Home Sweet Home

Over the kids' fall break we were able to make a trip home to IL (thanks to Grandad). We had known for a couple of months but decided to keep it a surprise for the kids. Boy that wasn't easy! We left Friday morning (the 9th 0f Oct) and were there until the next Friday (Oct 16th). It was a very emotional, fun, stressful, and happy week but all in all it was a great trip! Thanks to everyone, especially Grandad for our 1st family vacation in 5 years!




So on the morning of the 9th we woke the kids up and told them to come out to the dining room to get dressed. Every night before school we lay out their uniforms on the table. Laura was the 1st one out and she didn't say anything but as she was getting dressed she had a funny smirk on her face. Next the boys came out and James questioned Laura about the clothes but I ignored the question and so did Laura. Then Kenni asked me why they didn't have uniforms and what the bags were on the floor. I smiled and just said I don't know! Immediately Little Man yelled WE ARE GOING TO ILLINOIS! I again just said I don't know. Then everyone started yelling WE ARE GOING TO ILLINOIS! Then Kenni got sad and said to me Mom, I don't know if I can fly over the ocean! I told him we didn't have to fly over the ocean. Then he said Well Mom, I don't know if I can fly in a plane. I told him I would give him a pill (Dramamine) and it would make him go to sleep. Then he was okay. The whole way to the airport Laura and Kenni were very nervous but Little Man didn't have a care in the world. Maddi had no clue what was going on so she was fine.

This is the kids waiting in the Airport waiting to board the plane. We flew out of Mesa and into Rockford. The Mesa airport is much smaller and much more kid friendly! As we were waiting I gave Maddi and Kenni their dramamine and at that time Laura and James didn't want any. Everything was going well until we started to get on the plane. At mesa all you have to do is walk up stairs to get on the plane and if you are seated on the back of the plane you get to enter throught the rear of the plane. Of course we were the next to last rows of the plane. Maddi was walking up just fine them all of a sudden decided she did not like it anymore and just stopped and started crying. So I picked her up and got to our seats and she did not want anything to do with sitting in her own seat. I got her calmed down but the flight attendant said we coudln't take off until Maddi was seated. So finally I just put her in her seat and she had to deal with it. We had really crappy seats on the plane. They were directly next to the engines so if we opened our shade all we saw was metal. I guess it was good though in a way too becuase the sound of the engines drowned out Maddi's crying to the rest of the plane. As we stared to take off Laura was also yelling. She wsa so scared and is now not a fan of flying. She eventually decided she wanted a pill. Either the pills were defective or the kids' excitement overpowerd the effect because it didn't work. Maddi cried for the 1st 2 hours and Laura whinned and complained. To make matter worse the flight was extremly turbulant. There was one point that James Sr was lifted out of his seat. He said after that he really put his seat belt on. We were all very frightened and I was almost questioning if we were going to make it to IL alive. James I both said if we had the time we would have drivin back to AZ. But we did make it just fine and arrived a few minutes early even.

Grandad, Mary Lew and Ally were there to meet us at the airport in Rockford. The weather was gloomy chilly and rainy. Typical winter weather for IL but seeing as it was only the begging of Oct it was strange. I welcomed the weather though because we never get that out here. So on the way back to Grandad's we stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch. We got of got our nerves settled and our stomach's from the terrible flight and had a good meal. Then it was on the Grandad and Mary Lew's.

After we arrived at Grandad and Mary Lew's, we toured the house got settled. The kids had a blast playing in the basement but after a while got boared of that . So we played a little Uno then busted out the Marble board. This is a game that has been an Ozbirn tradition for many years. There are always stories told of Grandad Ozbirn's (Doug's Dad) marble board and recently Doug made one for himself. It was great time!

And the winners of marbles was Kenni and Mary Lew! They beat Grandad and Little Man!

After Marbles and getting Jammies on Grandad fed his little birdies! I don't know really how it got started but Grandad will get the whip cream can and start tweeting. Then all the kids come f lapping their arms and tweeting. Then Grandad sprays whip cream in the kids' mouths and feeds the little birds!

