Fun in New Berlin

Frances, Isaak, Savannah, Grace and Moses (l to r)

Well in looking at our vacation days for the rest of the year we realized we had a few days to use. Given my co-workers’ vacation schedules I was looking at a limited time frame with which to use those days, so we made a last minute plan for a quick vacay up in New Berlin.

I was stressing about the travelling, especially with 3 kids under 3 years old. And after discovering on our last trip north that the twins suffer from motion sickness – our stuck-in-car distractions were limited (even with the aid of Dramamine). We planned on leaving at 4 a.m. on Thursday so that the kids would sleep a good 3 hours of the trip. BUT we both thought the other had set our alarm and alas, we hadn’t, so we didn’t leave until 6:30 a.m. when the kids were wide awake. Fortunately though, the kids actually traveled really well. We made 3 stops so the girls could use the potty and so all the kids could eat. The girls started whining the last 20 minutes of our trip. It took us 7 ½ hours to get to grandma and grandpa’s house. So only 20 minutes of whining was quite a victory.

Oh we had so much fun in New Berlin.

We played in the sprinkler, a lot...

Grace in pink and Francie in zebra print

Moses trying to drink the water

We helped grandma plant some flowers...

Francie in pink and Gracie in white water the plants

We ran on Ms. Pardee’s old yard...

Frances in blue and Grace in pink - so much space to run!

We played with bubbles and chalk. We played with my old Barbies. And we played on the porch with Uncle Tommy’s old Matchbox cars.

In fact, we spent A LOT of time outside.

Outside at grandma & grandpa's house

It rained the whole time we were there, so it amazing that we did spend so much time outside. We went by NAPA twice to look at the swollen Unadilla River. There was a lot of flooding in the area with the constant rain. Grandma and I kept a death grip on the girls as they wanted to get as close to the edge of the water as possible. It was raging!

We spent a lot of time with Uncle Tommy, Aunt Amber, and Isaak and Savannah. We even met their dog, Rollie, he was very sweet with the girls. And I was able to see Tom and Amber’s new kitchen. Wow, what a difference! They even found a letter in the wall that was written by one of my grade school acquaintances when he lived there. Makes me think about the little time capsules Tom, Alex and I used to put together and bury in the yard. Maybe someone will find them one day (if only we had Mr. Hine’s metal detector on hand!).

Isaak, Aunt Amber, Moses, Uncle Tommy and Savannah

Grandpa got the fire pit going one day and the girls had their first s’mores (sans chocolate thanks to the soy allergy).

Gracie at all of hers, "I like!"

Francie didn't like hers, but had fun making it.

We also made a trek up to the town park to play. Unlike our local parks, crawling with a sea of kids, we had the whole place to ourselves. The climbed on everything and jumped off the swings. Grandma Chris (Aloi) even stopped by to say hello.

Gracie, Grandma and Francie (l to r)

Moses enjoyed his time in New Berlin as well. He liked the wagon grandma filled with water. And he liked the sprinkler too – he spent a lot of time trying to drink the water. Savannah loved “baby” a lot. She even played pat-a-cake with MiMo.

Savannah plays pat-a-cake with MiMo

Grandma and MiMo

Aunt Karol, Eddie and Shannon came by on Sunday. All the girls were interested in Aunt Shannon’s pregnant belly. And wondering when the baby was gonna come out (October, btw!). Grandpa did a nice BBQ for everyone. The bigger kids played in the rain. It was fun to see the kids interacting more. Soon Moses will be more and more in the mix too.

Aunt Karol, Gracie and Uncle Tommy

The only issue we had with Moses (besides stranger-danger) was that his schedule changed. All of a sudden he was waking up at 5:30 a.m. every day. Since we’ve been home he’s back to his 7 a.m. schedule (whew!). We think the pack-n-play was too hard for him. Ah well.

Mo and his daddy

Our ride back wasn’t too bad either. We left at 6:30 a.m. – again. Frances was whining/crying from the get go. She didn’t want to go home. We stopped after one hour driving. With her crying, the car ride felt like FOREVER, but we actually made it home in 6 ½ hours - quicker than the drive up.

The girls miss grandma and grandpa, their cousins, and having a nice big yard to play in.  We hope to head back up to NB in November for my friend Becky’s wedding. Moses will most likely be well into walking by then. Crazy how time flies and these kiddos change!