Trip to IA

Last weekend the kids and I went to IA for a few days to visit our IA kin and enjoy some time on the farm. It was interesting traveling with two little ones. On the trip down, Matthew became quite unhappy with just under an hour to go and we had to take a break. On the way back to MN, Sam became unhappy and we drove right through it. Sleeping in the same room went pretty well. Sam actually slept in a walk-in closet, where he was quite happy and of course, slept like a rock as always. Matthew had two mediocre nights and one night which was his best sleep in maybe three months. He was sleeping so well that I really welcomed his early morning cry at a little after 5. 

We arrived on Thursday and it wasn't until Saturday that Sam warmed up enough to get into the cab of the new tractor. Or maybe it was that he was more interested in playing with the cats instead of the tractor. When Grandma Sue finally got him up the ladder into the cab, he had a great time and enjoyed playing in the tractor with his cousins, Blakely and Blaze. This week we've been hearing chants of "Shut the door! Shut the door!" from Sam as that was what the kids chanted at one point when they wanted privacy in the tractor cab. When they emerged from the tractor cab Grandpa Don drove up in his four-wheeler, which incited extreme shaking, but no crying from Sam. He clearly did not want to ride the four-wheeler. In Sam's world, tractors, construction trucks and the like are good in miniature and when they don't work, but the real deal is quite scary and overwhelming. 

For the most part, Matthew kept to his early bedtime of 6, but stretched it out to 6:45 on one evening. The evenings were filled with commotion as when the cousins under age 3 (Sam, Blakely and Sophia) get together it is a squeal and chase fest. They run from one end of the house to the other, in and out of rooms, squealing and laughing. I think the parents enjoy the activities, but it might be a little noisy and annoying to other family members who are used to more subdued evenings. Matthew slept through it all for the most part, preferring to do his waking up in the late evening/early morning hours.