Girls Trip!

Yay! Girls trip! Just really
cold, though...

I've often told my girls that there are few friends closer than a sister. Aw. Naturally, I'm hoping that this will inspire them to always get along, in the big things as well as the little (and really, who can determine whether it's a big thing or a little thing if "she took the pencil that I was using like three minutes ago?" Which is one of our most common arguments.). 

But I've had an ulterior motive, and that has traditionally been to pave a smooth-ish path to my somewhat annual visit to my sister's. The girls have, historically, been able to somewhat understand, or at least not argue against too much, my desire to visit my sister when I mention to them that someday, if they live far apart, they'll probably want to visit each other, too. Unless someone nabs one pencil too many, of course.

Fudge and cheese!

It's been tough leaving little ones in tears over the years, but we have all survived, and I've had some pretty great times visiting my sister. We left off for a bit after the move to Kansas in favor of other adventures together, but last year, as the pandemic seemed to be slightly more under control than it had been previously, we decided a visit would be in order. We scheduled it for the migration in March, because Nancy always has the best birdwatching stories and I like birds, too. Yay! 

In the month or two leading up to the trip, airfare costs skyrocketed. I'd been on the fence about whether to fly or drive, but high prices sealed the deal. As it dawned on me that the minivan holds more than 1 person (plus luggage), I looked at my amazing, somewhat mature (except for the pencil issues) and fun girls, and I realized the sister trip needed to get a lot bigger--three more sisters needed to be included as well. We figured out that travel and sleeping arrangements at Aunt Nancy's would all work, and set the plan in stone by officially inviting the girls.  

Thanks for the brownies,
Aunt Debbie!

Girls trip! Woohoo! I stocked up on snacks and audio books, and we dug out some fidget toys and all the best stuffed animals (Naomi). Then we packed ALL the bedding we wanted, because we had plenty of room for once and could travel in comfort. Naomi had: a pillow, a sleeping bag, another sleeping bag, a small comforter, and a giant dog, plus her beloved stuffies. The other girls didn't need quite that much comfort, but we did stick in several air mattresses.

Since it wouldn't be as much fun for Kalina if she had to miss her orchestra rehearsal, we left right after. An easy, 3 1/2-hour drive later, and we were meeting Uncle David and Aunt Debbie for Culvers, and they were spoiling us with all we wanted to eat, even frozen custard even though there was plenty of dessert back at their home. Girls trip!

Aunt Debbie had a few crafts ready for us, so we crafted, snacked, and chatted until bedtime. After breakfast in the morning, we enjoyed some more time together before making our way northeast toward Nancy's.

It did seem ironic that we left behind relatively nice spring weather to travel in potentially freezing rain and weather that would hopefully get "up to the 40s or maybe 50s." Fortunately, our drive ended up relatively uneventful, and we listened to a great audio book pretty much the whole way. 

Easy-peasy, until my phone's GPS just stopped working, leading up to pretty much the only major-ish city (more like a major town) along our drive. At first, I admit, I believed Kalina's poor technology/navigation skills were to blame, but we soon cleared her name. The kerfuffle cost us 20-30 minutes, but in the end, McDonald's in hand, we were again on our way. As a bonus, I got to reminisce about my college internship days, which were spent in part of the area we were driving through.

As an added bonus, Nancy had been sick the past couple days! Which meant that she was sick enough to call in sick to work, but not so sick that she wasn't super fun to be with. Case in point: as soon as we arrived, we headed out to a cheese/fudge store, because that's what you do in her state. Let the party begin!

The cheese/fudge store was amazing, naturally. We stocked up on curds and blocks. Naomi found her requisite stuffed animal of the trip, and we each got to choose a flavor of fudge (plus an extra for the group). Could not be better.

Then, we were able to head straight to a favorite birdwatching area, where we checked a few species off our previously non-existent list, despite chilly, rainy weather, thanks to a warm car and a couple sets of binoculars. We also saw a bald eagle nest. Amazing! 

Of course we had to play
Wingspan!

After a QT dinner, we played a few board games (how did Naomi and Elise pound me and Nancy so soundly at Pass the Pigs, a game of chance??), made plans for the next day, and headed to bed to be ready for it. 

Sometime on the drive, while staring at a map, the girls had gotten wind that we'd be relatively close to Lake Michigan at Aunt Nancy's place, and were excited enough about the prospect of spending a cold day trying to birdwatch there that they deemed the extra drive worth it. So in the morning, after breakfast and a few more board games (we really tried to cram them in!), we hopped in the car and headed even further east. 

Birdwatching!

First, pizza. We found a riverfront place and spotted a few waterfowl as we waited for our food. Then, birdwatching on Lake Michigan! The only problem was the temperature. And the drizzle. We saw an adorable grebe and a few other cuties before taking refuge in the car. Fortunately, we had brought some brownies, courtesy of Aunt Debbie.

Back out again, we wandered along an actual beach, enjoying the experience of sand despite the unfriendly climate. And that was actually enough for all of us. We checked the box on Lake Michigan birdwatching.

Naomi amused and
warmed herself by
jumping and having
me try to get pictures
of her in mid-flight.

