December Trip to the States -- Part 1 (Chicago & Wisconsin)

Jeff took time off around the Christmas holidays and we did a trip back to the States. It was a lot of travel -- Dublin to Chicago (fly), 3 days in Chicago, Chicago to Wisconsin (5 hour drive), 3 days in Wisconsin, Wisconsin to Chicago (5 hour drive), Chicago to Orlando (fly), 8 days in Orlando, Orland to Washington DC to Dublin.

This was the first time the majority of both our extended families were meeting the kids, including our great-grandmas.  It was also exciting for me to take the kids back for that annual Sterzinger Christmas celebration. 

Overall, it was a lot of fun, but very exhausting. I don't plan on doing that travel again until 2015 at least.

The airport is what I dreaded most, but the kids were great. In Dublin, we paid for a concierge service that walked us all the way to the gate, including VIP lines through U.S. Immigration and security lines. It saved us so much time and hassle. Then my parents met us in Chicago when we landed to help out.

On the plane, the kids spent almost the whole time playing on the devices we brought. It worked out much better than bringing a bunch of books and toys.

In Chicago, we went out to breakfast the next morning with my parents, my brother and his family, and our family. It shocked me to realize we made a table of 12! 

We stayed with my brother in Chicago and the kids loved it. They shared a bed in the downstairs guest room. There were tons of toys and cousins to play with them, too.

Adele was so happy to see her Grandpa S.  She had a touch of sickness and doesn't travel very well, not to mention jet lag, so she spent a lot of time with Grandpa.

My family!

Driving up to Wisconsin. 

The day we drove up to Wisconsin, we took the kids out to eat at Culvers (yum) and then drove to see the zoo lights. Gordon and Adele loved it. Poor Walt was just exhausted and fell asleep. 

The morning of the 24th, we let the kids open gifts from their Grandma and Grandpa

That afternoon we had the Sterzinger Christmas. The kids loved the big gift exchange. They also loved having tables of food out where they could just step up and sample everything, especially the sweets. I wasn't feeling well that day and ended up spending a lot of the time sitting on the couch or even laying down in my room. 

Meeting Great-Grandma Sterzinger for the first time. We had a mellow, snowy and indoor day on the 25th, then early on the 26th we left for Chicago to begin our travel down to Florida to see Jeff's family.

Santa came early

Merry Christmas, everyone!

When I was young, I learned from my parents that if you were going on a trip over Christmas and you wrote Santa a note, he would often come early to your house. It probably saves him a bit of work on the big night.  We asked Santa to stop by overnight, so the kids woke to find their gifts under the tree.

Checking out the presents

Adele opening her first gift

Gordon checking out his gifts

The toothbrushes were a big hit

Adele loved her new toothbrush

Santa also brought the kids their first headphones.

And Santa brought the keyboard and karaoke station. It was a big hit.

Today also brought snow on the hills.

It was very pretty!

Christmas Cookies

I let the kids make Christmas Cookies today. My dear friend, Margo, sent along some cookie cutters so I made up the sugar cookie dough last night. After lunch, I rolled it out and let them stamp a few cookies and decorate with sprinkles. It was fun! And for once, I let myself roll with the mess. However, there were still a few stressful moments here and there thanks to kids not listening, then freaking out when their cookie fell apart. Or when they decided they wanted to roll the dough, but didn't want to take turns. Or when one kid got down, found my wedding rings on a shelf and decided to throw them across a room.  But it wouldn't be a Berube project without those types of things.

The best part was when they got to eat the cookies they'd just made.

Decorating our first cookies. In Walter's case, his third since he kept trying to pick them up and they'd fall apart.

I later figured out Adele was more interested in eating the sprinkles than using them to decorate.

Gordon really enjoyed decorating and making things with the dough.

Our first batch. Adele stamped out all of the candy canes and put them on the baking sheet while I was helping the boys. I turned and was amazed to see a half full sheet!

Enjoying our cookies fresh out of the oven.

Then kids watched me make these and were super excited when they got to eat them.

Wow, what a Friday!

The boys slept in until 9am, which is crazy because this has never happened before. I didn't think we'd even make it to music & art class at 10:30, but we did. Then we had a fun-filled, very busy, Friday morning.

Gordon likes to sit in the middle of the room. Today, this little girl joined him. She was dressed almost exactly like Adele!

Walt spent most of the class in my lap today.

As usual, Adele got up to participate when the props came out.

Ready to shake, shake, shake!

Gordon is intently listening for instructions.

Story time. See the two girls (one of whom is Adele) in the matching tights?

These are the crafts the kids made in art time today.

Gordon knew what to do right away.

All 3 kids were amazingly occupied and skilled at today's craft, decorating paper Christmas trees.

After music class, we drove to Limerick and met Daddy for lunch at McDonalds

On the way home, I decided to stop at the Ballina waterfront play ground. We had about 40 minutes of fun in the chilly sun!

Walt coming down the slide.

Adele climbed to this point and said "I'm going to stay here." Silly girl!

When I'm alone with the kids, i don't let them swing in the baby swings because they will stay there for hours and I can't handle the running back and forth. 

Adele in a basket. 

The boys were asking for Adele to push them.

My kids

The mall & Santa

Last week, Jeff was out of town, so I took the kids to the Crescent Shopping Centre to visit Santa by myself. They were fantastic at the mall, staying close to me and following my directions. They were very shy and unsure with Santa, but no one cried. However, the only way we were getting a photo was for me to get in with them.

Walter kept looking down. So in order to get him to look up, I pointed at the lights above the photographer's head. I figured looking too far up was better than down.

Today we had to swing up to the Shannon airport to pick up Jeff's car (about a 45 minute drive) so we decided to stop at the Crescent on the way there. We had a number of errands to run there and I was craving a Gingerbread latte from Costa. We were happily surprised to find a group set up playing, and dancing, to traditional Irish music. The kids just loved it!

Watching the music. That's my coffee that Jeff is holding.

Adele is pretty mesmerized by the Irish dance. I just wish she seemed inclined to participate herself,  because I would sign her up in a heartbeat.

Enjoying the music. I'd put the kids in Christmas shirts today. We have a number of them, so they will be wearing them a lot this month.

We then drove to the airport, dropped off Jeff, and drove home. I fed the kids a hefty snack since they didn't eat much lunch at Subway at the mall. Then we loaded up the stroller and headed to the Lakeside Hotel here in town. They were having a big Santa visit. The kids loved it!  They were still unsure about Santa until he handed them each a big box of chocolate at the end. I think that might have changed their minds forever.  At this Santa visit, we all jumped in for the photo, but I don't get to pick it up until Wednesday or later. After Santa, we let them sit down and eat one of their chocolates. Then Gordon and Adele got their faces painted. Adele was such a big girl, standing so still, keeping her eyes closed, and following all of the face painters instructions. I asked Walter, but he said he didn't want any face paint.

Adele's beautiful Christmas Tree face paint. 

The kids loaded up in the stroller to head home. You can see Gordon's face paint, too. The Lakeside looks beautiful all decorated for the holidays.

The always amazing view from the Lakeside