Tag: Travel

Posted on

#summervacation2019

I’ve been using that hashtag on all my summer pictures thus far, so I’ll fill this post with a lot of them. Our summer vacation adventures began immediately this year, literally on the last day of school.

To start off, I took the kids down to my mom’s house on the first afternoon of summer vacation. The girls had a half day for their last day of school, we walked home, had lunch, then loaded up and drove to Palos. We spent the night there, then headed down to Peoria the following morning for what has become an annual Miller family weekend. It was so much fun, and I’m really glad we made it down this summer after bailing at the last minute last year.

We got home from that trip on Monday, then turned right around and went on our own Wisconsin family vacation that same Wednesday. This, too, has become an annual trip, and we’re trying to find the perfect cabin/lake setup to go to each year. Ideally we want it within about 2 hours of home and on the water so the kids can swim and play daily. A clean, sandy beach is perfect for them, but we’re still looking for our “permanent” spot. This year’s place was definitely not it – dirty and cramped “hotel” room, not the best company for fellow patrons; last year’s place was awesome except for lots of ants in the cabin, but it was too far away at 6 hours. So we’ll just keep trying places until we get it right and enjoying memories together along the way.

We came home from that vacation on Saturday, and our car was stolen that afternoon. Super awesome, and certainly not a highlight of this summer vacation, but worth mentioning anyway as we’ve been dealing with that ever since. We were home from our lake trip for about 2 and a half weeks, Morrison took a session of swim lessons, I got the big 3 signed up for the library summer reading program, the kids had a couple fun backyard shower sprinkler days, we celebrated the 4th of July with friends and neighbors as usual, then I flew out to Colorado with the kids for a week-long visit. Thankfully Arianne flew back to help us fly out, flew home with us as well, then flew back to Colorado, because there is NO WAY I could’ve made those flights with all 5 alone. Simply getting on the plane would have been next to impossible once the twins were out of the stroller.

That was a really fun trip, too. The kids all love spending time with their cousins, my mom flew out as well so we all got to spend the week together, and I finally got to see Marissa’s “new” house. We took the kids swimming, to a tiny town with a little train they could ride, made pizzas and s’mores in their pizza oven, even had a Christmas in July dinner. It was a great time. Hopefully they didn’t regret inviting us all out with all the noise and Nat’s screaming!

So now we’ve stopped traveling and get to enjoy the rest of the summer at home. Ahhh… The kids have a number of fun activities coming up – swim lessons for the girls, a drawing camp for the girls, zoo day camps, and Della even gets to spend a couple days at Grandma and Grandpa’s house by herself for her birthday. Lucky duck! We have a bunch of projects in the house and yards that I’m looking forward to finishing up, so it should be a fulfilling next couple months. Maybe we’ll even get our car back one of these days…

I love summer vacation!

Posted on

All by myself

Last month I went to Florida for my good friend Rachel’s 40th birthday girls’ trip. By myself. It was pretty awesome.

I was gone for 5 days, and nobody came with me. Zero children. Zero traveling partners. A couple of the girls flew on the same flight, but then the rest of us all just met down there. We went to Anna Maria Island, so most of us flew into Sarasota then took an Uber to the island.

It was the first time I’ve traveled alone since any of the kids were born. Actually, I think it’s the first time I’ve traveled alone since I lived out east. Almost 16 years ago. Crazy.

It was really fun. There were 10 of us in the house we rented, which was right on a little lagoon. It had its own private pool, which was all I was looking forward to. It was a shared townhouse, but we never heard the family on the other side at all. They had their own pool, too, and it was on the opposite side of the house from ours.

We stayed just blocks from the beach, so we walked over there each night to watch the sunset and grab a cocktail. Unfortunately there was really only one beachfront restaurant near us, but we found some other fun places for dinners. We grabbed coffee and breakfast each morning at a little local place, then we either walked to other close-by sandwich or burrito shops for lunches or just snacked by the pool.

I got some sun. I got some sleep. I made new friends. I read 1 entire book! And, surprisingly, I missed everyone back here terribly. I couldn’t help but think the whole time how perfect the place we stayed would be for a family vacation with Ryan and the kids, because it really was.

I couldn’t believe I actually made a solo vacation work! It was a great time with some fantastic people, and I’m so glad I went. It’ll probably happen again in about 20 years. 😀

Posted on

Gobble gobble

I took the kids to Peoria with my mom for Thanksgiving this year, and it was a most excellent visit. We got to spend time with both sides of my family, which is always so much fun. The kids got to see relatives they know well and those they only see a couple times a year, and they loved playing with them all again.

Ryan didn’t have as many days off as the girls so he couldn’t join us again, but hopefully he can make it next year.

Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday, but now with kids, I can’t help but feel the Christmas spirit get stronger again every year. And this Thanksgiving celebration, full of laughs and the love of family, was the perfect way to kick off this most magical season of the year.

