Trip to WI, day 8

Thursday morning was our last lazy morning. We took our time getting ready and eating breakfast and then headed out to see some sights. My grandma had been helping us do laundry during the week, so we were always sorting and packing clothes, keeping the dirty in a pile and the clean back in the suitcases.

The weather was awesome and we weren't in a hurry so we just let the boys roam and play.

The first stop was my parents' house. It's currently rented and for sale and my parents live in the cabin in Gordon full-time so I didn't get to go in, but I wanted to at least see the house I grew up in. (It looks a little shady with the missing shutter right now, but it didn't always look like that!)

HOME.

Then we went to the Menomonie "airport" to see the things that had been erected in my family's names. Specifically, my uncle Bill, who passed away in 1994, and my dad, who spent time at Antarctica while in the Navy. This has been there for years, but every time I've been home and tried to go see it, it's been closed! My grandma was along for the ride that day, so we left her in the car with the boys while Seth and I went in to see it and take some pictures.

Menomonie is a town of about 60k, so airport is loosely-used term.

This is the center of the floor in the waiting area.

Then they took us to the pilot breakroom to see the framed stuff of my dad...

There's a typo in the plaque... Antartica, not Antarctica as it should be. womp, womp, womp...

That's my dad at the pole!

We went to my cousin Katie's house for a little bit to hang out--let her kids and my kids meet and play, see her house, etc. and I forgot to take a single picture! After hanging out with her it was time for lunch and since we were close to Menomonie, we headed into town for Acoustic Cafe again. Yup, another Turkey Pita. YUM. After lunch we went to Grandma's and succeeded in getting Austin to take a nap! I laid down with him and he was soon out cold!

After naps headed to Wakanda park in Menomonie again to meet up with Katie (and her son Oliver) and then have Ted's pizza. Katie's from Eau Claire and never spent much time in Menomonie, so had never had Ted's pizza. I told her that's a travesty that must be corrected, so we made it official.

I love Oliver's expression here and Austin's smile.
(I thought "they" outlawed these spinning things!?)

Two boys sitting on a dinosaur.

This kid totally photo bombed this picture. I was trying to take a picture of Oliver and Austin and he ran over and climbed aboard and gave me this award-winning face. I had to take the picture, then!

Oliver, Austin, & Seth.
Love this. Such awesome manly sweetness.

:-) I hate that Katie's face is half-blocked, but you can tell by her eyes she's smiling big!

It's a picture totally depicting the craziness of that night. And Graham looks great!

We ate super yummy Ted's pizza for the second time that trip and then it was back to Eau Claire for bedtime. (Whew! I'm tired just blogging this trip!) I loved getting together with Katie and seeing our boys play together! (Thanks for coming all the way to Menomonie/Eau Claire, Katie!)

After we got the boys down for bed, Seth and I headed to Dairy Queen (the one near campus I used to go to all the time) for a few minutes of alone time. Between the boys and family and friends, we hadn't have more than a couple minutes of just he and I and it was perfect weather to sit outside and enjoy some ice cream. We were gone maybe 45 minutes (I just had this feeling we needed to not take too long) and the boys were both crying their heads off when we got back. Sheesh! Talk about ruining any relaxation we had just enjoyed. Graham got to the point where he was hysterical and I completely checked out. I hadn't had any alone time (and this makes an introvert like me feel claustrophobic after awhile as well as simply exhausted--as if getting together with so many dear friends and family members wouldn't do that by itself!) in over a week and I just lost it.

I went into my grandma's room (the one Seth and I were sleeping in) and started packing. Seth may ror may not have come in and seen me doing absolutely nothing to help with the boys and decided to take them for a car ride. I came out of the bedroom 10 minutes later as though I had just woken up. I even had to ask my grandma "Where are the boys? It's so quiet now." She explained they went for a drive and 45 minutes later (after I was finished with almost all the packing) Seth came back with a sleeping baby and calm toddler. They both went to bed easily and we crashed into bed ourselves.