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.

Quick trip to Lafayette

I went to Louisiana on Monday & Tuesday. I was not excited about the trip at all. But it's only because I didn't think about all the good meals that awaited me! Keep in mind that I've only recently turned the corner for seafood. It also seemed sinful to not partake in some Louisiana seafood!

Monday night I ate at the Blue Dog Cafe. I started out with the Duck Quesadillas, then moved on to the Corn & Crab Bisque. I had the Crab Cakes for my entree, with the dirty-dog rice. So, so good!

Tuesday for lunch I was with a group. A local recommended Poor Boy's Riverside Inn. Holy smokes. It was SO good! Better than Blue Dog the night before. The appetizer was a lot of things I was scared of - Oysters en Brochette, Alligator Tidbits, Cajun Crabfingers, Fried Catfish, Seafood Boulettes, and Fried Crawfish Tails. I sampled the oysters, catfish, boulettes, and then kept going back for the alligator. As if I had more room, I had the Lump Crabmeat Sauteed in Butter. It came with a salad (with house dressing that was just meh)and a stuffed baked potato. But that crabmeat sauteed in butter was so so good. 2 others at the table had the Whole Grilled Flounder - it looked so pretty! And they loved it.

So there's a short and sweet list of places to try if you ever get to Lafayette. You won't need more than a short list, I'm sure - because really?!? Who goes to Lafayette?!

San Antonio

Other construction attorneys had RAVED about the construction law CLE in San Antonio, so I thought it would be worthwhile to go. Then we decided to make it a quick weekend get away! And as an added bonus, Clint and Shauna did too. A quick weekend away without babies!

My cab arrived at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday. Yikes. Highlight of the early flight: seeing the sun rise over the clouds. A first for me and quite breathtaking.

I spent all day Thursday learning and took advantage of some adult time in the evening when I met another attorney, Janet, at a bar. Service was terrible, but the conversation was great AND much of our meal was comped. YEAH!

Friday was another all-day affair. Seriously - we even had class during lunch. I switched hotels and snuck in a nap before Derek, Clint and Shauna drove up.

Friday night we went to Ritas on the River. Derek and I remember it for their KILLER beef fajitas. The fajitas were still good, but the margaritas were NOT! We saw the Alamo, remembered it, then headed back to the hotel for a night cap in the hot tub.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... The kiddos enjoyed a big breakfast, cousin time, and ice cream!! Grant cried once after he ran over his sister... Papa can have that effect!

Abby tried to drive the Ranger, then tried to drive the one-seater John Deere toy.

She also got some time with Coco!!

Saturday we enjoyed breakfast in bed (free thanks to our Groupon!), then the boys worked out while the girls chatted over coffee. We had lunch at Chris Madrid's Nachos and Burgers (which were paired with delicious Mango Margaritas).

And keeping with the healthy menu, we headed over to Lulu's for their famous 3 pound cinnamon roll! In case you're wondering, the cinnamon roll won.

We needed to walk off the food coma, so we headed over to the La Cantera Shops. We took advantage of child-free shopping and walked away with boots (me) and watches (me and Derek).

Derek and Clint had reservations at a winery for us on Saturday night. There was also a charity event going on with a photo booth. I eyed it early in the evening and schemed to sneak into it for a memoir of our evening. Sure, the waiter wanted us to spend $40 on wine to take home as a memoir, but I like the free one better. Plus, it's a rule that was broken without any consequence.... which I just love! Once we got back to the hotel, we capped off the evening (again) with a night cap in the hot tub.

Today, we had breakfast (with complimentary mimosas) and headed out by 10. We maximized our child-free shopping again at the San Marcos outlets (look for my $9 BCBG dress at the wedding this coming weekend!!!) and Cabelas. But the highlight of the day was seeing this when we drove up to Grandma Rose & Papa's:

I melted right then. I hadn't seen these boogers since Wednesday night. Truth be told, I even missed Lola and snapped a shot of a Jack Russell that appeared in a Victoria Secret window ad when I was missing her! Abby wanted me to hold her (and not let her go) and Grant continued to play with cars.

It was so funny to hear the grandparents' take on the kids. According to them, Grant is smart, sweet, and sentimental, and Abby is spoiled rotten! She runs away when you get out a Kleenex, tackles Grant, holds her hands up at Grandma Rose's feet to be held, and throws herself on the ground in a full-blown toddler fit when she gets mad. I blame their ages... and birth order. I'm sure it's not MY fault!!

The weekend away was refreshing. This weekend a facebook friend posted a photo from a date with her hubby. The caption from her photo rang true for our weekend away. "You say it's fun. I say it's NECESSARY!"

Minnesota

I had to travel to Minneapolis on Monday, so when a co-worker mentioned that the Mall of America is on her bucket list, I thought I should make a stop there before getting down to bid-ness on Monday.

So I left Sunday for the Mall of America. But not without sending a text to Grant:

With the message: Mama is going to ride on this BIG airplane!

I got cold just looking out the window:

The MOST impressive part of the the Mall of America?!

The Lego statutes!!

Seriously. It was the best part. All these guys (and the helicopter) are made of Legos. And the big robot guy is over 2 stories tall. The traditional Lego guys (one on the horse and the other in the hat) were the size of a person. Other than that, it was just a mall.

The rough part was missing out on my annual Oscars party and Kennedy's 18th birthday! It sounds like Choctaw was cold though and thankfully Anna and I texted during red carpet. Almost the same as the parties. If "almost" means "not even close." And Derek caught this shot of Abby in party mode holding her (hand-me-down) Toms:

I got to see some friends in Minneapolis on Monday night and was back home by noon on Tuesday. Only to pack up and leave again bright and early Thursday morning...

NC Trip Part 2

Saturday morning was rainy, so we took the whole gang to see Sesame Street at the Planetarium. Who is the whole gang? Marlene, Laura, Doug, Lynette, Harper, Ada, Mary, Blythe, Ethan, Brynn, Me, Derek, Grant and Abby. Grant loved it and Abby slept through the entire thing (but not before putting up a good fight before the show started). Grant's favorite part was Cookie Monster. Cookie Monster wasn't part of the show. hmmm.

We grabbed some lunch from Chubbies, then kiddos played and napped while we watched the NC State "game". After naps, the Mitts and Hicks crew headed to an indoor play area at a mall.

We got home, gave the kiddos a bath, got purty, and had an adult night out at the Wild Turkey Bar at Angus Barn.

Sunday was another action-packed day. There was a festival that was supposed to be for the hockey team - Caniac Carnival. No players were there since they are striking, but the FREE festival was going strong! Grant liked the slides. We also got to go down on the floor where they play the hockey games (and NC State basketball games).



We had lunch from Backyard Bistro (good BBQ sandwiches) and watched football while the kids napped (and older kids built forts) at the Holloways' House. And because our flight was later in the evening, we still had time to visit Pullen Park!
Riding the Carousel:

Riding the train:

My family on the train:

All the cousins with Andy and Opie:

Just playing:

After the park, we headed back home. Both kids were good on the plane. YEAH!