The next morning when we got up everything was frozen! I walked out on the back patio to get these last 3 pictures and my socks were freezing to the deck as I walked!

After everyone was fed and ready James and I ran over to good ol' Farm and Fleet. We really miss that store! Anyway..When we came out of the store it was sleeting. James had a blast driving home peeling out every chance he could. When we got back to the house I happened to look out the window and there were snow flakes falling from the sky! It didn't stick of course but we all thought it was pretty cool to see snow!

That afternoon Doug and Mary Lew invited our friends and family over to their house so we could see everyone at once and not have to make as many trips. It was a great time and it was so great to see everyone. This picture is of our kids, Ally, and Cassy's kids. I had never met Cassy's kids and Cassy had never met Maddi. Ella was a tropper right away and just instantly started playing with all of these strange children. Kenni was hitting himself and Ella thought that was great! I totally fell in love with Taylor but I'm not sure she felt the same about me.

This is a picture of the 6 of us and James' Gramma Mandel.

Me and Gram Jackson

Tammi and I

Ally and Maddi

Maddi and Aunt Tammi

Fisher, Cassy and I (where's the matching swimsuits?)

James and his buddy Jeff

Me and Misty's Girls. We got a ton more pictures (over 300 to be more precise but who wants to look at over 300 pictures of the same people?)

Sunday morning we made the long trek from Machesney Park to Plano for church. We weren't familiar at all with Doug's area so as we were driving along we realized that we were going the wrong way and almost to Iowa. Even with our wrong turn we were only about 3 minutes late for church. This is a picture of all the kids at church. Our 4, Shelby and Joshua who are the same ages as Laura and Maddi, Alexus, Alissa and Jake. It was so wonderful to see everyone at church! We miss them all very dearly!

After chruch James' buddy Willy had us over. This is a picture of 2 of his 4 kids and 3 of our 4. Maddi was off playing with the cool toys they had there. His wife made and excellent lunch that we weren't expecting and Willy's parents even stopped by for a surprise visit with a very yummy apple pie! Willy and James worked together when we lived in Montgomery. They were really good friends and trouble makers!!!

After Willy's we headed to South Elgin to my sisters. We stopped on the way to see our old house and neighborhood. While we were in the neighborhood we had to stop at 7-11 to get some slipperys (slurpees) like we used to and of course stop at the Montgomery Market for some delicious Chihuaua cheese to bring back to AZ with us.

We got to Misty's a little later than we had planned but Brian had some chili there for dinner. Along with my sisters, Gram, Dad, and Mom being there was my cousin Jenny and her 3 girls.

Ever since Laura and I cut our hair I havne't been able to get the exact haircut I had been wanting. I had Erin cut my hair since she is young. She totally understood what I wanted and I love my hair now! Too bad the one person I find who can cut my hair right lives in IL!

The girls were all dressing up at Misty's and since I am the only one in the fam with boys there wasn't much for them to dress up as. Misty did find these outfits for them in her pile of play clothes though!

The kids were also having "Dance Party" and Little Man was dacning and jumping around but still being Mr. Tough Guy! His song was Beat It by Michael Jackson.

Kenni was already to get up there and put on his show but then was scared!

Laura wasn't scared!

After our late night (1 am bedtime) of singing, dancing, playing, laughing and having a good time we all got a short night's rest and the men made breakfsat for us in the morning.

Good Ol' Melinda Dr!

Daisy Hill where many of sledding accidents took place. It used to be so huge when I was little!

Then it was time to get going but we had to had a photo session before we left. Maddi didn't want any part of it so she is crying in most of the pictures. Grandma wasn't too happy about it either but at least she didn't cry about it! My face is all red in most of the pictures becasue I was either crying or trying not to cry. Not becasue I didn't want to take pictures though! I was missing my family already and we were still there! So this is Maw Maw and all her Grandkids.

The Sisters and kids.

