Year 3, July 15th, 2018: Sunday, V1, Getting to the Locale

It was a bit of a process to get out the door, but we made it to St. Louis! I may or may not have been a little giddy when I saw the famous Arch from a distance! The kids weren't as excited, and Justin said he was like "Oh, no, I'm not going up in that, am I?" Oh, yes, you and I are going to be scared because we hate heights, but we are going to do it! It's so big!  More on that tomorrow.  It just took longer than I had anticipated between the end of church and leaving the house.  Somewhat unexpected errands had to be run, like preparing a book order, and someone hadn't packed his bag yet.  That would be Jared.  But we made good time, the weather was decent (a bit of a rain shower), and everyone but the drivers took naps in the car.  We arrived at our hotel about 7pm, ate a picnic dinner, and headed to the sun heated pool.  We all got in except Grandma! Because Abishai had a long nap and there are people banging around upstairs, he's not falling asleep very easily.  I'm typing in the bathroom nook area, with the bathroom fan on and very little light.  Eek! No one got sick on the drive, everybody is backing off when there's a disagreement, and we made it in one piece.  We'll see how tomorrow goes when we let Abishai loose in the City Museum.  Actually, we won't do that.  We will be putting two leashes on him because we heard it's easy for little ones to get into tight spaces adults can't go.  We'll have some lunch, come back to the hotel for rest, and then go back out for dinner and go up in the arch for early evening.  Can't wait!

Oh, we ate lunch around 2 and I told the grandparents that we would be able to make it 2-3hrs before the kids asked for more food and I was right.  We'll be packing lots of snacks tomorrow!

Did you know Lucky Charms, the name brand of the cereal, now has joined the unicorn craze?  Well, it has, and it's gluten free, and it's yummy.  Keturah knew to look for it thanks to ads on YouTube or review videos.

Yup, but now I've feeling the sore throat again, so gargling thieves and taking the medication again tonight.  Yes, I brought most of my daily oils!

Pre church playtime warm up.

Pat-patting Jeff's truck!  Jeff works as a volunteer in Abishai's nursery room during the 11am service. Abishai even ran up to him after service and gave him a backwards hug!  That means he really loves Mr. Jeff!  Abishai likes to gives the cars pat pats as a sign of endearment.  And since Poppy's car was at Shelby St (Gary wasn't preaching today and Benaiah was playing drums at Shelby St., he took him there early this morning and stayed), Mr. Jeff's truck was the next best thing.  We see Mr. Jeff's truck parked in the same spot every week, just like Grandma and Grandpa and us all park in almost the same spot every week.

That's it!  That's all we packed for the next two weeks!  Some used backpacks instead of big suitcases, and Keturah, Abishai, and I are sharing the large roller bag.  We'll need different things at different times, but we'll just was the clothes in between trips!  Seems much lighter than usual, yeah!

Somewhere in the middle of Illinois.  Lots of farmland!

Jared said he could see three distinct cloud bursts of rain.  He used to watch the weather fronts roll in when he went to college at Lincoln Christian University which is a couple hundred miles north of here.

One of two famous large crosses in Illinois.  There's an even bigger one on a huge hill much further south.  This one is in Effingham.

Babies slept a lot!

Keturah snoring because her nose is stuffed up.

Dirty feet boy stole my pillow because he had to put it on his lap just like Keturah.  I didn't bring one for him since he can has the sides of his car seat to sleep on.

Woah, new cities on signs I haven't seen before!

Hard to tell, but we were getting close to St. Louis! And these are the turn offs for different highways for cities further north, west, and south.

Getting there!

There it is!  Our first glimpse of the arch!  It's huge!

Whoops, I left this one in here just to show how big it is AND how hard it was to get a picture of it from the highway.

Getting closer!

The longer video couldn't be uploaded but we were excited the same way in this one!

The Mississppi River!  Jared and I can't remember if we went through St. Louis when we had Christmas vacation in 2007/2008 or not.  I can't wait to get down there to the national park tomorrow!

Side view of the arch!  Some guy did scale the side at 3am using special suction cups, and parachuted down.  He was eventually caught and went to jail.  A few others have tried unauthorized stunts and have failed or gotten into trouble.  It's restricted airspace and there's tight security because of the Oklahoma City Bombing many years back and 9/11, but occasional a special fly is permitted.

It's beautiful!  The Gateway to the West!  I can't wait to learn more about it tomorrow!  I can't believe we are going up in that thing in this tiny pod!

The famous Cardinals stadium!  One of our friends, the Caldwells, love the St. Louis Cardinals.  They are a national level baseball team.  Others root for Chicago Cubs.  This thing is massive too, and butts up right to the highway!

Busch Stadium!

Sweet!

Our hotel is 30 minutes west of downtown, so this is us looking back at it.

We are in some extended stay suites, so there's a full size fridge, stove, sink, etc and real dishes!  Abishai got to drink out of a real glass!  And he didn't spill it!

Picnic lunch for 8 anyone?

Crazy town!

Ridiculously stir crazy boys, all of them!

Brotherly love!

Living the life of his childhood dreams right here.There's a good 5 ft drop behind him.

Crazy teen!

Keturah jumping into the pool!  The water was very warm so they must heat it somehow.  Even I was able to get in this time in my new to me and fits more comfortably than my other one bathing suit.

Brotherly love.  Benaiah said he wasn't going swimming, probably because he's embarrassed about his weight.  However, he had an awesome time anyways.

Boys will be boys!

All 5 of my crew.

***You'll notice in the video above that Abishai hasn't let go of Jared yet.  In just 2 more swim times, he lets go and swims across the pool.  Be on the lookout for that blog post while we were on our way to Holiday World!***Who needs to pay for swim lessons? Not us!***

Grandpa checking out the sight seeing map old school using the paper map!

Like a fish to water....Abishai was as bold as ever and I was glad that I remembered the water wings.

Three generations in the pool.

Playing keep away.

I jump my big self!

Hey, no horse play!

Grandpa threw Justin over his shoulder.  He used to do that with Benaiah.  Not anymore!

Oh the size differences between these four!

Creepy Benaiah.  If I was at home, I'd try to find a picture of him when he was Abishai's age peering over the edge of a pool.

I think Justin is very happy Benaiah is with us.

Falling backwards into the pool.

Don't forget the selfies!  He looks so much older than 3 1/2!  And, Jared has noticed a change in his speech/sentence structures.  Growing up too fast!

Gorgeous evening!

Nice sitting area with a firepit if you want it.

Perfect outdoor space.

It took forever for Abishai to fall asleep and he again had to sleep in our bed and be transferred to the pull out couch with Keturah.  The other two boys are sharing a pull out couch in Grandma and Grandpa's room.

My new office space! It's not everyday you get to work next to where you brush your teeth!  There is a nicer desk, but it's near where the kids are sleeping.  So, I make do, and this is a better set up than most hotels where I have to sit on the floor at night! Win for me!  See ya tomorrow!