Trip to Missouri Part I

Well so much has happened in the last couple of weeks that the best way to put it into words is by typing it out. So here it goes (this could take a while).

June 6th, Saturday: Robert and I woke at 3:30am to pack a few more things and hit the road with the kids to Missouri. The car rolled out of the driveway just before 5:ooam. Less than an hour on the road Leslie hit a opossum. At about 6:30am Samantha said she had to go potty. I asked, "do you want me to pull over on the side of the road or do you want me to find a place to stop?" She wanted to find a place to stop. A few minutes later Brian said he had to go potty. I asked the same question. He wanted me to stop on the side of the road. So I did. Then Katie, Samantha, Monica (the girl I babysit-I'm taking her to her grandma's in St. Louis--more to come on that), Brian and all the girls said they had to go potty. OK I am fine with that. Samantha was the first to get out of the car. She had already had an accident in her seat. She squatted and went all over her already wet clothes, shoes, and socks. Lovely. No problem I am prepared for this, she changed while Brian went potty. Then Katie and Monica found a dry spot on the grass and took a turn. I could see the hesitancy on Monica's face (she's 8 yrs too) -- I could see her thinking--you want me to pull my pants down right here while cars are driving by and do what? Yes, Monica. On the road again. Two miles down the road and what would you know--there was a rest stop. Thank you very much. OK, the rest of the trip went very well we made it in 12 1/2 hours and we only had to turn the DVD player on the last hour. We unloaded the car and said our hello's. Grabbed a bite to eat and called it a night.

Sunday, June 7th: Sunday morning was a breeze for once. Our bodies were still on the eastern time zone and so we were ready a good hour and a half before it was time to leave. I wish every Sunday was like that. The kids were good at church and just with my "4 plus one" we doubled the size of the primary. There was no Nursery because no one in the ward has a baby old enough. Except my sister and her son will be 18 months in about 3-4 months. So Elaina stayed with me for Sunday school and Relief Society.
After church the kids changed their clothes and had a bite to eat and we had a little "Luau" birthday party for Savanah and Katie at the beach. The kids went swimming and we all enjoyed a little pineapple cherry up-side-down cake and melted ice cream. I forgot to put a swim diaper on Elaina and so she "blew-up" and waddled like a duck. She was quite proud of it.

Monday, June 9th: My brother Brian and his wife Chelsea made arrangements to spend the day with us since they will be moving to Oklahoma soon for Brian to pursue a law degree. So Chelsea rode up with me to drop Monica off at our designated meeting spot to see her Grandma. We made arrangements to meet with Monica's Grandma at Butler Hill Road. We were traveling from about 45 mins away plus Georgia and Grandma had about 30 mins to travel. Well Grandma through a fit and said it was too far for her to drive to meet us and she wasn't going to meet with us again until it was time for us to go home. Well I was shocked by this and couldn't believe my ears. Katie wanted so very much to have Monica at her baptism and now Grandma did not want to drive a short distance to make this possible, especially since we told her that we were going to be in St. Louis on Saturday, for my Grandmas surprise birthday party, and would be able to meet her closer to her house. More to come on that drama.

When Chelsea and I returned home Brian had made arrangements to hang out with one of his friends that he had not seen for a while. His friend, Chad, had set up a BBQ lunch get together so Brian and Chelsea went. I am glad they were able to see their friend (whose living in Arizona now).
Robert and I gathered the kids and we headed up to the town that I grew up in (Herculaneum) to check out the bike racks. (My mom got the girls bikes for their birthday's and she gave us two of theirs and so we needed a way to bring them back to Georgia). We chose the Yakima Double Down 5 bike carrier. But it was out of stock, so they ordered it for us. Later we found out that it was back ordered and would not be in till after we were to arrive home in Georgia. So we ordered the Double Down 4 Bike carrier. We stopped by my friend's, Heidi's house, but she was not home. So we took the kids to St. Francis State Park and let the kids play on the play ground.
When we were finished with that, then we went on a short walk down the trail. But before we did I told the kids not to touch anything green. Kind of silly, you say, since everything is green in the state parks, but if you only knew how terrible/horrific I get poison ivy. After the park, we headed home and hung out with Brian and Chelsea for a little bit longer then said our goodbyes till next week when they would be back for Grandma's Party.

Tuesday, June 10th: We made another effort to go see Heidi, and so we talked on the phone that morning. She had no idea that we were in town and so when we arrived on her doorstep she was quite surprised. We talked and visited with much enjoyment and then we took her and Sawyer, her son, out to lunch. We picked up food and headed to the Crystal City Park. I had not been there for many years. But the kids seemed to really enjoy it. Heidi, and I reminisced about growing up here and talked about all the new things in town, and how the "old" part of town was like a ghost town because of Doe Run Lead Company. The time went by way too quickly, and it was time to take her back to her house and it was time for us to head home. My sister, Kim, and her husband, Robert, wanted to have Family Home Evening at St.Francis State Park, so we agreed and picked-up some grill'n food and FHE treats and went to the park. The kids had a good time while Kim's Robert made a fire for us to BBQ. Soon Kim's Robert ran out of "dead" wood so he headed into the brush to get some. Out of instinct I yelled at him to get out of the woods. He was surprised by my reaction, until my sister explained to him how bad I get poison ivy. I apologized and he was OK with it now that he understood. We ran short on time for FHE and so we talked about our lesson while we ate our cookies.

Wednesday, June 11th: I spent a great deal of time working on Katie's bulletin for her baptism. I thought I had everything ready to go. Robert did some laundry and helped my Dad with the building project that was thought to have been done before we arrived. (It didn't get finished until after we left). So I don't remember much that happened on Wednesday.

Thursday, June 12th: We spent all day at my sister's house and let the kids play. Robert and Robert were able to hang out a bit and watch movies, kids, and talk some. Kim and I went through some baby clothes and then went to a garage sale where I bought her some cute baby girl clothes. (She is expecting a little girl in the fall.) Then we rode bikes around town, just the two of us, so she could pay a couple of bills. It was great I felt like a kid again. I hadn't been on a bike for a good ten years--not counting YMCA exercise bikes--and to not have my kids with me, but just my sister was wonderful!! I will always cherish that time with her. We hung out at Kim's till it was time to go to Heidi's baby shower. Kim and I drove to my parents house where I could change really quick and be out the door. The shower was in Festus at the St. Louis Bread Company (Panera Bread). It was good to see old friends and say hello. We gave Heidi some baby clothes that Kim was getting rid of (because Heidi said that her boy clothes were worn out from her boys) and Kim's clothes were practically brand new-mostly. When the party was over and I dropped Kim off at her house I gathered my little chicks and headed home to my parents house. My Mom was unhappy with me because this was her first day off and we had talked about her having the kids all day, but I blew it and forgot to call her. It took longer to go through the baby clothes at Kim's house and then we talked about Kim and Robert 's new house phone. They talked about calling Mom (I just assumed it was my Mom and thought that they got a hold of her). Well anyway. I blew it with my Mom and felt really bad about it. When we all got home I went up to the loft and went to bed. I felt like the biggest loser. If my mom was trying to make me feel guilty for dogging her well she did a good job.