We made it!

Pictures:

* Triplets holding triplets! (L-R: Michael/Ryan, Megan/Brooke & Jake/Jack) More explained below...

* Cousin Logan holding Jack. He loves the babies (I think Ryan is still his favorite)!

* Uncle Sam (Ed's brother) holding Brooke. He's pretty good at it too...especially for a 20 year old :-)

* Uncle Mark (Ed's brother-in-law) holding Brooke and Jack. He was a little nervous to have one, then we threw on another just for good measure! Now he's a pro.

* Aunt Jill (Ed's sister) holding all three! (L-R: Ryan, Brooke & Jack) This picture better make Aunt Jill's Facebook page :-)

* Aunt Kris (Ed's sister) holding Brooke...so cute!

* Great Grandpa Logan holding Brooke. He's 93 years old and loved holding her. How lucky they are to have two Great Grandparents!

Before I talk about our trip to Champaign, I forgot to mention our big night out with my GNO (Girls Night Out) girlfriends and hubbies on 12/23. It was in the middle of a horrible snow storm (so Kasey didn't join us and we STILL haven't met her boyfriend, Mike!) but Holly/Lloyd, Karen/Dan, Kim/Robert and Dave/Katy made it and we had a great time. Karen & Dan were back home from Raleigh, NC and Dave & Katy were here from Philly (next year they will be bringing home their 7 month old baby - yeah, we can't wait!!!!!). It was so much fun to see everyone...Christmas seems to be the one time that we can all get together. I miss everyone so much. And Dave/Katy stayed with us (brave souls!) until Christmas Eve and we had a great visit.

Ok, on to our trip...

WE DID IT! It was definitely an adventure and we learned a lot traveling down to Champaign. Our standard 5.5-6 hour trip to Champaign took us 7.5-8 hours. Key mistake: not feeding the babies right before leaving home. Therefore, we had to stop along the way to feed them. We stopped halfway at a restaurant (their first trip outside of my parents and the doctors!). Our stop lasted 1.5 hours because we had to feed everyone, change every ones diapers, answer 1,000 questions, meet lots of people who wanted to check out our crazy family, etc. We made lots of new friends on our stop but everyone was on their best behavior. Throughout the entire drive it was pouring rain which also slowed things down. However, the babies did amazingly well and slept the whole ride. The only time they woke up was when the car came to a stop (very infrequently, thank God!). Jack didn't wake up or cry at all...Ryan, a little. Brooke, on the other hand, MUST have the car moving at all times. Kyle is the one who isn't such a fan of the drive. He kept asking, "can I get out?" or "Can I watch my baseball movie mommy?". He might have the movie memorized by now :-) Why can't he nap in the car?!?! We all made it and then had to unpack the sardines and all of their gear...that was the hardest part!

Once we arrived, a great time was had by all. We stayed with Aunt Jill and cousin Logan. I'm sure they were so ready for us to leave after we invaded their house but it was a lot of fun while we were there...thanks guys! We were there for 4.5 days and were busy most of the trip. Great Grandpa had his annual Christmas dinner/party on Saturday night, hung out with family on Sunday, professional photos (at our favorite studio on Monday morning - and everyone did so great!), family Christmas on Monday and visited with friends on Tuesday. Kyle had present overload from everyone but he got lots of great stuff...thanks everyone! Tuesday night was lots of fun. One of Ed's best friends, the Wades, had triplets fourteen years before us. The funny thing is, we would go visit them back then and leave and say "wow, what chaos". Who knew that would be us fourteen years later :-) The triplets had their picture taken with the older triplets and it's funny how their personalities match that of their older friends! Justin, who's 1.5 years younger than the triplets was the best babysitter and had a baby in his arms the whole time! Ellie, who's six, was great at entertaining Kyle. She's six going on sixteen and a little mother hen...so cute! Some friends came by for a visit and to meet the babies. It was a lot of fun. We were able to leave them with the Wades (many arms to hold babies!) later in the evening to visit Kris/Mark's (Ed's sister) to see the huge renovations they made on their home...it looks amazing!

The trip home was wonderful. We learned our lesson on the way down, so we packed the car early, fed babies and got on the road. We stopped for five minutes to let Kyle get out of the car (while I drove around so babies didn't wake up!) and got back on the road. They slept the WHOLE WAY and we made it home in 5.5 hours. Again, Kyle wasn't a fan of the long drive but he had so much fun with cousin Logan and seeing everyone that it was worth the long drive.