A Trip!

Last week, the kids, my mom and I took a trip to visit my sister and her hubby in Saint Louis. My brother met up with us and we had a fabulous weekend. I think B missed his Daddy (and I definitely did), but it was a great adventure. It was Lil' Miss M's first plane ride and she slept through the entire thing and did great throughout save for some screaming in the car while we were lost (of course). B LOVED flying. I feel for the people around us as he probably said "I'm flying" 30 times in the first 15 minutes of the flight. My bag of "tricks and treats" worked well and was actually hardly needed on the flight there and got great use on the way back.

We had a wonderful time in the STL. My favorite part was probably getting to see and enjoy my sister's new home. It is just so lovely and I am so happy for them. They have an amazing play space downstairs that is going to be so awesome for their future kids (and ours). Our outings included a wonderful, if chilly trip to the Zoo, a pumpkin patch/fall festival, shopping for the ladies, football for the gents (and M who oddly seemed to love it). We worked on my sisters' gardens and snuggled little ones. B was struggling a bit so we didn't make it to all the planned sites, but that just leaves more for next year. The food was fabulous as well. I particularly enjoyed hot chocolate at the Boathouse and the BBQ/Smoking results from the Uncles.

I do have a few special gems to share as well that I'm sure you'll enjoy:

-- Lesson Learned: B taught us all that you put babies to sleep by petting their noses. Perhaps we should put his car seat near M's more often as this actually did work for him and amazingly worked this evening when I was putting her to sleep as well.

-- Most hysterical moment: Uncle Zach exclaiming--- her pants are inside of her diaper! Apparently Uncle Zach hasn't been following along with my gushing about BabyLegs as really she wasn't wearing pants, just appeared to be. It was so hilarious.

--Sweet Moment: B putting me to sleep and patting my face saying "I love you so much." Then turning off the light and closing the door. Mind you... he reappeared moments later, but so adorable.

-- Sigh of relief: B had a meltdown in line at the Magic House and the day seemed to be unraveling. After a perfect hour or so at the Fall Festival area in Kirkwood we got back in the car and out of the blue he says "I'm happy." So, my dear were we all.


The kids got some neat souvenirs of the trip too. B loves his Mario Kart shirt and Lightning McQueen cup. M has an adorable plush puffin that has hair like hers as well as some toys to distract her in her car seat. We have collected all the pictures everyone took in one place if you'd like a peek. (Scroll down past the baseball pics). There are some really incredible ones and it was nice to be in more pics as I wasn't the designated photographer. Some of the resulting pics of me and my kids will be treasures for years.

Overall we had a great time and it was worth all the crazy logistics it took to achieve travel with two little ones. A big thanks go out to the Korenaks and Able for their help, and most of all to my mom who spent her birthday helping me crazily transit my kids to the STL and most of the trip taking special care of my little boy. We love you all.