Our Trip to Minnesota

The good news about having no time to keep up with blogging (I HATE grading!), is that in the mean time my dad wrote some great accounts of our trip to Minnesota so my Grandma Ringkob could meet the boys.

Here's an excerpt from my dad's blog:
I need to give some background info to set this up. About a month ago Keri, Kathy, and I were sitting around discussing what would be the least painful way to get the grandtwins to Jackson, Minnesota, to visit Keri's grandmother, the boys' great grandmother. Esther turns ninety-nine in January so we thought we ought to get this done pretty quickly. We just couldn't see subjecting the boys to a 12-15 hour trip strapped into car seat as the law now dictates. We hit on the idea that Keri, Kathy and the boys would fly to Sioux Falls, SD, on a Friday afternoon (Keri had an in-service that day) and I would pack all the leftover necessary items (playpens, extra diapers, clothes, etc.) in the van and drive to Sioux Falls, meet them and drive them to Jackson which is about a 90 minutes drive. We bought the tickets, prayed for good weather and put the plan in play.
In the meantime, son-in-law Eric, a Delta pilot, was transferred from Detroit to Minneapolis. In addition Keri and Eric bought a new minivan making the "grocery getter" (definition according to son David-a small station wagon usually driven by a mother for all sorts of reasons including buying groceries) available for Eric to drive it to Minneapolis as an "airport car". As long as I was driving to Minnesota, Eric thought it would be nice if we caravan as least as far as Jackson (that's Minnesota not Wyoming). This should get the readers started.

At the Denver airport:
This was a challenge. I found a nice, empty gate that had a TV so that the boys would be distracted by the TV while I fed one of them at a time. My mom was off getting us lunch. While I was nursing Reid, a guy came and sat down four chairs away from us! He just wanted to watch TV, but I'm really not used to nursing in public, so it made me very uncomfortable. When I switched to feeding Aiden, I sat on the floor so I could hide us behind the stroller and Reid could squirm around on my jacket. We also discovered that the flight had moved to a gate on the opposite end of the terminal. By the time we got on the plane, I was sweating like a gorilla.
Feeding Aiden, while Reid played with Aiden's feet (sucked on his socks) and I ate McDonald's:

At the correct gate, the boys happily chewed on their identical twin giraffes, Spotty and Spotty:


In Sioux Falls:
Eric and I were in my dad's minivan, while my mom and dad drove the grocery-getter one last time:


In Jackson, Minnesota:
My grandma lives in an assisted living facility. This was great for us because they rent out a couple of the apartments to visitors. My mom, the boys, and I all stayed in an apartment just a few down from my grandma's. My dad had one at the other end of floor, but still only a short walk from my grandma's. It was so nice to be able to set up camp in an apartment. I'll have to keep this in mind for future travels- having a kitchen is a good thing!
When we arrived in Sioux Falls, we quickly made the 90-mile drive to Jackson, so Eric could meet my grandma. Eric and I have been together for 5 and 1/2 years and this was the first opportunity for him to meet my grandma. It barely worked out because he ended up driving up to Minneapolis later that night to begin a trip on Saturday.


Saturday in Jackson:
I sent two Pack-N-Plays with our road crew (aka, my dad). They both fit in the closet in the master bedroom of the apartment and the boys slept great on the trip. Sleeping in the same room as them and listening to their sleep noises brought me some good memories of the first two months after they were born. Eric, the boys, and I logged quite a few hours sleeping in our living room together. The boys shared a Pack-N-Play back then and Eric and I each had a couch. The boys used to make the cutest noises in their sleep, especially Aiden's high-pitched squeaks.
Happy as clams on Saturday morning:





My cousin Julie had just finished midterms at St. Olaf, so my Aunt Marita picked up Julie and two of her friends and they came to see us too. (My Aunt Marita is whom Aiden and I inherited our dimples from. Don't worry about Aiden's look of concern in the first picture. He was just confused that someone who sounded like his grandma, but wasn't his grandma, was holding him. He quickly recovered.)




Four generations!

Both boys did great in Great-Grandma's lap. We were a little nervous that they would be too squirmy, but they knew they needed to be good little boys.



On Saturday afternoon we drove out to my aunt and uncle's farm for a visit. We enjoyed fresh-baked apple pie made by my Aunt Debi and my cousin-in-law Jenn. The pie was delicious and it was great to catch up with them! (I can't believe I didn't get any pictures! I did get a load of laundry done at their house- it's amazing that we can no longer afford to go more than two days without doing laundry.) Many farms in the Jackson area are in the process of having windmills installed. The landscape looks very different. On my family's south farm, my Uncle Kent and Aunt Debi have one windmill and my grandma has another.
My grandma's windmill:


My uncle's windmill plus his harvesting equipment. If you look closely you can see how massive the windmill is in comparison to his tractor.

Sunday in Jackson:
David and Kelsey drove down from Minneapolis to spend the morning with us. It was great to see them, even for such a short amount of time.




On Sunday afternoon my parents, the boys, and I drove back to Sioux Falls.

My aunt had warned us that the Sioux Falls airport security is some of the strictest she's ever gone through, including international travel! They didn't disappoint. Between my mom and me, we were subjected to 10 different security checks, including checking the vapors from the bottles of milk and a "random" check of my mom's purse just as we were getting ready to go down the jetway. Plus, I didn't find the gate agents to be very kind. I had everything loaded on the stroller shell while my mom and I were holding the boys. The gate agent called for first class passengers and then suddenly jumped to loading everyone. I asked if he would be calling those who needed special assistance and he looked at me and told me "NOT for children." I almost kicked him in the shins. I'll chalk it up to dealing with a bunch of people who didn't want to work on a Sunday.
Our fellow passengers were great for the most part. I know no one enjoys traveling with crying babies. Because of the arrangement of oxygen masks on this model of airplane, my mom and I had to sit in different rows instead of across the aisle from one another. Reid quickly drained his bottle on the plane, so I was trying to give him some extra milk I had brought along. One woman quickly hopped up and helped us pour the milk into the bottle. We really appreciated that.
Just before landing, both boys finally fell asleep. Out of four flights with the boys, this was the toughest one for me. I just feel so bad if either one of them is fussing, but I can only console one of them at a time.


Despite a few frusrating moments, I would still rate this an extremely successful trip. Considering the massive changes in their routines, the boys adjusted very well and did a great job. I'm so glad we went and were able to see so many of my relatives.