On the Road Again..

We are on tour-heading towards a city near you!  Get your tickets before they sell out!  We have decided that our kids will only travel with us for so long.  We are hoping we have a few more years of vacations with them. There will come a time when they don’t want to travel with us, and I’m not ready for that!  So, we are headed across the country.  Slowly.  Today we’re heading to St. Louis, Missouri.  We’ve been there before, but not for two whole years!  It seems like a month ago.  Ethan doesn’t really remember it, so we’ll relive it all for him. : )  Our plan is to have dinner (we had Cracker Barrel) and hang out at the City Museum until bedtime.  It is amazing!  It’s ten stories, all built from scrap.  There’s a bus hanging out over the roof (yes, you can go out in it)!  A big metal (slinky-looking thing) spiral tunnel hangs out at about the fourth floor, and you crawl through it (well, *I* don’t) and out to an airplane fuselage (which yes, moves around as people are heavy-more reason why I don’t crawl through it), but the kids love it!  There are thick concrete slides and mazes, rope swings over half-pipes (look like skateboard ramps), etc.  It is a Must-See on your St. Louis trip, second only to the arch (yes, last time I was there I forgot to take my camera, so I only have crappy iPhone pictures!)

**Ok..a couple hours later..I’ve been lost in time on Ches’ iPad looking (for our last arch pictures) at old pictures of the kids as they grew up right in front of us.  (Can I just say that I love the fact that there are three lanes going both ways on Interstate 44? Room to move around!)  They were small together, then we moved, and our little bushes were tiny, and now they are so big!  Our backyard was rolling green, bare, and the trees were small.  A lot happens in five years!**

I’d say we’ve had a good trip so far.  The kids have watched a couple movies, I read to Clay from his Edison Thomas (yes, I wrote it right) book, then Ethan took a good nap.  We are almost to St. Louis, and we are getting hungry.  (and now we have four lanes each!)

Can you tell I’ve been writing all day?  I wrote earlier, then came back, Sorry-I know it’s confusing. : )  We partied at City Museum till 10:30pm-and the teens were just getting started.  They turned out most of the lights at ten, and we just finished up.  There are soo many cave/tunnels to go through, and the kids didn’t even get to finish!  There were ten stories of tunnels building up to the ten-story slide!  Everyone was so tired, and Ethan was getting whiny.  It got stormy outside, and I think he might have been afraid or something.

I can say this: our community needs a cool hang-out like this one.  It gives the kids something to do late at night, it’s dark and cool, but safe-big enough to get lost in and give you a thrill, and it doesn’t involve getting in trouble.  It’s basically made out of tough stuff with paint everywhere, so they couldn’t mess it up either!  I give them five stars!  (and the magic show was pretty good too-even though Ches and I had to go onstage for a card trick!)

We’re headed to the hotel for a good nights sleep, then tomorrow we are traveling on to Columbus, Ohio!

iPad My Pad

Busy couple of days.  I'm soo tired!  I have gone to bed early (8:30 and 9:30!) the last two nights, and I still can't seem to catch up.  Tonight, I'll try it one more time.  (Third time's a charm?)
Mary Claire went to the Nickelodeon Kid's Day Naturals game on Saturday with Emily-and had so much fun!  She got to sit in the shade-Lucky Ducks!-and we are thankful since we didn't put sunblock on her!  She had Cracker Jacks, ice cream in a Naturals batting helmet souvenir, got a signed autograph of Stryker, the mascot-such fun!  I'll try to get a picture posted.  The girls have grown over the years, and it amazes me they'll be in third grade!  Where does the time go?

Ok, word to those over 35 or 40 (yes, I fall in this category, and promise to heed the warning):  If you have skin that droops/hangs over your belly button, you should No Longer go topless.  My neighbor, who might appear to be Hot Guy in clothes, is Old Guy when shirtless.  I witnessed the sadness last night as I pulled in the driveway.  I wanted so badly to tell him it was so much better With Shirt On, but I didn't want to be rude.  Someone needs to tell him.  So I'm telling all of you, in case you've deceived your neighbors!  Keep deceiving!
Thankfully, I will never wear a bikini again-partially because
a.) Clay said some girl on the bus said she'd seen his fat mom in a bikini out by the pool and partly because I probably have
b.) skin hanging out over my belly button.  And, lastly, 
c.) my husband has rock-hard abs and makes me look bad (but won't show his off).

Newest news:

Ches had a new toy, which I've touched once, and he's newly consumed.  Electronics = man toys.  He got his new iPad touch/3G/don't know the formal name for it.

 

He's so excited, and is playing with it as he watches his second newest hobby: watching The Office (he was Dude, Excited! that there were three straight hours on tonight!) which is straining his effort to learn all about the iPad.  I'm hearing both in the background, which are adding to my headache.  I'm such a party pooper.  (He left the iPad on my chair once, maybe trying to lure me into the excitement, but I can't be lured out of my uber-comfy bed).  I'm still happy about my new laptop (yeah, still new to me).

Still getting the house summerized..putting up all the sand and shells-changing out pillows and stuff-I have more to do tomorrow!  Ches is taking Ethan to school so I can get more done, Yay, Ches!  He isn't going in for the rest of the week (he was gone all day yesterday and today, and this is vacation!), so he can do more to help out.  I'm awful thankful after he's been gone.

I am taking Mary Claire to the orthodontist tomorrow.  She is getting her little spacers tomorrow since she gets her braces June 8th.  We are supposed to go to Little Rock on Thursday for her 3 month endocrine appointment, but I am so Not Excited to make the drive again.  Maybe it's because I just went down there a couple weeks ago?  I hope I remember to call Junko to have lunch!  She has a sweet daughter, Emily, who also has Type I Diabetes.  She's only a couple years younger than Mary Claire, and they do so well together!  We always share what we've learned, and it's good for us as moms and for the girls. : )  It makes the trip worth it!
Clay's practice today was rained out, which we were thankful for.  He stays so busy, and it's nice to have a night off.  Tomorrow they have a game, so we may be wishing they had more practice, but I'm still thankful!  It makes for a longer dinner and peace at night.  They had ice cream for dessert, and Clay made all sorts of medieval weapons out of Tinkertoys.  I know it sounds bad, but it was so creative!  I should have taken pictures of his research/design, but I was up on a ladder changing out the fireplace art/stuff!  (I even tied starfish to my candles!)  He's a boy, and needs time to be creative.  He's been not-so-easy to get along with lately, and I can't pinpoint a cause.  He doesn't want me to rub his back, hug or kiss him, and pushes me away.  It hurts my feelings!  Ches had a conversation with him this evening, and Clay came down and hugged me.  I know he's growing up, but does it happen this early?  He seems angry.  I don't know if tough stuff is going on at school, or if the medicine he takes is wearing off, and he's tired from the day.  I just don't know.  We go back to the doctor, so maybe I'll mention it.  I never know when a phase is a big deal or something to gloss over-it's hard when you are in it!  I'll only know in a couple months what I should have done!
And guess what I forgot to post Sunday?  We swam on Sunday and Monday!  Here are a couple pictures: