Road Tripping (from back in january)

My fabulous brother Kip and his wonderful partner Patrick Kyle invited us to stay in a hotel with them in St. Louis during the holidays.  At first we were reluctant, wondering if Ellie would be up for such an undertaking.  Then one evening it just hit me that Ellie would never ever refuse a trip to see someone she loved regardless of how tired she felt upon arrival.  We found a hotel in St. Louis meeting our requirements--a 2-room suite, indoor swimming pool, and restaurant on site.  We decided to travel down the day before our time with the uncles so that we would be relaxed and ready for fun upon their arrival. 

We drove to St. Louis and checked in on Tuesday.  When we checked in on Tuesday, we were upgraded to a floor that gave us access to free breakfast in a lounge area that had snacks and sodas on hand at all times.  We felt pretty spiffy.  On Wednesday, Thom & Ben went to the Science Museum to see a special Dinosaur exhibit.  Fortunately for us, Thom's younger brother, Dan and his lovely family were in St. Louis for a convention, so we were able to meet up with them while in town.  One of the things I recall most is how my nephew, Noah explained that when his mom got older he would hold her as she has held him since he was a baby.  I mean it was one of the sweetest things, that he was already planning on sharing the love he has felt from his wonderful mother, Sara.  Then, my niece, Noah's younger sister, Mia, chimed in, wondering if he'd have to hold up their mother because she was dead.  It was so unexpected after such a loving statement, I could not stop laughing about it for the rest of the day. 

While at the hotel, Kip and Patrick were playing hide-n-seek with Ben in the hotel room.  Kip would really stretch the game out, "I wonder if Ben is hiding behind this picture? Maybe he's inside the fridge?"  Well when Patrick started playing, he immediately found Ben, to which Ben responded by bursting into tears.  Kip told Patrick quite huffily, "You aren't supposed to FIND him!"  At around the same time, Ellie was showing her uncles how to do the attitalk (attitude walk--hands on hips, never to be done on the stairs).  Ellie got up to show them her attitalk and her bummy was totally hanging out of her pants and undies.  Kip and Patrick could not stop laughing, to which Ben assumed was in response to something he had done.  So then Ben started trying to retrace his previous actions to figure out what was so darn amusing. 

After staying in St. Louis, we decided to go for broke and travel on to Memphis, another 5 hour drive.  My children are just the perfect age for car trips right now.  All we need is our personal DVD player for Ben and a box of DVDs and a box of crayons for Ellie to peel.  I barely recall the children asking when we would be at our destination because it just so rarely happened.  In Memphis, Ben really discovered his love of playing with his cousins.  The 2nd morning he decided he would sit on the stairs awaiting the other children's awakening.  What he most loved to do was to just run around the house over and over and over.  If the other children were not running around, he would say, "Hey let's go chase!" 

When we arrived in Memphis, I had my hair styled in two braids.  A few minutes after our arrival, my niece, Bella, came back into the room sporting the same hair style.  I felt honored that she trusted my hair judgement enough to want to simulate it.  Bella is quite the fashionista, so it was high praise indeed. 

At one point he gave his 2-year-old cousin a dinosaur, one he felt he had outgrown.  To which his cousin exclaimed, "Wow!  You got me a present??"  To which Ben responded with, "Yeah, I didn't really like that one." 

The weird thing was the more we traveled, the more our car became smaller and smaller.  At one point a similarly sized car passed us with only one passenger on board.  It looked so spacious in his car with a pillow in the passenger seat and clothes hanging in the back window.  I thought, "Look at all that ROOM!!!"  Before heading back to Madison, we stopped and spent the night at Nancy and Gene's (aka Grandma and Grandpa, Thom's parents). 

As I suspected before this trip, I have never ever regretted making the trek.  Even though Ellie was extremely fatigued.  It was well worth it to create so many memories with this fabulous family whom we adore.  Since then, Ben has often wondered when he would get to see his cousins again.  Would he have to be an adult for that to happen?  I know that we will find a way to be together again soon because it is just too much fun when we are all together. 

(If anyone has any photos of this great adventure, would love to include them in this blog....)