2018 :: week 28

July 1

Sunday was a perfect family day in Bennington. We spent the afternoon at Uncle McKay and Aunt Susie's house visiting and eating an early dinner. In the evening we went to Uncle Melvin and Aunt Dorothy's house and visited with their extended family and played with their adorable, but fiesty puppies. We stopped by Elena and Kyle's new house and admired their gorgeous views and cute broiler hens. That night as we were going to bed Anthony and I both agreed that it had been a perfect Sunday.

July 2

We realized the stars had aligned and the Maxfields and Gessells were both in Utah. They invited us to come down for the day and we did! We were only in Utah for about 18 hours--including sleeping--but it was fun to see cousins and family members we will only get to see once this year. All of the cousins were present and we had a great evening eating delicious Chubbies burgers and watching the kids play.

July 3

We hit the road around 9:30am Tuesday morning. The kids were bummed to be leaving their cousins so soon, but the Maxfields were hitting the road as well which made it a bit easier. It was a relatively uneventful day of driving. Anthony and I listened to the Slow Burn Podcast about Watergate. The kids drew countless pictures and watched several movies. We stopped at Wendy's for dinner and got Frosty's to reward ourselves for a successful day of driving.

July 4

Why is the leg of a trip always the hardest? We were all feeling the effects of staying up too late for too many nights. We slept in and got a late start. All the kids complained about feeling carsick. Elliott ended up throwing up. I guess we are true road warriors now. We stopped and cleaned the car the best we could. Luckily the vomit was mostly contained to items that we could stick in a washing machine, but the smell still permeated the plastic bags we kept them in in the meantime. We arrived home and only Tony and Will were up to watching fireworks. Usually the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays, this year I am glad we survived.

July 5

Thursday was rough. There is no other way to describe it. Reentry to life post-road trp was hard. We were all exhausted. Lauren was maybe sick. No one had energy to do much and my patience was spent. After a frustrating morning of trying to get stuff done but everything ending in tears I threw in the towel and we watched a few movies and did no cleaning. Will built this Lego "mask" while I cross-stitched. We did end up getting the van totally cleaned and we were all in better moods that evening, so the quiet afternoon and relatively unproductive day wasn't a total loss.

July 6

As per tradition, when the Red Sox come to town we try to go to a game. This year thanks to dynamic pricing and a weekend series the tickets were more expensive so only the big boys went. Anthony took Will and they had a great time. Earlier in the day Will told me he had butterflies in his stomach he was so excited to go to the game. His chosen outfit made me smile--all blue Royals gear excpet for his red socks. Their original seats were in the upper deck, but at the start of the eighth inning you can sit in any open seat and the boys moved right next to the Royals dugout. Will loves it when Anthony yells "Bon-i-fac-io!" or "Hip-Hip-Jorge!" for Jorge Bonifacio and "Mooo-se" for Mike Moustakas. They Royals lost, but it was fireworks Friday so the night ended on a happy note.

July 7

We spent Saturday morning at Crown Center. First we visited Kaleidoscope. We lucked out and only had to wait about 15 minutes to get into a session. Will and especially Lauren were in heaven coloring, taping and painting. After Kaleidoscope we visited the traveling exhibit in the lower level of Crown Center called Trivial Pursuit: A 50 State Adventure. There was a fact and activity representing each state. After a morning of free activities we stopped at Unforked for lunch. After naps in the afternoon we spent several hours at the neighborhood pool relaxing and catching up with friends.