Wisconsin Cousins 1

We gobbled up breakfast at the hotel, took one last little walk around the city of Chicago, and then packed up our car, and we were on our way!

A few hours later, we were knocking on TT Dad’s Sister (C)’s door.  The kids and I would be setting up camp here while TT Dad and his other sister, A, stayed in a hotel near the convention center.  TT Dad and I briefly considered having the duo and I stay in the hotel, too, but we really wanted the cousins to be able to spend some quality time together… whenever possible.  The WI cousins were wrapping up their school year, so they were quite busy with extracurricular activities, but we managed to sneak in quite a bit of play time!  There is a really nice playground in their new neighborhood.  We had a lot of fun playing on the silly spinning chair, the swings, and the slide!

The duo also enjoyed helping A&A with their homework.

Our arrival coincided perfectly with Mother’s Day, which was a nice treat!  TT Dad’s mom, and dad, brought his Grandmother to visit for the day, as well.   The kids wasted no time in making themselves at home in their cousins’ house.  I have a feeling their aunt and uncle are still finding bits and pieces of toys they hid everywhere, six months later!
We had a nice relaxed Mother’s Day, just chatting, playing, and munching.  I couldn’t have asked for a better day, and I think Oma loved it, too!

TT Dad had a full week of work related functions, but the duo and I hadn’t planned  much, since we were hoping to squeeze in as much cousin time as possible.  We were also hoping to get a lot of time with Auntie C, but as I mentioned, it was a really busy time for the family!
It didn’t take long before I realized I needed to find things to do with the kids, before they redecorated their cousins’ entire house- and probably not in an award-winning way.

Sleeping was also a little bit of a struggle while in WI, which was not expected.  The kids would take a while to go down at night, and they actually fought their naps, which is not something they typically do- at all.  We did their normal routine, they slept in their normal pack and plays… there was no obvious reason for the difficulties, but we couldn’t seem to fix them during our stay.

We felt awful that our kids were probably keeping their cousins awake all night!

Our first outing was to Kids in Motion, in New Berlin, WI.   It was the perfect morning activity on a rainy day.  The three of us had a great time, and I quickly decided on a few other outings, in order to avoid any permanent damage to the house.

I think it worked!