What is the best way to get two children under 3 to MN?

We tackled this question head on last week as we traveled to Minnesota to visit family and friends. Our last trek back to Minnesota had us arriving in the wee hours of the morning and Reagan not in the least interested in going back to sleep. Two exhausted parents decided we could no long leave after work on a Friday to make the 6 hour drive.

Fast forward to last week...we forgot that we said we couldn't do it again. Leaving shortly after 4pm, we drove to New Berlin to feed the kids dinner and change them into the pjs at Steve's parents' house. Refueled and ready to go, we popped in a "Cars" into the DVD player (thank you Berrys!) and headed out. Jack ate a bottle in his carseat and Reagan watched "Cars" twice before conking out. I dozed in the back seat wedged between two carseats, while Steve played chauffeur in the front. We arrived in Apple Valley after 1am and to our surprise, Reagan AND Jack were not interested in going to sleep and both Steve and I were dead tired.

While our trip began a little rocky, we enjoyed a great week visit. We met Kim and Dave Behrens' new baby, Owen on Saturday. Sitting next to Owen, Jack looked like Baby Huey. Crazy what a difference 6 weeks makes! We spent Saturday afternoon with a couple of Park Tavern Buffalo Chicken Pizzas, a Byerly's sheet cake and some of our besties, The Berrys and Anna Taff & Tony Burton. The kids had a blast and we enjoyed some QT with our friends.

Sunday we spend Easter with my parents and my sister in AV. Reagan hunted for Easter eggs and had "M's" (M&M's) for breakfast. The day was beautiful, allowing for some outdoor play time and steaks on the grill for dinner. Reagan's Easter basket was so full some of the stuff had to sit on the floor in front of it. The favorite item in it was the Cookie Monster pajamas and of course the M's.

Steve flew home Monday morning to work for the week. During the week I saw my favorite hair stylist, Shawn Laske and Uptown Hair District (I know, I should find someone in Chi-town after almost 3 years but I just love Shawn), had lunch with Amy Thie at the Good Day Cafe, met Tara Ann Finn at the 'Bou for coffee and had an awesome playdate at the Gabbey house with the Gabbey boys and Carla, after which Reagan proclaimed, "I like boys". Heaven help us, I'm not sure we are ready for that statement yet! On Friday we headed out to Wayzata to go to the Oh Baby outlet and walk around. Unfortunately my fancy new Phil and Teds stroller was too fancy for me, as I could NOT figure out how to unfold it. Mind you, I folded it up so you'd think I could unfold it but no dice. Then my mom and dad tried. Still no dice. By now Reagan is practically in tears because she REALLY wants to ride in the stroller. Sorry kiddo, you'll have to walk. It took a stop into a bike shop to get the darn stroller open...

On the back end of our trip, we decided to re-strategize the drive. We ate lunch and left shortly after 1pm hoping to get to our house before bedtime. However a 45 minute stop in Tomah, where I flashed a parking lot full of Wal Mart shoppers as Jack had an afternoon snack, caused our ETA into New Berlin to be a lot later than we anticipated. Being the excellent parents that we are, we picked up McDonalds dinners (complete with shamrock shakes) and headed to Steve's parents house. Reagan downed the shake, showed little interest in the chicken nuggets and decided bedtime was OVERRATED. We stayed the night there and headed back to Deerfield after nap on Sunday.

One of these trips we'll figure out the best mode of transportation for a family of four with two little ones below the age of 3. Next up, we're flying to Kansas City with two kiddos, car seats and all of our stuff. Watch out KC, you don't know what's about to hit you!