the trip really, really nice.

Normal, IL

We had a nice dinner at a Greek restaurant.  Caroline told Grandma all about her desire to eat wedding cake.  We walked a little around town before turning in early.

Grandpa gave Caroline some bling.

The next day we walked to a bakery for breakfast, but it turned out to be more of a catering-type bakery, not a pastry-type bakery.  Caroline didn't complain that she got a sprinkle cupcake for breakfast.

Since we had a lot of time to spare before the wedding rehearsal, we walked to the Children's Discovery Center and spent a good three hours letting the kids play.  This place turned out to be our saving grace for the kids.  We spent all our spare time for the next three days here and the kids loved it.  They had some really cool features.  There was a theater stage with tons of costumes and backdrops.  Henry manned the sound-effect booth like it was nobody's business.  (Todd was shocked at how long they could stand at that sound-effect booth.)

There was a paint wall:

Henry loved this contraption.  You spun the wheel which brought balls up to the top and then they took different courses down the maze of pathways, hitting musical instruments along the way.

Henry and Caroline danced their hearts out at the Jam Wall.

Josiah and Henry made really cool Shrinky Dinks.  They drew on pieces of plastic that were then heated, a chemical reaction occurred, and the plastic went back to it's original smaller, more compact form, shrinking their picture in the process.

We loved this place.


At the rehearsal dinner, Caroline made quick friends with the flower girls from the wedding.  They ran around and danced and giggled and had fun.  We didn't know this would be a precursor to their wedding day behavior.

The morning of the wedding, Josiah, who had been asked to be an usher, woke up and said, "It's my special day!"  He was so incredibly excited to be an usher.  He took his role very seriously and was so glad that it was a suit-wearing role.  He loves to wear suits.  (He is also glad the wedding is over because he can now wear his suit to church.  We wouldn't let him before the wedding for fear of messing it up somehow.)

Everyone made it to the wedding despite the foggy weather that had caused all sorts of delays.  It was a super sweet ceremony followed by an incredibly fun reception.  Our kids lacked all inhibitions once they set foot on the dance floor.  They danced their hearts out.  Henry did his floss, the hike, the Carlton, and he ran and slid on his knees an obscene number of times.  At one point Caroline whispered to me, "I'm the best dancer here."  They danced nearly the whole reception.  It was so much fun to watch them.

We had some great company at our table.  We were so happy to be a part of Taylor and Stacie's special day.

Aunt Meghan was incredibly nice to Caroline and entertained her a lot at the table while awaiting the dinner service

.

The next morning, the kids finally wore me down enough and we brought them to the hotel pool.  I was secretly glad the water was cold because I knew they wouldn't want to stay as long.  After taking nice warm showers, we had a last brunch with Stacie, Taylor, Claire, & Fred (as well as others) at the hotel.  We hit the Children's Museum one last time before departing back home.

Caroline was a bit excited on the first flight home and threw her arms in the air during take-off à la roller coaster style.  Her excitement was quickly calmed when she got called out for bad behavior, and in her upset state she slept the remainder of the flight.  (The man in front of her said, "Hey!" because she [I'm assuming] kicked his chair one too many times.)  We had late flights, so the sleep was good.  We didn't get home until close to midnight.  Poor Todd had to work the next morning.
All-in-all it was a great trip.  We saw family, we laughed and had fun, we played and walked a lot, and we saw my brother get married.  We were glad we all made it up.

We had a lot of good behavior, however, there were reoccurring fights between the kids that centered around two very specific things.  1- Who got to push the elevator button (despite going up and down it a ridiculous number of times over the weekend).  2- The other fight was between Henry and Caroline as to who got to sleep in the middle.  Believe it or not, they wanted to sleep in the middle.  This was the one time of day that Josiah got upset - he wanted no co-sleepers.  I think we'll have to look into the cot option on our next excursion.

Now the Christmas countdown begins here at home.