Trip to Indiana

The boys have two weeks off for spring break so we took the opportunity to fly to Indiana to see some relatives, but mostly my grandparents. My grandpa is 88, recovering from surgery and also dealing with Parkinson's. My mom's side is from Indiana and a bunch of family still lives there. The last time we were there was in 2013 when Jonah was Doren's age. I knew the trip would be worth it but for months I was dreading the travel part.
The first leg of the trip was to Stockholm (such a great airport!) then on to Chicago. For those who don't know, Doren was recently diagnosed with a yet unnamed inflammatory bowel disease which causes him to poop a lot and often. As fun as this is at home, it was even more fun while traveling! He blew through an entire outfit before we even boarded the first flight. Its a good thing I brought several plastic bags and changes of clothes!

Doren being all calm and sweet on the short trip to Stockholm.

Racing cars during the layover. Can I live at the Stockholm airport please??

Here's how the nine-ish hour long trip to Chicago went...The five of us are in the four middle seats because Doren isn't yet two and can still be a lap child. (Not fun but we saved a lot of money.) Dinner is served! Tray tables come down. Doren has massive blowout. Doren needs change of clothes. Me can't reach necessary items because of tray tables. Jonah needs help buttering bread. Tobin can't find fork. All of these commands are being yelled because they're watching a movie with headphones. Doren is screaming. Drinks now being served and boys yelling what they want. Me about to start yelling, too. Marc squeezes out. I squeeze out. We all squeeze into the lavatory to peel poop-besmirched clothing off a writhing, screaming Doren on that hard table above the toilet. Doren is making every effort to prevent us from helping him. Ahh, I'm going to miss these precious moments so much when they're older! (eye roll) Doren clean. Me soiled. Squeeze back into seats so Doren can grab everything off tray table and ruin dinner. Trays removed. And begin Part 2 of Doren screaming while trying in vain to make him sleep. Only seven and a half hours left!

Once in Chicago, we met my parents at a hotel to stay the night. They met us there to spend time with us since its so much closer than Germany and drive us to Indiana so we could save a lot of money by flying into a bigger airport. I had a splitting headache for the last five hours of the flight and still had it after we landed and was so deliriously tired from barely sleeping at all. Its really hard to get some shut-eye when you have to hold up a toddler who may or may not be slapping you. So my parents were a big help with the boys and the next morning I felt more human.

That morning we said goodbye to Marc who went on to Portland to see his parents and some friends and the rest of us began the four hour drive to my grandparent's house in Indiana.

But first things first. Super excited to get my TJs fix! They can mop the floors with my tears. And probably pay the rent from my purchase.

Oh yeah! We love it too!

Yippee! We made it to Grandma's house! My grandparents live way out in the country surrounded by corn fields. My aunt and uncle live in a house across the yard on about fourteen acres. My uncle has a huge barn and business back there with all sorts of large equipment all of which is thrilling to the boys. There are two big ponds, a tree house, and two huge swings hanging from trees. Its basically a country paradise for three little kids.

The ol' shed where Papa used to keep the mower.

Its strange for me to see how much has changed since I was a kid. I remember watching my Grandpa ride the mower to cut all that grass. He used to let my sister and I drive it while he walked along. There used to be a big garden out back with cucumbers, green beans, corn and whatever else they grew. We were always munching on something fresh from the garden. My great-grandparents used to live right next to my grandparents and we would go over there in the morning for breakfast. Those things have changed but they are wonderful memories. Some things haven't changed like the coziness of being in that house and the way it smells and the way the garage smells and how fun it is to walk across the grass to my aunt and uncle's to go swimming or watch a movie. And I know how lucky I am to still have two of my grandparents.

Here's half of the reason we came! My grandpa is in a nursing home now getting physical therapy but will hopefully go home soon.

And here's the other half!

#tbt Me, my mom, sis and the Grands on a ferry to Catalina Island circa 1988. Sweet shades, Mom.

One evening after dinner we heard a rumbling. Was that thunder? Doren's bowels? Nope. Just my uncle rolling across the yard in a Bobcat to take the boys for a ride on the back forty.

Not everyone has a great-uncle with a fleet of construction trucks parked at his house!

And a few minutes later Cousin comes along for more rides!

At a fun (and free) play area in downtown Columbus.

Great-grand Uncle Bobby, my grandpa's brother, showed the boys all his tricks like how to pull off your finger.

Doren had a blast tossing the ball with Uncle Bob.

Huggies from sweet cousin Jackson.

Another evening we were playing Bingo with the cousins. My dad had been gone for several hours "running errands". I kept asking my mom what on earth he was doing for so long. It turns out he went to the airport to fetch my sister! She walked in and since it was a familiar face I was like, "Oh, there's Lisa...Oh! There's Lisa! What is she doing here?!" Anyway, it was a really nice surprise and she stayed for three days. Somehow I don't have any pictures with her. Oops. Good to see you, Sis!

