'Vanfest' 2010

*Disclaimer-What I'm going to write about is quite possibly the craziest thing you'll read about on this blog...

My brother (or Uncle Peter as he is more commonly known on this blog) and I, like to plan 'crazy' surprises for people in our family. Not 'crazy' in the sense of scary or dangerous, but rather fun events that create lasting memories such as the goat we rented for my Mom's surprise birthday party last year. 'Vanfest' 2010' is one of those such events.

A few weeks ago, we told my parents that they needed to leave February 13 open on their calendars and that's all we told them. As we got closer to the date, they learned that they needed to meet at our house bright and early and dress for comfort. That's all the information they got. Little did they know, that we rented a 12 passenger van and that we'd be heading south towards Iowa 'just because'. Our goal was to make it to Des Moines and we were successful! The look of shock on my parents faces when the rental van pulled up in the driveway were priceless. I don't think any of us have laughed so hard in quite a while when they realized that we were all going to pile in and head to a mystery destination.

"We don't have any idea what's going on, but we sure are good sports!"

Miles was the first one to fall asleep. He made it about 5 minutes before closing his eyes.

The magnadoodle thankfully entertained Amelia for quite a long time!

Once on the road, the surprises didn't end. Uncle Peter had party subs from Subway waiting to be picked up near the Iowa border. The number of sandwiches was quite entertaining considering there were only 9 passengers and 3 of them were under 3 years old!

Taking a break from driving. Amelia was so happy to be out of her seat!

Graham and Grandma

Graham was the next one to fall asleep. He successfully took his afternoon nap at exactly the same time I would have laid him down at home. This kid loves routine!

Our driver-Uncle Peter

Somewhere in Iowa...Graham's looking a bit stunned...at this point the kids had been in their car seats for nearly 7 hours! Miles is way in the back, Amelia is next to Jeff, Uncle Peter is driving, and I was lucky enough to be the co-pilot for a while.

Amelia was the last one to fall asleep, sometime after 9 pm. This is HUGE though because this it the first time EVER, that she has slept in the car!

I have to say, that when we planned this day, we knew we were taking a gamble. Taking 3 toddlers in a giant van for 10 hours of drive time 'just because' is a little bit risky! We were pleasantly shocked though, with how well each of the kids did. They did a fantastic job and were perfect travelers. YAY for Miles, Amelia, and Graham, YAY for the Grandparents who tolerate the craziness of their kids, and YAY for 'Vanfest' 2010' and a day filled with laughter and memories! :)