Cincinnati Roadtrip 2016- The First Few Days

Last week we embarked on yet another crazy adventure--a roadtrip to Cincinnati with 5 little ones, the youngest of whom was 6 weeks.  From us, that is a 17 hour trip each way (without stops for feeding said baby and bathroom breaks, gas refills, and food stops of any kind).  We broke it up into two days and drove 12 hours (it was quite a bit longer with all the stops) to St. Louis the first day.  If I'm sounding a little negative, it's because that day was rough.  It was sooooo long.  And most of the kids didn't sleep much in the car (what the heck you guys!!), though thankfully the baby was an angel.  Thank you, Jesus (seriously that was a prayer from the bottom of my heart).

We stopped for lunch at this slider place that is nearly 100 years old in the tiny town of Salina, KS.  Because how can you pass up a place that has been open so long?  You just have to check it out.

Overall the girls were quite good though, so I can't complain much.  They read books, colored in coloring books, snacked, and we listened to a lot of Disney music (from the theme parks, not from the movies per se). And eventually we made it to our hotel and crashed for the night (it took awhile for the kids to wind down, but let's just pretend that they fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow).

I honestly don't remember exactly what state this was in (maybe Illinois?), but whoever painted these lines should be fired.  #areWEdrunk?  #thatpainterwas

And that wasn't even the worst of it...

The next day was a shorter day and we stopped for lunch in outside Indianapolis and met my little sister who lives a little ways from there.  

Aunt Shannon meets Kolbe, our tiny nose picker.  

And then just a hop, skip, and a jump and we were finally in Cincinnati!

 

The girls were so excited to see their uncles and Grammy and Granddad.  And everyone got to meet the newest little Bissonnette, Kolbe Christopher.  

 

Grammy had purchased a cake to celebrate Ava's birthday (it's rare that the kids get to celebrate birthdays with them) and a special Birthday Bingo had been crafted for the occasion.  Ava was a star and she basked in it.  

And then we headed to Aunt Winnie's where we were staying and there was more hugging and excitement.  And of course, baby whispering.  Her son Don was there was well.  

 

The following day was filled with more fun and hanging our at Grammy and Granddad's house.  There were a few presents for Ava, one of which was a little tea set.  She had many tea parties (mostly with Grammy) throughout the day.  It was totally adorable.  

In the evening we went to dinner at Chris' brother's house.  We got to meet our niece Emiliana for the first time. My sister in law, Laura, made skyline chili dogs and there was a scrumptious apple crisp for dessert.  Good chats, good food.  We love us some family time!

 

And Laura gave myself and Elise a nice trim while we were there too.  

 And then the guys (Chris' dad, Chris, Patrick, Michael, Scott, and Nicholas plus Evan to be the DD) went out for a guys night. I'm glad they got to do something like that at some point during our visit.  Guy bonding.  As you can see, good times were had by all.