summer in wisconsin

One of the hardest parts about living in Florida is being so far away from our families. On the flip side, one of the best parts about living away from family is how special each visit home is. We get to spend so much quality time with our people, just condensed into a week or two instead of scattered haphazardly throughout the year.

This year we spent three weeks visiting family in Wisconsin, and it was a busy three weeks! We got to relax and enjoy staycations in rented houses with both sides of the family, hit up some favorite spots in Milwaukee, and celebrate some birthdays and anniversaries with family. I'm normally a pretty laid back traveler, but I'll be honest. I was straight up 

worried

about how our kids would sleep. At home Teddy sleeps from 7 p.m. until 7:30 a.m. Pippa takes

forever

 to actually go to bed, but once she's sleeping, she sleeps through the night. Unfortunately for us, they are not used to being in a room with other people, and tend to take turns waking the other one up when they are confined to a small space.

Thanks to very accommodating family members and creative sleeping solutions, they kids actually slept fairly well throughout our time away from home. Pippa definitely had many late nights and early mornings, and was fairly crabby due to lack of sleep by the end of the trip, but other than that, it was such a relief that they slept as well as they did.

Some highlights of the trip included:

• s'mores by the campfire

• celebrating Teddy's first birthday with both sides of the family

• having free babysitting so we could celebrate our sixth anniversary with our traditional drinks on a patio

• a Spike Ball and Corn Hole tournament with my family

• volleyball, yard games, and Mafia with Justin's family

• my 10 year high school reunion

• the simple things like cooking dinner while being together as a family, taking walks, and watching the aunts, uncles, and grandparents bond with my babes

• the 18 hour drive back that took like 22 hours (KIDDING)

I am so grateful for the time to be able to see our families. It was really cool to see Pippa playing with her cousins, and I really look forward to watching their friendship grow over the years. Now, without further adieu, only a small percentage of the hundreds of photos I snapped on our trip:

Our 6th Anniversary

Teddy's First Birthday

family pictures

Best. Trip. Ever! See you again soon, Dairyland!