You never know when someone is going to pull up in a backhoe, excavator or semi. Be ready.

Eeeeeeek!

Back it up!
I have a whole new respect for truck drivers! I was worn out just from riding in the thing for a few blocks. For heaven's sake, give semis lots and lots of space!

So much land to roam

Sweet Nonny 

Getting cozy with great-uncle to watch Toy Story 2.

Caption??

Playing "pick up sticks" sounded great until they realized it was a chore. That Granny is so clever!

Farm' boy

Since we would be flying out on Easter Sunday, my mom pulled off a terrific egg hunt a few days prior. The boys had no clue and it was great.

New straw hats for Easter baskets

All I care about is this giant egg.

The lovings

Before we came, there was talk of taking the boys fishing in the pond behind the house. The poor kids have never been fishing before and were so excited! Fortunately, my two younger cousins are basically experts in fishing (and many other things) so they were excellent teachers.

#tbt Me, the sis, and my once little, now large men, cousins. 

Preparing the "rigs". That's fishing poles for you lay people.

He just dug these up out of the ground and then split them in two with his bare hands!
Nope.

Teaching the ways

Toby being funny with his pulled up pants and no-hands fishing

I can hardly stand the cuteness!

The patience of a saint.

It was so fun and relaxing watching all the big and little boys fishing. The only bummer was that Toby is the only one who didn't catch anything. He was really upset about it. And its not like we're going fishing again anytime soon. Marc and I like tent camping and all but that's the extent of our nature skills. I'm not a completely helpless sissy but this 80% city-girl would have to be pretty desperate to touch a worm on purpose. Nghaaah!

The Grande Matriarch bathed in light on her throne

We had a mini family reunion party at the nursing home with my Grandpa and more relatives. I wish I had more pictures!

The funnest swing ever

Six days of fun, chatting, eating, open spaces and meaningful family time flew by. I'm so glad the boys got to see these loved ones again as they grow up. This plot of land holds so many memories for me and I loved being there again.

We said our goodbyes and left my grandparent's house for the four hour drive back to Chicago O'Hare. Along the way I start feeling flu like symptoms like chills and body aches. Great. My dad had to drop us off extra early so he could catch his earlier flight from Midway. Now I have the three boys and all the luggage which I can't even check for another two hours because they don't accept bags earlier than four hours before a flight. Of course the huge play area that I researched is in a different terminal that our tickets won't allow us to go to, plus we still have all the luggage. So all we can do is sit for another two hours and try to keep Doren from escaping onto a conveyor belt. Marc finally rejoins us from Portland, we check the luggage and now I really feel like I have the flu and we still have three hours to kill before our flight!

Doren doing his thing. Not sure what the guy in back is doing. Either a pre-flight prayer or getting into a headstand.

We board our flight and there is an empty row behind us. Finally something good on a plane! The kind people of SAS took mercy on us and suggested we grab those seats. It was such a relief because the big boys got two seats each to spread out and sleep. I had an extra seat, too, but if I put Doren down he wakes up, so that was awesome.

See paragraph above for how the nine-ish hour long flight back to Stockholm went.
Right about now (again, bleary-eyed and in the lavatory wiping poop off Doren's neck) is when I start fiercely loathing all the solo travelers in business class. (Sob) I hope your champagne is flat!! I hope your chair-bed thingy malfunctions and doesn't recline all the way!

Me not really sleeping. Good times

Now that we've dealt with copious amounts of fecal matter...what family adventure wouldn't be complete without a little vomit, hmm? Upon landing in Stockholm, my poor motion-sickness-prone eldest lost his lunch walking out of the plane. I frantically searched for anything to catch it and all I could get was a pillow, which didn't quite cut it. But the sweet SAS flight attendants assured us it was no problem and it happens on every flight. Ugh. I'm so, so sorry...

FINALLY on the last leg of the trip one of the many play areas is actually available to us. 

A two-hour flight later and at last we've landed in Germany and can get home to our own beds! But what family adventure would be complete without also losing something? We got the luggage but the two car seats never showed up. It's a hassle to lose your bag, but at least you can go home and make do. When you lose the car seats you can't even get home! So we spent another jolly hour+ hanging out in Baggage Claim filing a report and by this point we're all hungry, stinky, tired and with an inch of scuzz on our teeth. Fortunately, they found some seats we could borrow (and they delivered our two yesterday). We still had to wait for the shuttle to take us to our car and then it was another hour of driving to get home.

Finally in our own car and totally zonked

There's the whole epic saga. I guess I'm staying in Germany for good because I'm never flying internationally with three kids again.
I say that every year and every year we end up taking an international trip. BUT every time its worth the poop, sweat, tears and vomit to see beloved friends and family. You were worth it!
I love you all! Hugs and kisses!