Best Buddies

My brother Ryan and his wife Whitney had an amazing opportunity to travel to New Zealand and Australia for two weeks. My brother has always wanted to visit Australia so when he called and asked where or what our plans would be when they were planning on going I told him we would watch the girls however long they needed us to. The only problem was we were going to be in Chicago and they were planning on taking the girls to Utah. Andrew and I talked and decided to save them the hassle of finding multiple babysitters and we would take them the whole two weeks if they wanted to fly them to Chicago. It worked out and we got play for two weeks. It was a great opportunity for us and our girls, for those of you who don't know my brother and his family live in North Carolina so we rarely get to see them. They visit Utah for four weeks every summer but we are always somewhere else. My girls were so excited to play with their cousins. They were in heaven. I was a bit nervous being eight months pregnant and adding three more kids to the mix but they were so good. Very polite and helpful. We were able to do some fun things..weather permitting. We went to the Brookfield Zoo, Shedd Aquarium, the park several times, the library (had to find something on all the rainy days), the pool, Ty Warner splash pad and Navy Pier. I thought it was so funny whenever we went out people would just assume that all five were mine. I would definitely take them as mine but seriously!? When we went to Navy Pier Andrew was in the front of the pack and I brought up the rear there was a couple sitting on a bench as we passed and she began to count..one..two..three...and so on when she got to me I could hear her say "Five and one on the way!!!" Too funny. The girls all had a best buddy which changed daily sometimes multiple times a day. Genna could never remember their names which always made me laugh she'd say "that girl over there." My girls who almost always go to bed without a problem could never settle down because they were so excited their cousins were here. I was a bit shocked at how much food we went through and the extra work only 3 more brings on but it was such a great experience for all of us. I started missing them the second they got on the plane. I hope they don't think I'm too ornery (its the pregnancy!) I loved getting to know them better and having them all to myself. I hope they had as much fun as my girls and I did.