Well, we still haven't found the battery charger for our camera, but I did end up taking our memory card to CVS and transferring all our pictures onto a CD. Thus, I was finally able to put them all on Flickr.
Where do I even begin? We took a trip to Indiana/Chicago a little over a month ago. We hadn't been back to visit family since 2007, so we were anxious to see everyone. In addition to the cousins Maddie and Josie already knew, they also got a chance to get re-acquainted with Ethan (who had been only a baby last time we saw him) and to meet their newest cousin, Beckett (born only the week before we arrived.)
We considered driving overnight to help the girls pass the time in the car, but at the last minute decided to just drive during the daytime anyway. Little did we know Bill had a surprise stop for us halfway through the trip. Without telling us where we were going, with only a few misleading hints ("You like bats, don't you? We're going to a place where you get to hold bats and they get to land on your head") we finally arrived at Kentucky Down Under, a little bit of Australia smack dab in the middle of Kentucky.
We ended up spending about 3 hours walking around petting kangaroos, feeding birds, hiking down into a cave, and hugging a camel. A completely surreal experience, but definitely an enjoyable one. I'd definitely recommend it if you are in the area.
The kids were great throughout the whole trip, but it was nice -- even for Bill and I -- to have that break mid-day. We're already planning on visiting Dinosaur World next time we're passing through.
The fun continued long after we arrived in Indiana. On one of the days, we took all the kids to Deer Park, a little petting zoo theme park that Bill and his siblings had visited as kids too. In fact, here's a pic to prove it:
Yep, that's little Bill in the foreground there. Bet you thought it was Maddie at first, didn't you?
The kids had so much fun petting the various animals, everything from deer to goats to emu to llamas and more. Afterwards, they went on the little carnival rides. The ride operator was, to put it kindly, a very interesting person. He was both extremely strict about the safety of the rides, while at the same time having complete irreverence for a child's fear over said equipment. Case in point: Maddie was terrified of riding the carousel, but we persuaded her to do it. She kept her eyes closed until the last few rounds when she opened them and realized things weren't so bad after all. Then the carousel ride was over and the operator slowed it down to a stop, planning on letting Maddie and Drew off first. As soon as it seemed like the car was stopping (to Maddie's relief) he jerked the carousel back on again and it whipped around full speed a couple more times (to Maddie's panic.) I have to admit I panicked a little too. Not exactly my idea of a joke, but Maddie doesn't seem too scarred by it. You can see the almost-relief on her face below, just before the ride started again (center picture):
As if we hadn't seen enough animals already, our trip also included a visit to Potawatomi Zoo. Bill's mom, Judy, was hosting an event there for work, and Bill and I (ahem, I mean Ali-Oop) were the resident face painters during the event. Afterwards, I went home to wash off my clown makeup, while Bill and the others took the girls around the zoo. The girls loved it. They'd been there before, but just didn't remember it.
Of course, our trip wasn't complete without a visit to Chicago to meet our newest nephew, Beckett. So sweet and so tiny. He weighed and measured the exact same as Maddie when she was born, yet he seemed so much smaller than she had ever been. He is the sweetest little baby. We only heard him cry once over the course of 2 days. Even then, it was a little whimper that soon went away. The girls fell in love with him too, especially Maddie who wanted to hold him all the time. She also wanted to hold him without help. She couldn't understand why she is always being told she's a big girl, yet these adults won't just hand over a newborn baby to her. Hmm. Still, she made sure to get in lots of cuddle time.
We were lucky enough to get a chance to meet my aunt, Dodo, for breakfast on our way to Chicago that morning. Once we were there, we also took the kids to Sears Tower and did some shopping along Michigan Avenue. Later that afternoon, Bill's family took the girls back home with them while he and I stayed overnight with his brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Kami. We had a fantastic dinner and then he and I went to see my brother Rob's show at Second City. He is part of a new sketch comedy group, Not From Baltimore, that was performing there. The next day we did some more sight-seeing and shopping, and then headed to a couple of TBS Just for Laughs Comedy Festival shows. Bill's coworkers were in town for the event, so we got a chance to meet up with them as well. We saw Bob Odenkirk's Best of Sketchfest and Bob, David and Friends. (Yeah, we happen to like Bob Odenkirk.) After a late night of shows and celebrity-watching, we headed back to Indiana to meet up with the girls again.
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The rest of our trip was spent exactly how it should be: just relaxing and having fun with family and friends. The girls spent their days at Aunt Julie's house, swimming in the pool and playing with their cousins, or snuggling with Grandpa and Grandma at their house. We also got a chance to meet up with Bill's other niece and nephews, Mark, Christyn, and Devon. We had a great time catching up with them and hearing all about what the kids have been up to recently. In fact, the visit had quite a lasting impact on Maddie -- she's certain we need to get a poodle someday! And finally, on our last day, we got the chance to visit Great-Grandma Horvath to celebrate her birthday.
Bill and I were talking on the way home about just how much fun we had during our trip. Regardless of where we go, there's usually a point during our vacation that, regardless of how much fun we're having, we can't wait to just get back to our own home. That didn't happen once during the 10 days we were there. Thanks to everyone for the great time. We hope to do it again, much sooner than 2 years this time.
