My Sister in St. Louis

Finally, St. Louis. My sister, Tricia, invited the kids and I up for the weekend and I was so excited that it worked out. She is by far the best hostess when visiting St. Louis. We had every second planned and packed full and the kids had a total blast. As far as traveling with the kids, they were perfect. The drive to Tricia's house is about 7 hours without kids and can last up to 9 hours with kids. This trip however took 7 hours, max! On the ride down we stopped in Batesville and in Festus, MO, and that was it. Caroline didn't ask to stop otherwise so we didn't. She and Hayes visited and laughed, only watched one movie and we learned an entire VBS CD. It was truly enjoyable (I know, you think I am lying---I am really not). I'll blog about the ride home so you will believe that all travels are not this perfect....

We arrived on Friday around 5 and Tricia and Grace were waiting for us. Grace is a doll and will talk your head off. She is a very verbal child with the vocabulary of a 10 year old. She is a hoot. When we arrived she welcomed me and said, 'Come in and see the decorations'....we did and they were great. I was totally motivated to decorate my house when I got home (and the house is currently decorated and the kids LOVE it---thanks Tricia for the motivation).

Tricia and I loaded the kids up in my bus and we headed to Six Flags St Louis for Fright Night (which was very kid friendly though sounds very scary). Tricia has a season pass and we had an extra free ticket, so it was a free night for everyone. They have a great kids area and it was so great. The kids ran off so much energy and they played their hearts out. It was truly a blast. The rides are perfectly kid sized so adults don't even have to ride with them (whew) and Hayes was tall enough to ride everything. We left around 8 and headed out for Mexican...yummy.

The next morning Caroline went to dance lessons with Grace and loved every second of it. It made me wish we had done dance this year rather than soccer, but hey, one activity at a time and we live and learn, right? I somehow didn't take any pictures, but Caroline loved the class.

After dance we headed off to the mall for a quick trip to Pottery Barn for Caroline's bedding (you know I am too cheap to pay shipping) and the bedding we got was actually on sale---yea!!!

As usual, we had a couple of meltdowns, but now life is good and we have all survived.

I am going to dedicate an entire post to the next two activities as they were a blast. We went to the St. Louis Boo at the Zoo and Eckert Farms in IL. Great pics were taken at both.

As for my sister: She is amazing. We are 8 years apart but I think she looks younger than I do. She is the most giving, faithful, dedicated person I know. She is constantly thinking of things she can do for me, mom, dad, or Keith (our brother) and she always has the best ideas. She is an outstanding teacher and an even better mother. She and Grace do tons of activities together and she makes anything that they do together fun. My kids love her and I think she is amazing. When you are growing up as the younger sister and trailing behind by 8 years, you can't imagine that she'll ever be your best friend....thank goodness things change! Tricia is my best friend and I am so thankful she is also my sister--not to say we don't argue; come on, we're sisters! But she is by far the best girlfriend God has ever put in my life. I trust her with everything. We talk around a hundred times a day (thank goodness for mobile to mobile) and we live way too far apart.

Thanks for a fun weekend and putting up with my wild crew. I know we were exhausting but we really did have a great time.....we loved visiting you and Grace!