We’re back! We survived our travels with the kids. It went 130% better than I thought it would, even though Max had 3 meltdowns daily and Lucia refused to let anyone but me or Oskar hold her. I’m still clawing my way out from under the heaps of laundry a 6 day trip of a family of four will produce, but I know everyone is positively dying for the photographic highlights of our off-the-hook, wild, exciting vacay to South Dakota with two children. So here we go 7 Quick Takes Style.
1. First of of all. the reason for this little jaunt halfway across our fine country was for the wedding the this lovely woman.
I met Claudia through Oskar’s family, and we knew each other as well as facebook friends who met once in real life can, but after spending lots time with her and her family this past week, I must say she is just a gem of a human being. This is the first wedding I’ve attended that’s made me feel like I owe the bride and groom a thank-you card, and not the other way around. They made us feel so welcome and if fate ever brought us to reside in SD, I wouldn’t be too sad because then we could hang out with the Braga-Henebrys all the time.
Awesome family.
2. Max and Lucia had a wonderful time despite Max being too excited to eat and melting down around dinnertime every day when his brain finally realized it needed food, and Lucia becoming super shy and clinging to me like a small, hairless monkey. Max flunked on his ring-bearing duties, but rebounded after the wedding and danced his heart out at the reception.
Trying to dance like Max.
Get up!!
Happy!
In typical no-fun-mom style I made Oskar take me and the kids back to the hotel before 9:00. I just can’t help it. I’m out of control, I tell you.
3. We also had a really, really nice time hanging out with Oskar’s family. They’re always so generous and can deal with the crazy that the kids entail, which I appreciate.
The Chomicki fam. Poor max got Instagram filtered out.
My kids look more like any given member of Oskar’s family than they look like me.
4. Max adores his ciocias (I know I’m butchering a Polish word by making it a plural the English way, but I like it) and literally could not stop playing with them long enough to eat, poop, pee, or sleep. I had to regulate so, so much that I’m surprised he or anyone else still likes me. I am also a big fan of Oskar’s sisters. We agree what’s annoying about people, even when Oskar doesn’t understand, and it’s nice to have to unity on that front. I found out that Urszula and I share the same Myers-Briggs type, which I guess isn’t too surprising given that Oskar semi-creepily mixes our names up whenever we’re all together and how much siblings effect the people we become and all that. Any other INFJ’s around? It’s loads of fun being an introvert that is only satisfied by helping people. Anyway, I have a feeling that many the qualities I like in Oskar are thanks to Urszula’s sisterly influence.
Me, cousin Tina and all the sisters. Nothing like standing with a bunch of cute Polish girls to make me feel like a swarthy Italian.
5. This post is a glorified photo-dump. There’s no use hiding it. I’ve stolen most of the following from Klara’s Facebook, but they are too cute not to share here.
Max and ciocia Klara.
Lucy during a rare friendly moment with Maria.
Lu and babcia!
6. Oskar’s God-daughter is the youngest sister of the bride and youngest of the Braga-Henebry clan. She was the flower girl at our wedding the last time we saw her.
Then.
And now.
The day after the wedding we borrowed her and went to a museum in downtown Sioux Falls with the kids. Max enjoyed the “tormado”simulation with her. She let me pick her brain about her experiences being home-schooled. Such a wonderful time. I wish we had opportunities to spend time with her more often!
Lucia’s actually happy! For joy!
7. So this trip actually left me relatively unscarred (unlike the last time we traveled, which involved airport vomiting and infants catching RSV). They did amazingly on the flights and layovers, thank the sweet, good lord. But! they could not go the whole trip without a few choice performances:
~Max refused to eat the whole day in favor of playing with everyone (despite my efforts to force-feed him), only to realize right before the rehearsal that he was starving, throwing himself at the steps of the church and hysterically crying for a burger. Lots of concerned stares from strangers.
~Max refusing to poop in the big potty without his squishy seat, requiring a special K-mart purchase and several special trips back to the hotel.
~Lucia refusing to nap during any of our 30 minute drives between Sioux Falls and Garretson, simply because I had to sit in the back of our rental car so we could accommodate an extra person and she could see me. She chose to scream in my face the whole time instead. It was such fun.
~Max exclaiming upon our arrival in Denver, “we’re in November!”
~Lucia becoming so antisocial that she whined when anyone even looked at her. She turned into a complete clingmaster and actually started saying “mama” out of sheer desperation for me to hold her. Boo, and yay! Eventually she warmed up to her gma and aunts but got overwhelmed quickly.
~Max trying to hit on the flower girl by crawling underneath her table at the reception and pulling her feet. Quite the ladies man, that one is.
~Max scaring the crap out of the passengers on the flight home by insisting he saw “tormados” forming in the clouds around the plane.
That’s all for today! Visit Conversion Diary for more quick takes!
