Sarah, the kids, Mom and Dad all met us at the airport and we went to the Raiche house in Bourbonnais for Monical's Pizza after we picked up the rental cars. The boys actually slept through the night on the first night and adapted quickly to the time difference- thank God! They loved seeing their cousins, and Etienne stuck to Carson like glue the whole time- much to Ellie's dismay. They also loved Nina and Papi's house, walking Jake, playing on the swings, the slide, and in the basement.
We got our fill of hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, donuts, pizza, Starbucks (I gained 6 pounds), etc. You would have thought Etienne had entered the Promise Land the first time we went to Target. Peolpe stared as he gasped at everything he saw. The family spoiled the boys with early birthday gifts- new trains for our wooden Thomas collection, new pajamas, Dr. Seuss books and stuffed toys, a new microphone and radio, UNO game, new clothes- again very spoiled.
But above and beyond all of the food and stuff we enjoyed, we really enjoyed seeing lots of friends and family: swimming at the Painters' house, hanging out with Aunt Jill, going to the Children's Museum with Papi, being silly with Nina, going to Lincoln Park Zoo with Tata Molly, Nina, and Susan, pizza with Amy, Heidi, and Dawn et.al, lots of library dates with Kristin and boys, lunch with Liana and family, lunch with my Godmother Sandy, dinner with Nick and Christina, getting to see Jonathan and meet Chelsea, and lots of time with the Callis family. Denis and I even got time on our own- we went to the movies, went to a work dinner, and a concert in the city. Thanks for the babysitting Nina and Papi! Etienne and Xavier both got to take advantage of the Bourbonnais library's story time, and Etienne attended Little Farmer Camp at the Perry Farm.
I'm exhausted just reading everything we did. But to top it all off we went to Branson, Missouri to see Jonathan and to go to Silver Dollar City and White Water waterpark. The kids loved it all. We even got to stay at the Schrumpf family farm and see most of their family on the way down. They have 4 boys and we used to vacation together. It was great to see them all. Our trip was cut short because Granny went to the hospital. She seems to be doing better now but is still at Riverside. I was thankful to be home so we could visit her.
Now we're back at our house in Sergy, France fighting the jetlag. Etienne slept from 9 pm last night to 2 pm today. Xavier too except for a break from 1-3 am to eat something (I want pizza and cookies!!!). Now we still have over 3 weeks of summer vacation. I'm going to Munich this weekend for a girls' weekend with Aisling and sister Grainne (woo hoo!) and then Denis and I have our trip to Ireland over Labor Day weekend for Jessica's wedding. Can't wait.
No comments:
Post a Comment