Back to Normal Life

We're back from our "too short, hectic travel, but wonderful time with family and friends" vacation. So now that we're home it's time to get back to some normalcy (if there is such a thing with young children). Our suitcases are not yet unpacked, there's grocery shopping to do, and many other things to do around the house. But I'm holding a sleeping baby, which means I can't do any of those things right now.

Traveling on a train was interesting with our daughters. We had to get up too early in order to catch the train. That left us with some very tired girls who fought sleep (what else is new?). Chloe thought it was pretty neat to ride on the train. Julia eventually got bored and wanted to be mobile and with some different scenery. Kevin and I were not able to get any sleep because one or both of the girls was always awake. I have to admit, for their ages they did extremely well overall. Too bad it was still an exhausting experience.

We were lucky enough to always get four seats together, but they were very close together!

With a fourth seat we were able to let Julia sit and play with toys from time to time.

The first day there was Kevin's home church's 150th anniversary; he was asked to preach. It was a long day but filled with lots of fun. The rest of the days were spent with Kevin's parents, two of his brothers, grandparents, and some college friends. We played games, visited, ate yummy sweet corn, and simply relaxed.

Both girls got some one-on-one time with Grandma and Grandpa. Chloe enjoyed being with Grandma and Grandpa again very much. Julia became a bit of a Mommy's girl sometime during the week. She would let other people hold her, but generally only if they were outside and I wasn't around.

Grandpa, Chloe, and her baby going for a ride on the tractor.

Julia being especially happy with Grandma.

On the way home we had a 6 hour layover in Chicago. We rented a luggage locker and walked downtown with Kevin's aunt and cousin who took the Metra in to meet us. We had yummy Chicago-style pizza, walked around enjoying some sights, and finally stopped in Millenium Park to get our feet wet and cool off.

Even Julia cooled off in the water. Look at those poor, scrawny thighs. Someone should feed that girl!

There's our vacation in a nutshell. Sorry if there wasn't as much detail as you would like, but that's what happens when I have to type one-handed.

Note: This post was started three days ago, and I've finally gotten around to adding the pictures. Since then we have unpacked, cleaned, and generally gotten back into the swing of things around here.