Our Trip to St. Louis

Wednesday:

On Wednesday, May 13, we loaded up the car and left for a brief stop in central Illinois and a weekend in St. Louis, Missouri. Don's cousin, Natalie, was getting married and we decided to make the trek! We left around 4 p.m. on Wednesday (after Benjamin finished up at preschool for the day) and figured we'd take our time driving out... stopped at Cracker Barrel and then drove until around 11:30 p.m. The boys now LOVE Cracker Barrel! They have a great kids' menu and Benjamin enjoyed exploring all the toys in the gift shop and taking in a game of checkers with Daddy.

Thursday:

We stayed that Wednesday night at a Hampton Inn somewhere near the Ohio boarder. And we enjoyed some time at the pool (which opened at 7 a.m.... perfect!) before we got back on the road. Again, we took our time making the rest of the drive to Don's parents' home in central Illinois. The kids enjoyed stopping at one rest stop in particular that had a great playground. And, overall, they were really well behaved the entire car ride! (Thank goodness for DVD players in vehicles!)

We had a great visit that Thursday night with Grandma and Papa Chapman and Don's sister, Nancy, and family. The kids LOVE playing with their big cousins. And they were totally spoiled with all the attention they got.

Friday:

Friday morning we got moving rather early once again. We met up with Don's cousin, Eddie (who some of you may remember was the Best Man in our wedding.... almost 10 years ago), his wife, Ashly and their two boys, Griffin (4 1/2 years old) and Graydon (5 months). We followed them to St. Louis and spent the day with them at the City Museum. If you have never been to this place and are anywhere near St. Louis... you HAVE to go. Little kids and big kids alike will enjoy it. It's a totally bizarre and fun-filled museum. It is located in an old Shoe Factory Warehouse and aims to recycle local things and turn them into unique kid friendly things of all sorts! We arrived around 10 a.m. and stayed until around 4 p.m. There was sooooo much to explore and do there. Don and Eddie took the boys through many tunnels and slides which they absolutely loved. And since Benjamin has recently declared that whales are his new favorite animal... he was thrilled that they had a huge whale that they could climb in! We all left the museum a bit exhausted (to say the least) and headed to Union Station for dinner. They have a nice lil pond where the boys also enjoyed feeding the koi fish. After dinner, we said our farewells to Eddie, Ashly and their boys (as Eddie had to work the following day so they weren't able to stay for the wedding). We were thankful for the time we had with them and enjoyed every minute.

As soon as we were in the car the boys were asleep. It was a long and exhausting trip already! We headed to the hotel where the boys and I promptly headed to bed after a quick and much needed bath time. Don, however, mustered up some energy to head down to the hotel lobby where he was able to visit with uncles and cousins that he rarely gets the chance to visit with these days. His good friend, Steve Nenonen, who we went to college with (and was also in our wedding) was also able to stop by the hotel to visit! It was a late night for Don but I'm sure he enjoyed every minute of the time he shared with them all.

Saturday:

Finally, the day of the wedding! But the wedding was not until 5:30 p.m. The boys and I were up early and Samuel and I headed down to breakfast while Benjamin lounged and Don caught a few more winks of sleep. Samuel and I had a chance to visit with family then as we enjoyed all that the Drury Inn had to offer in their complimentary breakfast.

We managed to get Don and Benjamin moving somewhat early as well and all enjoyed a little time in their pool. The boys LOVE the water! Then around noon, Steve Nenonen came by with his two boys, Parker (age 9) and Reed (age 7) and we piled into our truck for a trip to a nearby elk wildlife park then to a train store that had wooden trains that the boys truly enjoyed playing with. It was nice that Steve and his boys took time out of their weekend to meet up with us (unfortunately, his wife had to work). I don't think that we have seen them since our wedding (almost 10 years ago now... and Parker was just an infant!).

After some much needed naps, we were ready for the wedding! The wedding was held outdoors at the AKC Museum of the Dog and the reception was immediately following at the same location but inside a banquet hall. It was really a beautiful place and Samuel really enjoyed all the dog statues (he's our animal lover!). As you can imagine, I took a gazillion photos, so I will try to post just some of my favorites here.

We all had a wonderful time and it was great visiting with Don's side of the family. The kids had a blast dancing as this was Samuel's first wedding ever and maybe the first wedding Benjamin will remember! The bride and groom tossed out some candy just for the kids and they were also given bubbles. They loved that! And the following morning as we were packing things up, Benjamin said "Don't forget to pack our candy and bubbles!"

Sunday:

Sunday morning we tried to get another early start but that proved difficult as we had to pack up then went down to meet up with family for breakfast before heading out. We ended up leaving St. Louis around 9:00 a.m. central time so we knew we were in for a long day. Don was scheduled to work that Monday so we were trying to make it straight through. ugh. Let's just say the ride home was NOT as fun as the leisurely ride we took out there! The boys did great though... it was just a really long day and we didn't get back home until around 2 a.m. eastern time.

Thank goodness we had Memorial Day weekend to follow that up because I think we may have finally caught up on some sleep now!

Sorry for the long post... hopefully, I didn't put everyone to sleep reading!