 




Posted on

Up Nort’, again

We spent most of last week up in Eagle River, in northeastern Wisconsin about 4 hours from home, and it was another great family vacation. One of our friend’s parents own a condo up there, and the resort ran a friends and family deal on renting out units for the whole week for a steal. So they invited us a few months ago, we had condos right next to each other, and we had a blast.

The kids loved the indoor swimming pool; playing with their new Squinkies; exploring the resort grounds with Ryan; watching movies; roasting s’mores; playing in the snow on our last full day there; watching all the animals out our patio door; and doing tons of coloring, drawing, and writing.

The twins ended up doing great in a new place after the first night, which was a no-sleep nightmare. The resort provided 2 pack n plays, so they were able to still have their own beds. We barricaded them in the living room during the days, and they spent their time playing with toys and exploring a new floor.

I enjoyed playing in the pool with the big 3, getting a snowy run in, working on this blog and pictures, reading, and relaxing. Ryan was our resident town explorer, making sure the fridge and liquor cabinet were well stocked and finding a good place for all 7 of us to go out for pizza one night.

I normally envision “up north” as a place for summer vacations, but this late fall getaway was really fun. Hopefully it can become more than a one-time trip!

 




Posted on

4 generations

Last month I took all 5 kids to Tucson with my mom for this very reason.

My grandparents hadn’t met the twins yet, and, my grandma being a twin herself, it was very important to me to get them out there.

That part of the trip was wonderful. Gathering multiple generations under the same roof is pretty amazing, and it means a lot to do it as often as possible.

Watching my grandma get down on the floor, play with Avit and a slew of baby toys, let him crawl all over her and snuggle in her lap, and run his little hand along her face was one of the best things I’ll probably ever see in my life. My heart practically jumped out of my chest and swallowed them both up.

All of my grandparents are incredible people, and now watching them see and get to know my own children is awesome. I can literally feel the spirits of our family swirling when I see them all together. The greats and the littles.

So the family time was unforgettable. The rest of the time was… Hard and exhausting. It was the first time the twins were on an airplane, which, in itself, was a logistical nightmare. Avit spent almost the entire 4-hour flight on the way out crying, fussing, squirming, and being generally horribly annoying. Thankfully the big 3 were great and Nat was a little sleeping ray of sunshine. Of course he was on my mom’s lap.

Then while we were there, it was like jailbreak for the big 3. I swear every time I take them somewhere without Ryan, they feel like they no longer need to listen or remember their rules. And they adore their cousins, yet try to put on the worst behavior possible when they get together. Showing off? Who knows. But ugh. And wine.

So I was hugely relieved when we landed at O’Hare after our return flight. We had a great post-travel meal at Morton’s to let traffic clear and everyone decompress a little before hopping in the car to drive home.

It was a lot of work. But not much in life with 5 kids now isn’t. It was a really short trip, too, which also made it feel like such a whirlwind. Overall, though, I was so happy we went. Seeing my grandparents is always great, and there’s never a shortage of laughter when my sisters and I are together. I’m grateful that my mom took me and my gaggle of children, because the trip never would’ve happened without her.

Until next time, Tucson!

 




Posted on

Up Nort’

A couple weeks ago we took our first vacation as a family of 7, and it ended up being a lot of fun. We drove up to northern Wisconsin, rented a little cabin for a couple days, and tested the waters of big-family cabin life.

We went to a little place called Delta Lodge in Iron River, WI, which is all the way near the northern border of the state, up by Bayfield and Ashland on Lake Superior. It had 12 cabins on a small inland lake, and we were in cabin #4 – 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, kitchen, living room, and screened-in porch. We shared a dock and campfire pit with the cabin next door, and we got to use a rowboat and kayaks for the whole stay.

We split up the drive north, spending our first vacation night with my aunt and uncle in Eau Claire. That in itself was a great time, because we hadn’t been there in years. It made for a wonderful visit, and the kids had a blast exploring all their land on a couple nice long walks.

We only spent 2 full days at the cabin, after getting there around 3:00 p.m. on the first day and leaving at 10:00 a.m. on the fourth day, but Ryan and I agreed that it was plenty for this first trip. We really just wanted to get a feel of how things would go with this crew at a cabin, and we wanted to check out someplace new since we haven’t done this before. We won’t be going to Canada this summer, so I really wanted the kids to get some swimming and lake time in somewhere. This was perfect.

Ryan took them on row boat rides, Della learned how to kayak, the girls swam like water bugs with me, Morrison loved playing on the dock, they constantly fed hot dog and hamburger buns to the bluegill who lived under our dock, we made s’mores over the campfire, we played games after dinner in the cabin, we celebrated the summer solstice, the twins broke in their new playpen as their bed, and we figured out what we do and don’t want to do the same next year.

