So, my dear friend and roommate from college, Amy, got married last weekend. Jenny V. was also our roomate our freshman year and Amy asked both of us to be in her wedding. When we began making travel plans to get up to Sacramento to share her day, we didn't know what to expect of our kids, but knew that Lila doesn't take a bottle and would need to stay with mommy. After lots of trying to figure out how to make this trip, we decided the only way to make it work would be to take the 4 kiddos along and my 2 moms graciously and unbelievably volunteered to come along and be our babysitters through the weekend of wedding events. We borrowed my aunt and uncle's 12-passenger van and loaded it full of carseats, snacks, and toys and off we went!
All piled in!
This trip, at times was a little hairy, as you can imagine. Let me just say the wedding was beautiful (complete with a fireworks show at the end) and we were really glad we got to be a part of it, but good grief, did we have some adventures along the way!
The journey began at 2am Thursday. Bleary eyed, we stumbled out to the van and loaded up the boys. As Mom turned the key to start the engine, we heard a clicking sound. Not good. So I went in and woke up Christian, who got the van started and we were off to get Jenny and the girls. We had a smooth trip to Bakersfield, making great time. Just about 7am we started trying to find a McDonalds with a playground so the kids could stretch their legs and instead we happened upon a Sonic with a huge, outdoor sand pit/playground! The kids had a blast and we all got some fresh air.
Doesn't it look like these two are headed off on their first date?! :)
When we got loaded back into the van to continue, it wouldn't start. So Wilma hooked up the batterey pack like Christian had shown us and I called a nearby Sears to be sure they were open. We were only about 10 minutes away, so we headed over there to get a new battery. I wonder what the guys at the auto center thought when they saw 2 grandmas, 2 moms, 2 toddlers and 2 babies piling out of this huge van at 8:00 in the morning. They must have felt sorry for us becuase they had us all fixed up and out of there in about 20 minutes!
We didn't have any more problems the rest of the way to Roseville, and the kids were good travellers (though we did make A LOT of stops to let little legs stretch and little tummies get filled). When we arrived at our hotel we discovered that they had given Mom and Wilma's room away, and the rooms we did have were quite a bit smaller than they looked online. But it was all worked out and the rooms were perfectly adequate.
Jenny in a sea of kids
That first night Jenny and I went to a bachelorette dinner at Buca di Beppo's. We were an hour late because we went to the wrong Buca di Beppo's (after getting lost on our way). This set the precedent for the weekend of getting lost EVERYWHERE we went. We arrived in time to have a few bites of the food they had ordered.
The next morning we went to a fun brunch at Amy's then back to the hotel to relieve the moms for an hour or so. Then off the to rehearsal. Got totally lost and showed up late. Back to the hotel, then met at a park so Amy could see the kids. That evening was the rehearsal dinner, which was a lot of fun!
The ladies
The next day was the wedding. It was a juggling of fun, girly getting ready and mad dashes across town to feed Lila and of course a good measure of getting lost thrown in there. But we got to the venue on time and it was a lovely wedding. The moms were wonderful through all this, being flexible and amazing with the cranky (and sick - did I mention the kids were sick?) kiddos.
Dancing with Laura and Nicole
The Jennys :)
The next morning we had a slow start and enjoyed our complementary breakfast. On the way home we stopped outside Tulare (??) at Bravo Farms. This was so much fun! We had a yummy lunch then looked through the antiques. The kids loved the petting zoo and huge tree house.
This little goat was running free around the property!
Coolest treehouse ever!
After an ice cream it was back on the road. The last half of the drive got a little rough, the last two hours or so we just barrelled home - trying to ignore the crying and whining :) We got home around 8 or 9 I think. We made lots of fun memories, but wow! Not doing that again anytime soon! ;)
Yay for both babies sleeping!
Ready to be home :)
