Life from a Mom in a Small Town: Family Reunion

As I sit at my computer and write about this past week, I have to note, that it is cloudy, raining, and under 80 degrees outside. A drastic change of pace around here if I do say so myself. Kinda nice to not have my kids yelling, "I want to swim in the pool!" at every waking moment. My mom has flown to see my sister and after putting about 1400 miles on the van in 6 days, I can't say I'm sad to be inside doing hardly anything. It's always hard to see family leave, my motivation goes out the window for a few days, thus, I will play on the computer and let the kids hang out and entertain themselves for a bit.

My mom and I packed up last Thursday morning and headed out on our journey to the Guzialek family Reunion (the first annual?). I have only met a few of my relatives on my Mom's Paternal side of the family, so it was great to meet almost all of her first cousins and their children. We left on one of the hottest days of the year so far and before we got on the road, I stopped by our car dealer to have him re-fill the freon in the air conditioner. A MUCH NEEDED comfort that day, I will tell you that much. We drove and drove watching the thermometer on the van climb and climb some more. We topped it at 105 degrees, but my last picture was 104. Peter just kept saying, "It's stinkin' hot." Since that's what I usually tell them at home. We made it to Howe, Indiana the first night, after about 7 hours of driving. I guess it's the birthplace of Lincoln? Wish I could have explored that a little more. Driving on the toll roads does not afford much sight seeing, mostly fields and rest stops. After a decent night sleep, breakfast, a jaunt on the treadmill, and packing up, we were on our way again. The storm that had hit Chicago the night before was headed right for us. I drove through some intense rain at about 40 mph for a good 20 minutes. We watched it roll in and I said, "It feels like Storm Chasers." People pulling off to let it pass and all. We sat in Chicago Friday afternoon traffic for a really long time, but made it to the hotel and our cousin's house. That night they took us to "Paradise Pup." A little place featured on the Food Network, and it was worth sitting outside, sweating while we ate. The next day after the kids got their nap in, I went to Patti and Mike's house to see the rest of the family. It's funny when you meet random people for the first time, you don't really think too much of it. When you meet cousins, their children, Great Uncles, and spouses, you instantly have a connection whether you like it or not. It's called DNA. Lucky for us, we have nice family, so meeting them was great. The kids all played well, there was lots of food, we got to hear stories and catch up in person. I hope this isn't the last time, seeing as how my husband wasn't able to come and neither was my sister. Good times had by all. Thanks again everyone for coming out.

My brother threw the idea of going to the Shedd Aquarium out there for our Sunday activity before he flew home and we got on the road. So we drove into Chicago and saw the fish. Lots and lots of fish. It was fun, but next time I will not do it when the kids would usually be napping. They did fine in the end, but were a little bit lazy and clingy while fighting crowds of other tourists. We even had a special visit from Andrew's Aunt Jan and Uncle Don who live in Chicago as well. It was nice to see them, they hadn't met John yet and Peter was 9 months old and teething the last time we saw them. Not as pleasant of a child, we'll just say that. Glad it worked out for them to drive over and meet us.

Back on the road in order to get out of the city before Monday morning. We made it all the way through Indiana and into Ohio for the night. Ended up in the middle of no where since Andrew booked us on Hotwire. Turned out alright, but we learned a lesson about doing research before booking next time :). The rest of the drive was nuts. It rained the entire way through PA. Not just a drizzle, I mean, the do not blink, grip the wheel, be ready for anything kind of rain, lighting, and thunder. We were totally exhausted and my shoulders were killing me by the time we pulled into Danville. The kids just started saying, "Danville, Danville, Danville." John says it "Danbull." They knew we were home right off the exit. The saying, "Home sweet home." Has not been more applicable. We had a great time, made lots of memories, and have vowed not to get in the car for more than 10 minutes in the next week or so.