But we weren't yet done with Lake Michigan! In a lovely neighborhood perched on something of a cliff overlooking the lake stood a (small) lighthouse that we were able to visit. A tour guide told us about some of the history of the lighthouse, which included a woman lighthouse keeper who climbed all those stairs many times day and night, while raising kids and presumably doing all the cooking and laundry and wiping noses and getting everyone to the dentist on time. But...she earned as much...as a man!! Plus bragging rights. A true triumph. 

And then it was time to climb. Kalina and Elise were old pros, having climbed one in North Carolina. Sweet Naomi? Not so much. Fortunately, this one had two things going for it: it was only about half as high as the North Carolina lighthouses, and she could hold my hand all the way up.

She did actually make it higher,
but that landing was too
crowded for a picture. Go
Naomi! You're unstoppable!

Did I mention I'm afraid of heights, too? But through Naomi's tears, and pleas of "I can't," we both just kept following Aunt Nancy and Kalina and Elise, slowly and steadily with plenty of stops, never stopping to peek out the windows to see the view. In time, Naomi had made it to the top of the actual stairs--a landing where a super-scary ladder that would take us to the very, very top, where the light was. No one blamed her one bit for not wanting to climb that ladder. And we counted it.

Fortunately, so did the lady at the front desk when we arrived back down (a trip that was, if anything, scarier than our ascent because you have to look down all the way--although we did peek out a few windows this time). She wrote out a certificate that Naomi still proudly displays in her room today, certifying that Naomi had, indeed, climbed all 84 stairs. Which she totally did. Ladders aren't stairs.

The top!

Next we walked the grounds a bit in the chilly drizzle. Naomi enjoyed the big stone lions, but to be honest, after enjoying the view for a bit longer, we decided we'd had enough fun for one day and headed home. On the way back, we were all pretty tired, but managed to play a word game and not end up annoyed with each other, for a win.

Fudge, board games, showers, bed.

The next day, the girls and I would need to make it back to Des Moines, so we only had the morning to spend with Aunt Nancy. We decided on the nearby zoo, with a side order of fried cheese curds, without which our Wisconsin trip would not be complete.

I figured if we really pushed it, we could have as many as 3 1/2 hours at the zoo and still make it back to DM at a reasonable time. Nancy assured me that would be beyond enough, and that I should potentially adjust my expectations. It was, after all, a free zoo in a somewhat underwhelming city. She was betting that 2 would cover it.

The tiger comes in for a
snuzzle! Just like a certain
cat we know!

The first (significant) thing we saw after entering the gates was a tiger getting his breakfast to-go, in a paper bag, hung in a tree. He had to rip it open in order to devour the raw meat inside. We enjoyed not only this sorta-realistic scene, but then the cat-like behaviors afterwards, that even made us miss our own cats. We texted photos to Matt, and then Nancy and I remarked how pleasantly surprised we were, so far.

Next was the primate house (it was chilly out, and the house was warm). Here, we watched lemurs and monkeys performing their early-morning acrobatics. More pictures were texted to Matt.

Nearly indistinguishable from
the logs, you can see a pre-
wrestling polar bear.

"Wow!" he commented. "Looks like an amazing zoo!" And he was right. We dined on cheese curds in front of wrestling polar bears, watched an aardvark that reminded us of the armadillo we'd seen at home, saw the zoo's signature badgers, watched flamingos sleep and occasionally itch themselves, and so much more. This was the coolest zoo ever, plus you didn't have to walk far to see anything. We ended up using the full 3 1/2 hours--the perfect amount of time. Nancy was fine being wrong.

We were super sad to leave Aunt Nancy. Just, very sad. :( Thank goodness for a good audio book. Plus we stopped for ice cream.

Me: Who wants ice cream?

Girls: Me! Me! Me!

Me: Great! Here's a McDonald's! Although of course there's always the chance they'll be out of ice cream or their machine will be broken or something!

[The light, good-natured laughter of girls who are getting ice cream and will laugh at any of Mom's jokes because of it.]

Me, to the drive-through thing: We'd like ice cream (listing all of our choices)

Person taking our order: I'm sorry, our machine is broken.

Stunned silence.

Fortunately, there was a Dairy Queen across the street. And they had not run out of ice cream. 

[Relieved laughter]

Later, we pulled into my friend's house in Des Moines shortly after she'd returned home from her symphony performance. Her family was starving, and we were excited about a second shot at supper, as our gas station fare had left more longing than satisfaction. We ate at a restaurant together (mac and cheese all around for my girls, and I got something real and healthy), and then enjoyed just a few minutes back at her house before her girls had to hit the sack, with the Monday after spring break ahead of them. I sent mine to bed, too, so Allison and I could chat.

The next morning, we were banned from going upstairs until after 7:30, which I totally get, as we would've added a lot of chaos to an already tricky morning. Then we basically ate and left. And then arrived home. In time for piano lessons that afternoon. Party's over, girls. But it was a great one!

PS: Piano lessons ended up canceled. No tears were shed on our end, but I did make them unpack right away instead of leaving it for days.