Eagle River July 22nd, 23rd, and 24th and our drive home

The girls slept in a little after their big night at the fair!  They woke up in time to play a little before we met Christine and Brock for lunch at a great Mexican Restaurant.  After lunch we had to say goodbye to Britt and her family.  Hopefully we'll see them again at Christmas!  Christine, Brock, Kate, and I went to the "beach" in Verona for a few hours while I waited for Wendy to get off of work.  They didn't allow any floaties though so Kate couldn't use her favorite swimming floatie.  She didn't swim much because of that.  It was relaxing though!  Then we had to say goodbye to Christine and Brock... all these goodbyes are so sad!

We picked Wendy up to drive back to Eagle River.  She did all the driving, which was a nice break for me!  Her husband, Dan, drove up separately and brought their two cute dogs.   Kate and I were so excited to see Brennan!  He had a great time at grandma and grandpa's house!  We enjoyed another relaxing weekend.  We thought we'd go tubing down the Wisconsin River on Saturday because it's been our tradition to do that since Brennan was one year old, but the weather wasn't cooperating so we decided to go to the movies instead.  Wendy, Dan, Brennan, and I went to see Zookeeper.  It really was a cute movie!  Kate stayed to play with grandma.  When grandpa came home from work, Kate snuggled on his lap and took a long nap.  It was so cute! 

On Sunday I packed up the car one last time and Wendy drove us to Madison where we took a fishing break. It was a sad goodbye to Wendy and Dan.  Kate cried for about fifteen minutes and just kept saying, "Wendy, Wendy...".  Brennan was so sweet trying to comfort her.  He told her he used to cry all the time when he said goodbye too.  He also commented that he was such a softy that he cried one time when his mom went to the grocery store.  he went on to tell her that we'll see everyone again soon.  It was so sweet!

We were sad to leave Wisconsin but excited to see Leah and her family again.  We drove the two and half hours to Aurora, Illinois.  It was neat that Leah's house was our first stop and our last stop of our great vacation!

We got on the road a little before 10:00 AM on Monday.  I thought I'd drive half way and then get a hotel... well we just kept driving... and driving... and ended up driving the entire 14 and a half hours in one day!  We arrived back in Raleigh at 2:00 AM Tuesday morning.  The kids were amazing travelers!  Brennan kept encouraging me to get home... he was so excited to see daddy and Zamboni!



Brock helping Kate to the water




Future prom dates?




Brennan loves Leo
(Wendy and Dan's dog)




Grandma with her dog Walker




Kate taking a nap
on grandpa's lap.




Grandma and Grandpa and their two
grand kids.




Taking a fishing break in Madison












 It was so nice to sleep in my own bed!  The kids enjoyed sleeping their last night in our room too... Tuesday night they had to return to their own room... which made them sad.  It has been a wonderful seven weeks!