On the Road with 5 boys

Steph and I took the boys-all 5 of them-on a fun filled crazy road trip a couple of weekends back. We packed up and went to Boo at the Zoo in Duluth and then to Grand Rapids at a Pumpkin Patch.

I had to take a picture of how we actually got 5 carseats and all our crap in a minivan! Emmitt is next to Bradyn (who let me do his hair) in the other back seat. I have always said I refuse to own a minivan, but I am sure glad we had one on this trip or it would not have been possible. We had stuff shoved in every compartment possible, our suitcases, the stroller, dvd player, dvds, snacks...I think Steph and I were most worried about where we could put all our stuff we knew we would purchase from Target?!
The four big boys dressed up at the zoo. What better than a turtle, 2 monkeys and a lion? Hey at least they fit the animal theme! Parker was a monkey last year with the twins and I am really glad that we didn't dress him up like a monkey this year because I called Nate-Max and Max-Nate no less than 100 times that weekend. I told Steph to put N and M's on their backs next time. A side note on Parker's lion costume-cousin Nick wore it when he was 2 or 3 and he is now 13, so it has made the rounds through nieces and nephews.
Trick or Treating
A preview of how cute Yoda can be
The 5 boys in a pumpkin pile. I took about 400 pictures that weekend and almost got a couple of where all 5 would glancing in my direction.
At the Pumpkin Patch they had all different kinds of these cutouts for the kids to stick their heads in. This one happened to be small enough or close enough to the ground that they could get their heads in.
Nate-or-Max, kidding I know it's Max (unless his mom leaves a comment that I have it wrong) on a haybale with Parker-showing us their muscles.

The pumpkin patch had a huge slide coming down the hay loft. It went super fast but they had fun going up and down, up and down.

The corn maze was one of the funniest moments we had that weekend. Bradyn picks the sports questions to get us through the maze, Steph and I sort of looked panicked that we may not be able to answer them all, but were relieved when we found the answer key. So you have to pick which entrance to use-Obama or McCain-and get into the maze and start answering questions. So we get in there and make the boys wait until we find out if we go left or right. We get through about 4 questions and come to a pole with a number 6 on it?! Steph and I look at eachother and realize we have done something wrong. What does number 6 mean? Question 6? We have already asked questions and have never seen a pole before!! Crap...so we just start back tracking. I am pushing Emmitt in the stroller and the 4 boys are running ahead of us and we just keep shouting left, right, left, left...a few times Bradyn says, we just went in a circle...are we lost? No, no, we say, just keep going. Did I mention it has started raining when we were "lost" in the maze? We finally get out-through the entrance-and we start cheering and telling the boys good job, we did it! Bradyn wants to go in the other entrance and we flat out said no, let's go see the animals!

Emmitt consumed his weight in straw while on a very long hay ride.

A few things that come to mind from that weekend~we got to see babies Lauren and Landon at the mall and have lunch together. So we actually said "3 adults, 7 kids" when we needed to be seated at the restaurant! A waitress from another section came over to tell us that she could hardly tell that we were there, the kids were that well behaved. A couple were next to us at their table (trying) to enjoy lunch and the woman kept looking over at us, I told her I would buy them a drink when they were finished and she said that she was actually enjoying watching us because they have grandkids that live far away.

We had a woman outside of Target make a snide remark about population explosion when Steph walked in the store with the 4 big boys and I followed with Emmitt...doesn't that lady watch Jon & Kate plus 8? As if you can control having multiples-snag!

Bradyn and Parker grind their teeth when they sleep! 7 people in one hotel room with 2 beds is not all that much fun.

The weather could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse.

It seemed like everytime the kids fell asleep we were just about to our location. And when we wanted them to nap they wouldn't! Emmitt was great both days, but had a rotten night. The weekend was very busy, lack of naps, lots of fun, the hotel pool saved us. The kids got along well for the most part, but 5 boys are BUSY! I am finally not too tired to write this post, I think I have caught up from that weekend. I think I'll just stay put for awhile.

2 comments

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a fun, tiring, trip! :-) Isn't it crazy how much goes into traveling with kiddos?

Love all the photos! :-)

FamilyGus said...

So cute Becky! I finally wasn't tired so I could write about our farm trip. Travelings not that fun, but the farm was a blast, and what the heck great memories!!!