This weekend I was invited to attend a wedding shower. It was almost 2 hours drive away, in Williams Bay, WI.

When I first received the invited, the thought of driving 2 hours with kids was daunting. And the thought of leaving Adam for 7 or 8 hours with 4 kids so I could attend was even worse.

I was invited to this shower because the groom is Adam’s good friend. After almost convincing myself it would be too hard, we received a very thoughtful note from Brian, the groom, letting us know how much he wanted us there but how much he understood if we couldn’t make it.

Which made me realize that we just HAD to go. That we were ending the season in our lives when we attended weddings of our friends. They are some of the happiest, most important times in your friends lives and if you really consider yourself a friend, you do whatever you can to witness it.

We started to research where to stay. There is no way the twins could handle 2 two hour drives in one day. We found out they have a kid friendly place in the Grand Geneva, Timber Ridge Resort. We could rent a room that fit six and get free water passes. We were sold.

It was time to test out our touring mini van for its first road trip!

It was very nice. The ride. Extra cup holders and the DVD player were key. It wasn’t perfect, there was about 45 minutes of crying between three out of our four kids, with no one kid crying at the same time as another.

As Adam was dropping me off at the shower and about to watch all four kids by himself, he did mention how he would definitely need a drink that evening. That was BEFORE he was saddled with all four out of the safety of our own home for 3 hours.

I, on the other hand, enjoyed a lovely afternoon of yummy food and great conversation. Here is Virginia with all the swag…

Brian came back to open presents. I love this picture of them because it really shows what they are all about. They are so in tuned to each other. Very considerate and kind with their words and actions. They are always chatting, and the connection between them is like a strong magnet. It’s beautiful to watch.

The shower was held at Brian’s Dad and Stepmother’s house. For a city girl, this sort of al fresco lunch was a real treat.

Afterwards we skipped the invite for Italian Beef and hit the water park.

It was seriously hard watching all four kids. Sam played nicely in one place, but Aaron was all over the place, running straight into the water with no fear of drowning. I spent a lot of time with both kids in my arms. It was quite a workout. We got a lot of comments like, “Wow you have your hands full”. Literally!

And to add to the stress, Adam took turns taking the older boys down the big slide. When it was Ben’s turn, Jack was quite helpful. When it was Jack’s turn, Ben would pull a runner every time. Running after him in a slippery water park with a twin under each arm, yelling his name while he completely ignored me was crazy. The things we do for our kids!

Still it was a lot of fun, and watching the joy on the kids faces was all worth it. I especially liked the part of the vacation where the kids went to bed and Adam and I were finally able to have that drink.

I’d definitely go back, and for longer. They had a ton of other kids activities that we didn’t try like lego building, t-shirt painting, and movies. They also had an arcade and board game rentals.