There had been some really severe thunderstorms in the area right before we arrived, and by the time we drove home, Lake Superior was still so churned up that the water looked red from all the iron in the soil up there. It was crazy.; it looked like we were on Mars.

It was a great time, and we’re already looking forward to finding another fun spot for next summer.

 

 




Posted on

Springtime fun in the sun

This spring, we were lucky enough to get 2 vacations within 2 weeks of each other. I will actually call the second one a trip, because, contrary to popular belief, traveling with children halfway across the country without your spouse or their other parent is not technically a vacation. It is a fun trip at best, a torture sentence at worst. It’s definitely not a relaxing, put-your-feet-up vacation, though. Those of you who have traveled solo with your kids, let alone flown with them, know exactly what I’m talking about.

Our first trip was truly a vacation. The 5 of us went down to Key West over Della’s spring break from school with my sister and her family and my mom and stepdad. I had never been there and had always wanted to go, so I was really excited to get a chance to visit the southernmost point in the US. I was beyond thankful, too, because, due to the fact that I’m currently doing some work for my sister and the company she and my brother-in-law work for, our entire family essentially got a company-sponsored vacation. Otherwise, we probably definitely would have been enjoying a Rau family stay-cation for spring break this year.

My excitement, however, soon turned to dismay, when Lana and Morrison caught a bug from their cousins and started vomiting. Unstoppably. As such, I was stuck in our rented house for almost the entirety of the trip, since barfing kids not only feel terrible and need extra care but are generally unable to do the fun things that come with tropical vacations, like boat trips to see dolphins and manatees, exploring the island, and going anywhere other than our house. Thankfully it had a private pool in the backyard, which I was able to enjoy most days while the sick ones napped.

I did get to have a little fun before the sickness ensued, fortunately. My sister rented bikes for everyone the first day we were there, so Ryan took us all on a big bike tour of our part of the island on the second day of our trip. That was cool – we saw the southernmost point landmark (even though the line was ridiculously long and we couldn’t stop to take a pic there), we did get a picture at the start of Highway 1, we biked through some of the cool little Key West neighborhoods, we rode by Hemingway’s house (unfortunately i never got a chance to go back for a tour, which i really wanted to do), and we got the general vibe of the island. We also watched the sunset in Mallory Square one night and saw the elusive green flash; that made me really happy, because I’ve always wanted to see one.

Some of us also went to the beach one morning, which was nice. The beaches there are very rocky, though, not sandy, so it made walking on it rather unpleasant. I swam out a ways to a small coral outcropping that was a popular snorkeling spot, and as far out as you could touch the bottom it was rocky. So weird; I’ve never experienced a beach like that. We found a bunch of cool shells, though, which the kids loved, and we brought back enough to fill a mason jar that’s currently decorating their bedroom.

I got to go on a sailboat ride with my sister, brother-in-law, and some of their coworkers on what was supposed to be our last afternoon there. Fortunately, I talked Ryan into staying 1 extra day so I could try to get some relief from all the vomit and have a relaxing day to myself. It kind of happened – the little ones were still barfing, but it would have been a nightmare with them on a plane that day instead of at the house, plus I did get to enjoy the afternoon sun by the pool with drinks brought to me by Ryan from some of the bars on Duval Street that I never got to see in person due to my pseudo-quarantine status most days. I need to remember, however, that boats and I don’t mix very well anymore. Any time anyone asks if I want to go on a booze cruise I jump at the chance, forgetting that I get instantly nauseous as soon as we leave the harbor. Ah well. I got to help hoist the sails and did feel good after I laid down with my eyes closed for a bit and just enjoyed the lull of the ocean, so it all ended well.

I have to say, my favorite part of our trip was the almost-daily trips to the Cuban coffee shop. That stuff was delicious!! I lamented the fact that I barely got to see or do anything else due to the kids being sick, but that’s ok. Hopefully I’ll be back. And Ryan checked off everything on his list (of course!), which was good because he hadn’t had a true vacation in about 3 years.

Then, 2 weeks after we got home from Key West, I took the kids out to Tucson over the long Easter weekend to visit my grandparents. We had a layover in Denver, and thankfully my sister booked all our flights so that I met up with them to fly the second leg from there into Tucson together. I’m not sure 4 planes by myself with the 3 Goonies would have been quite as enjoyable as having company/help for half of them.

It was a great visit, even though I was parenting solo. The weather was beautiful, we took the kids to a new-to-us pool that was pretty perfect for them, we spent some time at the house of a wonderful family friend who I’ve literally known my entire life, we got to spend important time with my grandparents, and we overlapped with other family who we don’t see that often.

It’s always nice to get out of Dodge every once in a while, especially when Wisconsin winters can seem endless.  So these were some fun, sun-filled days.