The Great MidWest

I’ve been out of town. It was the big trip of the year, and it involved quite a bit of planning, packing and finally, flying with crazy, exhausted children. I’ve actually been back since late Monday night, but it’s taken me a few days to get back in the swing of life. I think I’ve finally gotten enough sleep to think straight and most of our mountains of laundry have been done. Anyway, this trip had it’s ups and downs, which I tend to think that most trips do. It was a full week from the time we left our house until the time we walked back in the door and a week away from our house, and normal sleeping and eating routines was bound to throw us out of wack at least a little. Here’s the basic rundown:

The Ups:

Visting the cutest little Amish town and riding on a horse and buggy (plus I scored with some beautiful locally spun Alpaca yarn).

Riding ATVs through rows of apple trees, blueberry bushes and corn. It was easy to feel far away from stress of all kinds riding on the back of an ATV when all you can see is soy bean fields and queen anne’s lace.

Learning that the beach at Lake Michigan really isn’t that different from the beach at San Diego (weird!).

Spending time with family.

The Downs:

One of my new listings canceled on day two of our trip (I hadn’t even posted it here yet). The wife called me and said that due to family problems, they needed to take it off the market. Two hours later I got a call from an agent wanting to make an offer. Oh bitter irony!

We had decided to try the red eye out to Michigan from Phoenix. What a mistake! No sleep was had by anyone but Ben, because he could nap for a couple of hours through his little brother’s screaming. We went roughly 40 hours with no sleep when all was said and done.

Bugs. ‘Nuff said.

One bathroom, 10 people. Also, ’nuff said.

Our travel home got totally screwed up in so many ways it’s hard to describe. There was weather, airline error, and traffic. Suffice it to say that we ended up taking a 4 hour bus ride (where we actually had to get off and change busses with the kids and our 800 pieces of luggage halfway through) and finally missed our connecting flight in Chicago and had to stay an extra 24 hours.

Which brings me to one more final good:

We were lucky to have two dear friends who just happen to live outside of Chicago to come pick us up and let us crash for the night. It was so great, because I’d been wanting to get out and see their house and meet their new boyfriends and it was the perfect opportunity.

Check out the midwestern glory:

And how cute are they?

So we survived it all. And we even got to visit the horse farm I lived on as a child. But that’s a story for another day.