The Brosko Fiasco: Our Unfortunate Trip Back to America

I say the trip was unfortunate because for those of you who don't know, it was unplanned and unexpected and due to the death of my Dad. I miss him lots and try to remember that it would have been worse if the cancer had gotten him slowly. But it wasn't all bad. We had a lot of time to visit with family and that was a nice silver lining. The other good thing, I was able to reunite with my good buddy Target. I love that store and miss it lots. We spent a lot of time together and I left a lot of money there to confirm our bond. I did set the kids up with shoes, clothes and even did some Christmas shopping. I know it's early for that, but if you had to shop over here you'd understand.

I love the baby hair, and the fat little finger trying to communicate what he doesn't have words for yet. Adorable.

Twins. Troy only has to lay on the floor to become an instant jungle gym. He logs some good parenting hours just like this, half watching a game. Classic Dad stuff.

OK, so the flight to and from America went as well as can be expected. It was 9 hours or so and that's a lot to ask of kids 5 and under. They did great and I even got compliments from people around us that didn't even know there were kids on the plane. I'm happy they were comfortable, but I worked my tail off. The kids were well behaved but it took a constant effort on my part. I was continually getting toys, getting snacks, reading books, setting up movies, going to the toilet, answering questions, and heading off fights. I barely sat still for a minute on either leg of the trip. NOT TO MENTION, on the way home, Troy magically could not swing a seat with us. The flight attendant tried but it wasn't meant to be. I sat with my three young kids, by myself, Troy was no where in sight. It was bulk head seating which helped, but holy crap another grown up would have helped. All in all my kids were up for 22 hours on the way there and slept a whopping 1 hour and on the way home they slept 2 -3 hours in the same time period. How is that even possible at their ages? By the way did you know you can fit 3 kids and me in a airplane bathroom?

OK so when we finally get home, the kids and I stumble out of the car, pee, crawl upstairs and get into my bed. We woke up 4 hours later. Troy meanwhile, got out of the car, started to unload it and then started to wonder why it was so quiet. He hadn't even gotten the last bag out before he realized how quickly we ditched him and fell asleep. Jet lag is rough.

Saying good bye to Glam : ( Ben is being Badguy as usual.

Troy spent all his time in Minneapolis playing cribbage with my Mom and doing a puzzle. He's got one foot in the nursing home if you ask me.

Cheeky little monkey boy.

William is big fan of the 4 - wheeler. He's particularly excited here because he can see a horse. He has a pretty electrified reaction when he sees animals.

Marshmallow - a giant pink one.

William's first time, he was a fan but didn't care much if they were roasted or not.

This goes against every fiber of Gary's being. He's probably embarrassed that I posted this picture. He's the type that really likes to burn stuff and would have loved to have had a big REAL fire for us, but it had been too dry in MN for a real fire to be safe. He's grown up so much since his days in Crystal Michigan when he tried to burn the whole town down a few times, granted he was like 8, but still. The grandkids had fun despite the propane flame.

Mother's Day.

So we all have our favorite relatives, usually they're the rich ones, or the ones that help you out when you need it most, or they're the ones that always remember your birthday. Right now though, I'm leaning towards my favorites being two pre-teen nieces. They followed Ben and William around the ENTIRE time I was up in Minnesota. Tirelessly, they played with the boys and kept them safe. I wouldn't see them for hours. I didn't have to deal with fights, arguments or tantrums. It was awesome. They gave me such a break. Thanks Guys!!

A beautiful day at the park with the cousins.

William had a great day at the park. He had so much more fun than if it had just been me there with him. Again, Cora and Audrey gave me a great break. I was able to just sit on a park bench and watch. The girls took William up and down slides, pushed him on the swings, and in general just did his bidding. It was wonderful.

This is Badguy on Grandpa Gary's sand pile. Normally he's just a Badguy with a normal human face, but this mask that Grandma Toni had was even better. He wore it nonstop until it broke. He takes this very seriously and doesn't break character often.

Again, he's dead serious.

My favorite store besides Target. They seriously have everything you could ever need.

He never really did grow up.

The triplets. Veronica disappeared for the duration of my stay in Iron. Her and the twins ran around until bedtime. How can my kids need me so much at home...I can't go 5 minutes without someone crying or bugging me for something. But when the cousins are around I don't see hide nor hair of them. I actually got lonesome. Sick right?