A road trip, a wedding, and so much sister love!

Over the weekend, I put on my brave face, packed up our van, guzzled some Dunkin' and embarked on a brief, crazy, and FUN trip to see my family in Chicago.

Nothing gets done without this stuff. ^^^

After Cece finished school on Friday, I drove myself and the girls to Wisconsin Dells. Even though it's hard to get motivated to drive for so many hours, there could not have been a better or more beautiful weekend to do it with robust fall colors everywhere.

 I not only missed the company of my husband, but I missed his big muscles and I had to haul around luggage and children with no assistance. Bless the heart of everyone who held a door open for us! We arrived in our hotel, had some time in the pool, even went out to dinner at Noodles, and then crashed in our room. 

On Saturday, I finished the drive into Illinois, stopped to hang out at my mom's for a little while before settling in at my sister's new place. That evening, I had a babysitter for the girls as Robbyn and I attended my cousin Joanne's wedding! Sister dates are the best. We ate all the cheese, enjoyed the wine and generous dinner portions as well as cake!

How beautiful is my cousin???

Here's Joanne and Chris being all kinds of cute. It was so wonderful to see all of my Yuen family. The evening was filled with smiles and excitement. In short, it felt great to celebrate and I loved seeing my cousin so happy.

I got teared up as my cousin Julie gave her maid of honor speech. How could I not? Sister love is a wonderful thing.

Then we whisked away Julie into the photo booth with us. Robbyn insisted I wear the Viking helmet. And she obviously needed a sombrero. I'm so glad I have this photo strip as a souvenir! 

Sunday was for relaxing. We had brunch with my mom at Golden Bear restaurant. Then the girls took a nap and we followed that with a playground visit.

Showing Grandma her rock climbing skills. ^^^

Many high fives to my sister and her beautiful new home! Cece says when she grows up (and is in kindergarten) she would like to live in a condo too. Look at this lovely peaceful moment being had while Rosie napped.

Rosie was only too happy to be eating her meals shirtless. This is not uncommon.

Here is a less peaceful, but still awesome moment. Even though it took some effort on my part to keep track of the girls and all of our stuff, it was such a worthwhile trip! We began our return home on Monday, staying with my friend  (and fabulous hostess) Alysha in Madison. We then arrived back in Minnesota on Tuesday and have been settling back in ever since.

Thank you to EVERYONE for making our visit so fun!