Grandma, Dad, Grandma's Sister (Aunt Janet), us girls and the kids.

Dad and his Girls

Paw Paw and the Boys

Mom and her Girls

Uncle Brian and the Boys

James and I with all the kids

Our Family of 6

James and his Hays

James and his favorite Sister in Law, Kara.

The Men!

After we were done crying and saying our good bye's at Misty's we headed to James' old stomping grounds.

Then we headed over to the cemetary to visit (Grandma) Linda's Grave.

Then onto Gramma Mandel's house. Maddi fell asleep in the car. She woke up but then eventually fell back asleep. We stayed at Gramma's quite a while and went through some old pictures and toured the house. Lots of memories for James that he had fun sharing with the kids. After we got done at Gramma's we went to get some White Castle. James' Gramma and Grandpa used to take them there so we brought back some hamburgers and a vanilla shake for Gramma. When we asked Little Man how many he wanted he said 6. He tried really hard to eat all 6 of them but only made it to 5. Boy did he torchure us (by passing gas) the next day! Good thing we don't have white Castle here!

We were trying to get a hold of Grandma Wilson all day but she wasn't home. So finally that night on the way home from Gramma MaAndel's we got a hold of Grandma Wilson and stopped by to see her for a bit. It was a short visit but a good one! Then we had the long trek back to Grandad's house!

The next morning we had a somewhat relaxing day at Grandad's. Grandad and Mary Lew took the kids over to the Apple Orchard while I packed to go the Aunt Tammi's that night. After they got home we hung outside for a while and James mowed Grandad's lawn. That is something he actually misses doing. The kids played in the trees a while and Maddi had fun chasing squirls and raking leaves!

Then it was on to Aunt Tammi's house. I have no idea where we were but this tank was on the way there.

Aunt Tam had a little birthday celebration for all the kids' birthday since we aren't together to celebrate them. Little Man got pick dinner because his birthday was coming up. He picked steak of course so Aunt Tam and Uncle Dave made a very yummy steak dinner for us all!

The next morning we slept in a lot later then we expected and when we finally got up James' cousin Cody was in his car sleeping waiting for us to get up! He works the night shift and just came straihgt from work.

For lunch we met up with another buddy, Shannon, that James used to work with a long time ago. He was also another one of James' partners in crime! Shannon has gotten married and had a little boy since we last saw him so we also got to meet his wife and son. They recently found expecting another baby!

We headed back to Aunt Tammi's after lunch and had a little more play time with Ally. The kids tried to play out on the swing set but it was way too cold! They all came in with red noses! From there we went back out to Plano for church one last time! Then again the long (late night) trek back to Grandad's!

The next day we made another new friend. There was a little squirl on Grandad's back deck! It was probably the same one Maddi was trying to torchure a couple of days before!

James' cousin Kris came down that day also from Wisconson with her boys so the kids could all meet! For lunch she and Tammi took all the kids to McDonalds for lunch. Kenni was very upset and really didn't want to go but he finally did and had a really good time!

Kris is always saying how much she thinks Kenni and Matthew look so much alike. I also think they resemble each other a lot but to see them in person was really funny. They even have the same mad faces!

Grandad got a pumpkin for the kids while we were there so this is him and all the grandkids carving the pumpkin. Of course it had to have a scary face and scary teeth! He was trying to get me to let the kids watch the movie Halloween while we were there. That movie scares me half to death so one day he had it in the DVD player but the tv was off so the music from it was only playing! The music even just freaks me out so he thought that was really funny!!

This is a picture that Aunt Tam took of Grandad and all his Grandkids. Do you think he has room for more on his lap?

Aunt Tam also got this picture of Uncle Dave and the Girls.

And finally the last picture! Grandad had wanted to have have a fire outside in the fire pit while we were there but it never worked out. He decided to just roast marshmallows in the fireplace instead. The kids I know had a great time doing that and I think Grandad had just as much fun as the kids!

So thanks again Grandad for brining us home and thanks to everyone else for coming to see us and having us over!