Here are the travel plans so far:
Saturday, the 22nd: Get up at butt-crack of dawn. Drive. Breakfast/bathroom break. Drive. Drive. Lunch/bathroom break. Drive. Drive. Bathroom break. Drive. Drive. Check into hotel after 13+ hours of driving (not counting stoppage time). Pass out.
Sunday, the 23rd: Drive (what we hope are the final two hours). Meet in-laws at hotel in NW Indiana. Wrangle boys into "nice" clothes. Put on makeup (me, not the husband). 1 pm-- attend "family reunion" (it's really a surprise 70th anniversary for grandparents-in-law). 6 pm (or whenever reunion is over)-- split up-- husband and boys drive to Chicago suburbs to visit our close friends and spend the night, while I go to a baby shower for a cousin-in-law. Go back to hotel. Pass out.
Monday, the 24th: Sleep in (fingers crossed on that one). Reunite with husband and boys. Head over to the grandparents' house to visit for a while, eat lunch, and make merry. Head back to hotel to wrangle boys into "nice" clothes again. Drive to banquet hall for the husband's family's Christmas Eve celebration, including HUGE multi-course traditional Polish dinner. Perhaps hit the midnight mass on the way back to hotel, but we'll see. Pass out.
Tuesday, the 25th: Merry Christmas! Wake up (way too early). Open presents with boys and in-laws in hotel. Get showered, wrangle boys into whatever "nice" clothes don't have stains on them. Pack up car, check out of hotel. Drive 30 minutes to grandparents-in-law to say Merry Christmas and visit for a bit, then drive two hours to Michigan to see my parents. Eat. Open more gifts. My sister, bro-in-law, and niece will arrive. Visit. Eat lasagna for dinner (it's my mom's go-to "fancy" dinner meal... she's saving the regular Christmas dinner for the 26th). Stay up too late. Pass out.
Wednesday, the 26th: Wake up, stay in pjs as long as possible. Eat Christmas cookies for breakfast. Shower. Dress. Wrangle boys out of pjs and into acceptable clothes (forget nice-- who cares at this point). Cousins and their children arrive-- visit. Eat an actual Christmas dinner (ham or turkey-- who knows what my mom is making at this point). Visit more. Stay up too late. Pass out.
Thursday, the 27th: Repeat morning from the 26th. Scrounge for lunch (my parents don't eat lunch until 3 pm and eat dinner around 8-- don't ask). Best friend from IL Jenn hopefully arrives (plus husband? sans husband? who knows!). She (they?), my husband, and I do a "bar crawl" of my parents' town (we always say we'll hit all 4, but I found out that one closed, and we're always too scared of the last place, so this year it will just be 2). Play NTN. Kick serious ass. Buy a celebratory round. Go back to parents' house. Visit. Stay up too late. Say goodbye to Jenn (and husband?). Pass out.
Friday, the 28th: Umm... this is kind of up in the air. Have a leisurely breakfast, then drive 6 hours to OH to see the in-laws (without extended family around) for a few days? Stay in MI for one more day? We'll see. I'm betting I'll want to head towards home. Plus, this gives us an extra day with which we can "fudge" the travel plans, because (as my mother always says), "You never know what the weather will be...".
Saturday, the 29th: We'll either wake up already in OH, in which case we can sleep in because the in-laws are early birds (well, they are up and active far earlier than my parents) who will feed and entertain the kids, or we will be getting up at the butt-crack of dawn again to drive the 6 hours to OH from my parents in MI. Spend afternoon in OH (I'm sure my mother-in-law will have some ideas of things to do). Visit. Relax. Climb in bed at a semi-reasonable hour.
Sunday, the 30th: Wake up, church with in-laws, spend the day visiting and relaxing. As long as the weather is decent, we'll still be there. The in-laws mentioned something about maybe going to visit the house from A Christmas Story up in Cleveland... we'll see.
Monday, the 31st: Butt-crack of dawn, here we go again! Back in the car for the final 10-hour journey home. Celebrate New Year's Eve with boys. Pass out. Twenty bucks says we're going to go to bed long before midnight... maybe we'll remember to set an alarm to see the ball drop... maybe not.
Tuesday, the 1st: Happy New Year... we're going to need a vacation!
Keep watching to see how closely we stick to this itinerary... I'll keep you posted!
Saturday, the 29th: We'll either wake up already in OH, in which case we can sleep in because the in-laws are early birds (well, they are up and active far earlier than my parents) who will feed and entertain the kids, or we will be getting up at the butt-crack of dawn again to drive the 6 hours to OH from my parents in MI. Spend afternoon in OH (I'm sure my mother-in-law will have some ideas of things to do). Visit. Relax. Climb in bed at a semi-reasonable hour.
Sunday, the 30th: Wake up, church with in-laws, spend the day visiting and relaxing. As long as the weather is decent, we'll still be there. The in-laws mentioned something about maybe going to visit the house from A Christmas Story up in Cleveland... we'll see.
Monday, the 31st: Butt-crack of dawn, here we go again! Back in the car for the final 10-hour journey home. Celebrate New Year's Eve with boys. Pass out. Twenty bucks says we're going to go to bed long before midnight... maybe we'll remember to set an alarm to see the ball drop... maybe not.
Tuesday, the 1st: Happy New Year... we're going to need a vacation!
Keep watching to see how closely we stick to this itinerary... I'll keep you posted!
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