Summer Road Trip - St. Louis

We took the long holiday weekend as an opportunity to get out of town. We took our first road trip as a family of four. Destination? St. Louis.

We headed out after work on Wednesday, July 3. We stayed overnight in Springdale, AR. The kids were troopers in the car - Grant barely slept at all! In the morning after breakfast, we visited Derek's Great Grandma Joyce. Yes - Grant & Abby's Great-Great Grandma. She's a young 94 years old. It was Grant's 3rd trip to see her and he spoiled her with sweet kisses. Then he ran all over the place and played with the "'Merican flags" on the tables.

After our visit, we headed to St. Louis. The kids didn't really bother to nap though! We checked into our hotel, then went to a BBQ at Katie & Russell's house. The kids napped for about 15 minutes on the way there. We ate some delicious ribs, all the kids chanted and marched around, then they watched the adults light smoke bombs and Black Cats. Once it was dark, we walked over to a field at the end of the street and watched fireworks. Grant and Jack Jack tackled each other the whole time.

The next morning, Abby slept in until 9am! We went to see the arch.

The pic above just kills me. Grant is choking Derek & Abby was very tired and upset that I wasn't holding her. The walk to the car was pretty brutal. A stroller would have been brilliant.

The kids napped on our way to get some custard at Ted Drewes (if you go, you have to try the Tedads flavor), so once we got our fill and a "to go" concrete for the kids, we continued on to Schneithorst's and picked up a lemon pie.

Then we headed over to Derek's Great Uncle Daryl's house. We walked over to a local park, but it was hot, so most of the time we tried to entertain the kids in what was clearly "No-no land." Everything is breakable and 1-2 feet off the ground. The kids stayed very close to us (inevitably, when they got out of arm's reach, they were reaching for something that was breakable). After dinner we headed back to the hotel & watched the Wizard of Oz (Grant's first time! but Derek fell asleep and still hasn't seen it all the way through in his lifetime).

Then the trip went downhill. I think the best way to summarize is to say that I spent the night on the bathroom floor. Ugh. The next morning (Saturday), we were supposed to join Uncle Daryl, Aunt Sharon, and Dawn back over at No-no Land for breakfast. But I couldn't do it. Derek took the kids, while I slept then hunted down some chicken broth at the hotel. Derek had quite a challenge on his hands though - 2 kids at No-no Land. And Abby was full of curve balls - a blow out diaper, followed by a rough fall that he thought took out some of her teeth (but thankfully didn't). Around 12, they headed back to the hotel. I was starting to feel like a human again.

Grant took a decent nap (but Abby cat-napped in the car and refused), then we headed back over the Katie & Russell's. We followed them out to the Melchoir BBQ. We played washers and Abby got soaking wet in a water fountain. Abby spent most of the picnic topless while her top dried (and shoeless because she hates shoes). We sure did show our St. Louis family how classy the Texans are! Grant took a few hay rides, then got to ride a horse! By 7pm, it was clear the kids were DONE! Ok - Abby was.

We headed back, put the kids down and packed up.

Sunday we started out at 6:45 a.m. Grant watched 4 movies, Abby cried a LOT (she is hoarse), but only until she cried herself to sleep for several cat naps. We stopped 4 times and made it home by 5 p.m. We were unpacked with laundry done and put away by 8 p.m.!

All in all, a good trip. A good practice for another road trip next month! One thing we learned - we aren't going to get Abby off her bottle until after our next road trip. It buys precious happy-moments in the car. So before our July 4 trip, we were wanting to wean her, but now we are happy to keep up the bottles. Another lesson - our Kindle Fire HD was a worthwhile investment! It cost us $60 for the tablet and lots of accessories after we used credit card points. 100% worth it! Keeps Abby's attention for 20 minutes and Grant's for 1.5 hours.

The best laid plans...

We went to Arkansas this weekend to visit Derek's family. All of our plans included sunny, fall weather and Arkansas did not deliver. Instead, it rained the entire time we were there. So all of our plans went out the window, and it turns out, it was for the better!

We headed out Friday afternoon in a rented minivan. We got to Derek's parents around 4, picked up Kennedy and Mike and hit the road.

This was Grant's first road trip, and all in all, he did pretty good. He fussed uncontrolably from 6-6:30. We had run through all the peek-a-boos, books, toys, and funny faces that he wanted. At 6:30, we had dinner and he got to run around a bit - he was much happier! When we arrived at the rent house at 10 pm, Grant had been asleep about 1 hour and Kennedy was done with her Physics homework. Success!

The plan on Saturday was for the men (Derek, his father, and his grandfather) to play golf, and the women (and Grant) to "play" outside at the Crystal Bridges Museum trails. Rain had other plans, so instead the men had breakfast, then played cards with Great Grandma Joyce (Grant's Great Great Grandma) and we had brunch and joined them.

The rest of the afternoon turned into a home improvement day for the men. Us ladies (me, Kennedy, and Gerie) had a good time cooking and prepping for dinner. It's been so long since I had socialized while cooking that I forgot how much fun it really is (Grant and the boys were at Lowe's). Grant also had a good time running around the house. He played with a new toy from KC and Gerie. He also refused to nap.

We had dinner back at the rent house (Grant finally napped while we were putting the meal together). I had a half glass of wine - it was delicious!! We took a stroll down the street and on the golf course. We saw an unfriendly Jack Russell on the street, and 2 beautiful doe (or is the plural "does"?) on the golf course. Grant scratched his hand at one point (it bled) but he never cried, so we didn't find it until later.

By then, everyone was tired. We opened the windows (the air was fantastic), ate some homemade Coconut Creme Pie and watched a little football. And Grant and Papa played until one of them tuckered out (still not sure which one it was)


Sunday, we all got together for breakfast and played a little while. We snapped a few photos of all FIVE generations of Hickses, then headed back to Texas.

Grant FINALLY got a good nap in on the ride home. Joyce had some burritos ready for us for dinner when we arrived. Grant kept asking for "moh!". Lola was TIRED from running around the farm. We watched the Cowboys game (a WIN!) and headed home.

As soon as we hit the road, the rain hit. It POURED on us!! It even hailed - 3 times!! Grant fussed for a while - probably from being tired and the rain being so loud, but he slept for about 45 minutes until we got home. Our neighbor went with Derek to return the rental, while I got Grant ready for bed and unpacked.

I am SO SORE from this weekend. My left shoulder radiates pain from the bottom of my shoulder blade, and my right shoulder feels like I got a shot in it. I think it's just sore from over-use (right arm) and twisting around in the minivan (left arm). Since I was already in pain in my right arm, I got my flu shot this morning for me and baby. Fighting gravity to lift my right arm is a real fight. I've asked my OB for help since the last doc was such a let down - hopefully I'll know more later this week.