St. Louis
08-14-2003, 8:01 p.m.

Finally, I can write about our vacation a bit. Last Tuesday, we got up and got ready to leave for St. Louis. One of our traditions with the girls has been to go out to breakfast for the start of each road-trip vacation that we take, but both Stephen and I agreed that since we were going where we would be eating most of our meals out, that we should start out with a nice breakfast at home instead, and I am glad that we did, because as nice as eating out can be, it does get tiresome after a while. We were all excited by the time we got on the road and the ride went smoothly. The girls were so excited to get to St. Louis and to see the Arch.. it was exciting because they were so excited. We went and found the hotel where we were staying and checked in. I checked to see if Kevin and Nicole had checked in already and they hadn't, so I made sure that we had rooms next to each other, and then we unpacked the car. We decided to go on over to Six Flags for a while and take care of Stephen's pass.

The hotel was only about a mile from the park, which was really so very nice!!! We could have walked it, except for the fact that the hotel was on a frontage road off of the expressway and there were not sidewalks, so we took it the safe way and drove instead. The park was really nice...smaller than our own, but way less crowded.. We never had to wait in lines any of the days that we were there, and that was nice, and it made it more enjoyable, especially for Stephen who usually resists going to Six Flags due to his hatred of the lines. We took care of his pass, and went on several rides, and enjoyed ourselves for a couple of hours, and then decided to go back to the hotel to see if the other's had gotten there. They had, and were all in the pool when we got there, so the girls ran and got their swimsuits on to join them. We talked about all going out to dinner, but the kids didn't want to get out of the pool, so we ordered pizza's instead. Both Nicole and I needed stuff from the store, and since there was a super walmart down the road, I offered to go get what we both needed (she was going to go with me but the baby had fallen asleep and the guys were watching the kids in the pool. I didn't mind at all though, and it was nice to get out for a bit. Kevin and Nicole had decided that they were going to head home Thursday night, after a day at the park, instead of staying until Friday morning.. and Stephen and I agreed that it was a great idea. For one, we would save the cost of the hotel room that night (we were leaving in the morning anyway) and for two, the kids would be exhausted and sleep all the way home... great idea that turned out to be.

We talked about how we wanted to split the kids up, and the best idea turned out to be that Kevin and Nicole sleep in our room, with the baby, and then all the girls could have a room to their selves. They LOVED that so much and had so much fun doing so. Stephen and Kevin both stayed up sitting outside between the 2 rooms each night until the girls were all asleep (one night they stayed up until almost 4am, hehe), but we were not too worried as the girls were instructed not to answer the door or phones, and believe me we tested them quite often, lol. They had tons of fun though and you could tell what room they stayed in as it was often a wreck. The good news was that our room stayed nice and neat, hehe.

Wednesday, we all got up and got ready and headed for the Park. We decided to spend the day at the water park there, and that turned out to be so much fun. The weather was beautiful, and the park wasn't all the crowded, the the kids got to run from slide to slide, and even Stephen and I joined them on quite a few. We also spent a lot of time in the wave pool, and just laying in the sun, watching the baby play in the sand. Kathleen loves water, and sand, and so she was just havin gthe best time, and it was easy to keep her entertained. Stephen and I watched her a bit too, so that Nicole and Kevin could ride the slides with the kids. It was a great day, but eventually the kids all wanted to go back to the hotel to swim in the pool there. It was nice, and went up to 8 feet, which was perfect for them, and they just loved it. We were going to go out to dinner, but the kids had talked us into lunch at the water park (the plan had been to go back to the hotel for sandwiches (we had taken coolers), and since it cost so much to eat at the park we told them that it was sandwiches for dinner, which was perfect really.

The plan later had been to go back to the park to ride rides, but the kids didn't want to at first. Kevin talked his group into going back, but Stephen and I decided to take Chrissy and June and do something else. We found a little bowling alley, and we had a great time bowling. I usually am not a good bowler by any means, but I did really good, breaking 100 both of our games, and I even beat Stephen the second game, so that was lots of fun. The girls had a lot of fun and both did well too.. and we were sorry to leave. We got back to the hotel before they did, so we all hung out and swam for a while, and when they got back they joined us. Eventually I was done, and I went to get ready for bed. I was exhausted, and I was half asleep when Kev and Nicole and the baby came to go to bed. They said that they were all talking to me, but I don't remember it, hehe.

Thursday, we got up and packed up the rooms, and then the cars, checked out of the hotel and went out for breakfast. We had a great breakfast, and a wonderful waitress.. she didn't charge us for our drinks, and half of the kids food, because we had to wait a little while, but we didn't mind, the girls all had fun in their own booth, and the adults had a good time enjoying coffee and just relaxing. After breakfast we headed for the park, and spent the day there. Kimberly couldn't wait to get Stephen on this virtual reality ride, and that was hilarious watching them do goofy silly stuff, and then we walked around going on rides, and taking turns staying off with the baby and whichever kids didn't want to go on them. The nice thing is that again it wasn't crowded at all, and so there was never a long line to wait through, most of them you were on as fast as you could walk to the front of the ride. It was such a perfect day except that it was soooooooooooo hot. Eventually Kevin and Nicole decided to go back to the water park before they headed home, but we didn't want to get wet, so we shopped a little and went on a few more rides, and then decided to go ahead and head home. It was a nice ride home, and as anticipated, the girls slept through quite a bit of it, well mostly June, but she had been the one who was asking on the way there, are we there yet, every 5 miles, hehe.

We all agreed that it was a great trip, and we are looking forward to possibly going back next year. I would certainly go back, and hope that we do get the chance.