We had our final trip of the summer last weekend. We did our second annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse with our good friends (and Trixie's future in-laws) Ian and Jacqui, and their boys. Last year was our first trip and I was pregnant, this year Jacqui's pregnant. Maybe next year no one will be pregnant. Ha!
We've had a lot of vacations this summer, and by vacations I mean doing all the things we usually do with our kids, only in a different setting. It's been really great to have so much together time, but the introvert in me was starting to feel a little burned out. Going to the Shrine, however, is the perfect little trip to make with little kids. It's about a two hour drive for us, we stay one night, and we keep expectations pretty low.
The main objective is walking up a hill to the church. The scenery is beautiful.
We were a parade of double strollers.
Once we got up there the grown ups took turns going to confession while the kiddos played in a fountain.
There's a beautiful garden with a shrine to the unborn. Jacqui and I have both lost little ones to miscarriage, so there's something very special about seeing all our children there together.
After that we hit up the hotel pool and wore the kids out so that they would go to sleep and we could stay up and drink wine out of plastic hotel cups and talk without being interrupted. Until 12:30. Yikes! Not smart with babies that wake up multiple times during the night!
Trixie loves chilling with dad in the hot tub.
We've had a lot of vacations this summer, and by vacations I mean doing all the things we usually do with our kids, only in a different setting. It's been really great to have so much together time, but the introvert in me was starting to feel a little burned out. Going to the Shrine, however, is the perfect little trip to make with little kids. It's about a two hour drive for us, we stay one night, and we keep expectations pretty low.
The main objective is walking up a hill to the church. The scenery is beautiful.
We were a parade of double strollers.
Next on the agenda was trying to get 4 kids under 4 to all smile for a picture. It didn't happen. Better luck next year
Trixie loves chilling with dad in the hot tub.
Sunday morning we got one final dip in the pool, went to mass at the Shrine and then ate a Jimmy John's picnic down by the river. We got a tip from one of Alex's classmates about an old-timey ice cream parlor in La Crosse, so we walked there for some ice cream. By the time we finished the babies were turning into pumpkins so we loaded and made it home without any stops. Success! And next year will be even better.