Story told by: Henry
We started our trip to St. Louis last Wednesday!
It takes a lot of packing and lists to prepare to fly on a plane with three young kids, but my saint-like mother made it happen like a champ!
Within seconds of taking off, I fell asleep (sucker still in hand). I slept for a little over an hour, which made Mommy and Daddy very happy!
Lainey and I sat with Mommy, and Brody sat across the aisle with Daddy.
Mommy bought a couple of movies for Lainey to watch, so she spent most of her time on the plane watching those.
After I woke up, I decided that I wanted to go sit with Daddy to watch “Sesame Street.”
Brody nicely fell asleep with Mommy.
We had a 4 1/2 hour layover in Las Vegas, so after eating lunch, we took multiple trams to multiple terminals to find the play area.
We could climb and run to our hearts’ content!
“Panes.” So many “panes.”
Once we arrived in St. Louis after a slightly harder second flight (and 16 hours of traveling), Grandma and Grandpa dropped most of us off at Great Grandma and Grandpa Steck’s house. Lainey went with Grandma and Grandpa to their nearby motor home to have a special night with them!
The next morning we woke up to have breakfast, and Brody got in some snuggle time with Great Grandma.
After breakfast, we went to the St. Louis Zoo! Mommy has some great memories at this zoo from when she was a little girl.
Our first stop was at the penguins. I wasn’t thrilled by them.
But Lainey really enjoyed watching the bubbles as they swam.
Our next stop was the carousel. I wasn’t thrilled by that either.
But Lainey LOVED it.
Our next stop was the train, and that I loved! Here it comes!
All aboard!
Once we arrived at our stop, the conductor invited Lainey to sit up front to take some pictures.
She was much more excited about it than she looked.
The giraffes were my favorite.
“Mom, stop taking my picture. The giraffes are over there.”
Taking a break for lunch with Grandpa.
We had the opportunity to pet the sting rays (who had their barbed stingers removed).
Despite encouragement from the adults, there was no way Lainey and I would attempt this. We did finally warm up enough to peek over the edge into the water.
Mommy and Daddy in the butterfly house.
After several hours at the zoo, our final stop was to get Lainey’s face painted (it was a treat from Grandma and Grandpa). She picked out the “Frozen” face paint. (There wasn’t a chance that I would sit still for this, so we’ll have to try this for me in a couple of years.)
Lainey sat perfectly still for this. Mommy wants to know why Lainey can’t do this when she is getting her hair done.
She was ecstatic about the final result!
Queen Elsa!
Even Queen Elsa needs to nap.
After taking some quick naps in the car, we went to dinner with Great Grandma, Great Grandpa, Uncle Dave, Aunt Kaye, and Jennifer (Mommy’s cousin). It’s a good thing Red Robin is loud because we were crazy, sleep-deprived children.
Jennifer loved snuggling this butterball of a kid.
Brody was fussy, so after falling asleep in Mommy’s arm, Jennifer was very nice to cut up Mommy’s chicken so she could eat her salad one-handed. Thanks for the help!
The next morning we spent some time outside to burn off energy (but mostly because I was up multiple times that night and up since 4:30 a.m.). Then, after my meltdown of epic proportions at a restaurant that forced Mommy to take me to eat outside while I screamed for 30 minutes, we got on the road to head to Quincy, Illinois.
We got to ride in Grandma and Grandpa’s motor home. The best part is that Grandpa put a movie on for us. That’s amazing!
By the time we arrived in Quincy, I really didn’t seem to be doing well. I was very fussy, and had puss oozing out of my eyes. Mommy and Daddy decided to take me to the urgent care clinic before they closed for the night. Turns out I have an ear infection and a sinus infection. (Mommy says this explains my huge meltdown today, and my horrible night of sleep the night before.) The doctor put me on antibiotics right away, so I really hope that I start to feel better soon and can enjoy the rest of my vacation!
Kylan and Kristen 