Icy wonderland

Lincoln had a bad-baby night our first night staying with Eric's parents. He has a very specific internal clock which doesn't allow for much wiggle room on his particular, little schedule. He likes to eat the minute his butt hits the highchair, he MUST be fed dinner promptly at 6 p.m and his bedtime window is only open between 8:00 and 8:30 p.m. Any deviation from what he wants will surely be grounds for a baby-retaliation.

We missed the bedtime window and said child was fussing and fitting his ever-loving head off from 3:30 to 5:00 a.m. Lawrdy, Child! Sleep already! Aside from this being a major pain the arse, we all needed to rest for the big day we had ahead of us. It was Children's Wonderland day!
Eric's parents, my parents, Eric's sis, BIL and nephew had all made plans to take the kids to a children's magical wonderland of vivid animation and holiday showcases. This indoor, seasonal display has been around since the time our parents were kids and I remember going there when I was in grade school. I was so excited to share the magic and lights with my kids and with both sets of grandparents joining us.

The unfortunate part about the day was that the weather began to turn wicked cold and snowy, rendering the roadways sheets of ice. My anxiety and stress level reached an all time, panic-button-high during our almost one hour drive to get there on the slick roads as we passed accidents almost every 5 miles. I could have thrown up by the time we finally got there. Safely of course, but I was more than rattled.

Aside from the gut wrenching anxiety of traveling, the kids loved the winter wonderland and we all had nice time making memories together.

Here are some of the highlights of our day:

And now you know where Santa keeps his reindeer... they were all waiting to play "reindeer games" with Rudolph.Eric's parents with the one and only grandchild that would hold still for longer than a hot second. My parents with the happy, sticky-lollipop-face child.My Elaina, what long legs you have! What's wrong with your brother's head?

Despite the rocky start to our morning, the kids behaved very well for the better part of the day and even through dinner which was creeping dangerously close to their bedtime hour. The only thing that could have made the day better was having a group photo of all 11 of us together. But seriously, 11? Didn't so much happen this time. We'll have to put that on our list for next year.