Sister's Trip

Jean, Molly, Gretchen, Kaitlin, me, Larissa, Amanda, Emily Sara, Jennifer, Mom

I'm not done blogging, I've just felt kind of burnt out from blogs in general.

This past weekend was our 1st ever Sister's Trip! We've talked about taking a trip together for the past several years but it never seemed to work out. This year, Sara took action and started planning it. That's what it takes to really get a plan in motion. We can find an excuse every time whether it be money, babies, our husband's schedules, but in the end, if a trip is planned there's a pretty good chance that we'll all make it! We did have two babies with us this year and we will probably have at least one baby for the next umpteen years but that's just the way it goes. Next time, it could be me. I'm not sure how often we'll be doing this but I know my mom has her own Sister's Trip every other year and that always seems to work well.
We rented a condo near Madison, Wisconsin for the weekend and I am so glad we did. It was such a nice place, full kitchen and living room, 4 bedrooms plus plenty of space in the finished basement (where 2 of the bedrooms were) for a couple more beds. All 13 of us fit quite comfortably. We had first considered a hotel but it was so much easier to visit when we had chairs and couches and space available so we never felt cramped. This picture (courtesy of Emily) was taken on the screened-in porch.
On Friday night, we went to Olive Garden and then back to the condo to exchange our handmade Christmas gifts (my mom posted pictures here). The next day, we ate lots (oh wait, that was all weekend, we brought way too much food!) and then headed to Panera Bread before doing some shopping. I am a terrible shopper! After pinching pennies for so long I have forgotten how to spend money. I found a sweater for myself at Plato's Closet. That's it. Of course, it is a little trickier trying to find maternity clothes but I was also on the lookout for some new heels and a pair of boots, I found neither. I think most of the other girls brought home a few bags of clothes, lucky them!
That night we exchanged our white elephant gifts which gave us plenty of laughs, some were serious and some were just ridiculous. Like the super soaker squirt gun my mom got!
It was such a fun weekend with so many laughs, so much food (I guess we do talk about food a lot...) and it definitely wasn't long enough!