Trip to Wisconsin (November 2014)

This post is a little late....things have been a little crazy around here. 
My mom found some really cheap tickets to Wisconsin back in September and it gave Logan and I an excuse to come visit. My mom and sister Jenna are the only ones at home that have met Logan so my dad and two brothers (Landon and Evan) would be meeting him for the first time. There was a deal for a one way ticket from Chicago to SLC for $30. What a steal!!! The other ticket we got from SLC to Milwaukee was regular priced though and was like $120. Still cheap though for a round trip. Frontier airlines doesn't fly out of Boise (it would have been nice though).

Our flight didn't leave until Tuesday, November 4th, so Logan and I drove down to Draper, UT on Monday and stayed with Steve's grandma and grandpa that night. On the way we stopped in Logan, UT to see some old friends that used to be in our ward (church) back in Wisconsin. It was so nice to see/visit with their family after a couple of years. 

 

The Aamodts L to R: Anna, Izzy, Janell, Me (Dave was taking the picture)

Fay took us to the airport the next day and my mom and dad picked Logan and I up from the airport in Milwaukee. Logan did so good on our flights. From SLC to Denver the plane was mostly full, but I asked the flight attendant if there were any open rows since my row was full and there weren't any open seats next to each other. She took me back to an empty row and Logan and I were able to spread out and sit comfortably. He took a short nap and also nursed upon landing and it seemed to help a lot. This flight was only an hour so it went by really fast. Our flight from Denver to Milwaukee left 1 1/2 hours later so we had some time to walk around and eat a little bit. This flight was pretty full, but there was only one other person in my row and they sat on the aisle so I had an open seat next to me. It was also nice to have a little extra room. This flight was 2 hours long so Logan was a little more antsy, but he took 2 naps and nursed during the flight this time. I'm really surprised at how well Logan did, especially for only being 3 1/2 months old at the time.

Such a cute, sleepy boy on the plane

 

My parents took us out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner that night and then we headed home (my parents house is about 1 1/2 hours from the airport). My parents house is actually for sale right now which is sad because I love their house, but they need to downsize since there are only 3 kids at home right now.

At Texas Roadhouse with Grandma :) 

 

The rest of our trip was mostly relaxing and going out and doing things when Logan was well rested and happy.

One of the nights I was able to go out with my childhood best friend, Kendra. We've known each other since Elementary School and it was good to catch up and go to dinner. My mom stayed home and watched Logan while we went out, which was nice. Kendra wanted to meet Logan, so she followed me back home and hung out at my parents house for a little bit.

He loved Kendra!

Saturday we went out as a family since the kids didn't have school. We started the day by going by the Amish bakery which is 1/2 hour from my parents house. We got some pretzels, donuts, and pecan sweet rolls. So good!! I love going to the Amish bakery, it's just so much better than store bought bakery items. Then we headed up to Appleton to go to the mall. We were only able to be there for a few hours because Evan and Jenna had work and had to be there at 5.

Logan fell asleep on Grandpa before leaving. So cute!

 

Love him!!

 

At church

 

Evan is such a good uncle and kept Logan entertained :) 

 

One of the days my mom took us down to Milwaukee and we went to the Botanical Gardens and walked around.  We also got lunch at Jake's Deli.

My mom!

Our Corned Beef Sandwich....YUM!!

After lunch we got custard at Kopp's. Can't pass that stuff up! Logan was eying my mom's the whole time!

Uncle Evan and Logan. He has just gotten out of the shower not long before this (hence the wet hair). 

Aunt Jenna and Logan.

Jenna is such a good Aunt. She knew exactly how to make Logan smile/laugh. 

My dad with Logan. Logan loves his Grandpa!

 We skyped Steve "daddy" a few times while we were there. He missed us!

Our flight left out of Chicago on Thursday, November 13th. Before we got to the airport though we stopped at Garrett's Popcorn (best popcorn ever!!!) and Portillo's/Barnelli's (super good food) in downtown Chicago. Chicago is seriously one of my favorite cities! So fun! We got to the airport a little early and had time to get through security and walk around before getting on our flight. Our flight ended up being delayed 30 min because the other flight coming in was late. This flight was 100% full so we didn't get as lucky as we did on the way there. Every seat was full and it was a little crammed (we were even in the very last row so everyone was always walking by to go to the bathroom). This flight was 3 hours long (no connecting flight) which made it a little hard to keep a 3 1/2 month old entertained. The lady sitting next to me was super nice though and didn't mind Logan being antsy and kicking her when I was nursing. He took 2 cat naps, nursed 2 times, and the rest of the time wanted to be standing on my lap. For how long of a flight it was I would say he did pretty well, but it wore me out. I probably will never fly/travel solo again with a baby, it's rough. If the flights weren't so cheap I probably wouldn't have done it either (I love my family, but I'd rather not pay $400 round-trip when there isn't a sale).

Fay and Larry picked us up from the airport and fed us dinner. They are such great hosts and are so fun to visit with. I couldn't leave without playing cards with Fay so we played a few rounds and called it a night. Logan adores his great-grandma Fay. She talks to him and he talks/makes noises right back (all while smiling).

The next morning Logan and I headed back to Ontario to go see "Daddy." We were keeping an eye on the weather the night before because Boise/Twin Falls was getting slammed with a bad snow storm and the last thing I wanted to do was get stranded in a snow storm with a baby. Things looked to be clear so we left around noon. Everything was smooth sailing until we hit the Twin Falls area. The snow started coming down really heavy. We stopped for lunch and I fed Logan and we were back on the road again. As we were driving it started to get dark which made it hard to tell if the snow/rain was freezing or not. I drove over a bridge and started to slide a little bit so I slowed down. Less than 5 minutes later I was stuck in non-moving traffic for 45 minutes because of an accident ahead. Logan started crying once we stopped, but I couldn't really pull over to the shoulder or anything because I didn't want to be in the way of emergency vehicles. I prayed that the traffic would be still enough that I could feed Logan while staying in that lane, and sure enough the traffic didn't move an inch. After I fed Logan cars started moving and we were slowly driving past the accident (car flipped over). Further down the road there were other accidents of cars in ditches and other cars rolled over and I was so thankful that we weren't one of them.

As I was approaching Boise I flipped my windshield wipers on to clean the windshield and noticed it was out of fluid. My windshield wasn't that dirty, but it would have been nice to clean them. I didn't put any windshield wiper fluid in the trunk of our car before our trip because I didn't think I would need it, but I was wrong. I called my brother/sister-in-law, who live in Boise, to see if they had any and if I could stop by their place to fill up. They didn't have any, so I stopped at a gas station.....they were out. I went to a different gas station and they had some (whew, what a relief). I was really close to my brother's place so I thought, "why not stop".  It was nice to get out of the car for a little bit and visit while feeding Logan. Boise/Meridian really did get slammed with a lot of snow and it was 15" in some places, Steve heard. We got back on the road and were home within an hour. It was sooo nice to be home after a long 2 days of traveling. Logan was wiped and slept really good that night.


Overall our trip to Wisconsin was really fun! It was nice to be with family for 9 days and see old friends. I enjoyed the time I got to spend with my 3 younger siblings too. It was fun picking them up from school, taking them to basketball, work, etc. I really wish I could have seen more of my high school friends, but I knew some of them were busy at college/with new jobs. Thank you Mom and Dad for everything, we LOVE you!

After this trip Logan has now been to 6 states (Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Wisconsin, and Illinois).