We always look forward to heading to Evansville for Thanksgiving and this year was no different. We saw that there was snow forecasted in St. Louis around Noon so we decided to head out early to “beat the storm”… Well the storm definitely beat us this time! We left as soon as the kids got up and were on the road by 7:15 which meant we should have arrived in Evansville around 2:15… We started hitting traffic before Columbia and had to stop several times for different wrecks. The longest stop lasted nearly 45 minutes… in park… on I-70… with 3 small children. Awesome. At one point we let the kids out of their car seats to move around a bit (and for Emmett to eat) because we had been in park for over 30 minutes and everyone was getting antsy. We had a little dance party to T-Swift “Shake it Off” which always puts everyone in a good mood 😉 We finally arrived in Evansville around 5PM and the kids were SO glad to be out of the car and at their Gigi and Pop’s house (and so were Clint and I).
Thursday was a great day just relaxing around the house enjoying being with family. We had a delicious Turkey dinner prepared all by my Mother-in-Law… Next year I am hoping to help make dinner- and there will be no babies around so I should have time/energy to help!
Friday morning we took the “big kids” to the circus and left E at home with Gigi, Pops and “the Aunts”. Shae and August had a really great time at the circus (despite what the pictures look like). Both of the kids were pretty terrified of the clowns up close, however August was a little more brave and reached out to grab the balloon animal that was handed to him (Shae decided it was a no-go getting anywhere close to the clown). Friday evening Clint and I had a much needed night out catching up with friends, and having a few beers. We always love going home to Evansville to see everyone- lifelong friends for sure.
Saturday was “Rocket Launch Day”. I had never been to a rocket launch (my FIL was astonished at this), and it was all of the kids first time too. The kids had been helping Pops build and decorate the rockets for the past few days so they were very excited to witness their first launch! It was definitely a fun activity, and the big kids loved chasing the rockets with Daddy after takeoff (and Clint loved the competition to see who could get there fastest- of course it was a little unfair in my opinion…)
Saturday evening we went to a friends house with pizza and beer and had 5 kiddos 3 and under in one house. We have been getting together with the Rudolphs almost every time we come in town since Shae was born, and its amazing to see how the kids have grown up and changed in the last few years.
We decided to head out first thing Sunday morning to hopefully make it back in time for the kids naps, and to give us plenty of time to unpack and settle in before Monday morning rolled around. We had much better luck on the drive home and made it in 6.5 hours which is much more tolerable with the kiddos.
Shae is already talking about her return to Indiana for Christmas- she is even saving her beloved cupcake jammies until she is reunited with her GiGi.
Gallaghers Plus 
We are driving to Cincinnati the weekend before Christmas and I really hope we have good weather! Six hours in the car is long enough without any traffic. I can’t believe how big Emmett is getting, they are all so adorable!
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