St. Louis Vacation 2018

We took our annual trip to St. Louis to visit family the last full week of July.  I always dread the drive to and from St. Louis since it's about 14 hours, but it always goes better than I think it will.  We did have a few grumpy moments because I inadvertently brought movies that appealed more to the big kids than the little ones.  I'll remember for next year.  Edie was a champ again this year even though she is still rear facing and couldn't watch any movies.  

We had our first experience using Airbnb and it worked out well.  The first home we stayed in was on a farm and the house was over 100 years old.  The house was nicely updated, but it still had character that accompanies an older house.  The kids loved exploring.  Our second house was an older home as well and the kids liked seeing the attic.  

We enjoyed seeing some of our Leigh cousins when we got to Grammy's house.  They were visiting while the rest of their family was at Girls Camp.

Rebecah, Heather, and Emily

It was wonderful that the kids had cousins to play with.  I wish we lived closer to our cousins so everyone could know each other better.

Rebecah played the piano for everyone.  We all enjoyed holding precious little Ruby.  

Rachel, Ruby, and Rebecah

Kimball and Matt kept each other company playing Monopoly.

Kimball surprised me by wanting to hold Ruby a lot.  He never held his siblings as much as he held Ruby.  He has a tender heart, just don't tell him I told you!

Here's another sweet face.  I love Edie's smile.  She works on perfecting her 

smile anytime she sees us pull out our phones for a picture.

We took a few pictures after church...

Grammy with roughly half of her grand kids visiting.

I can't say enough about Sweet Ruby!  She loved me!  I was able to get her to sleep just about every time I tried.  She is so snuggly and we all loved holding her.  

Playing with blocks.

Hanging out Sunday afternoon.

Lincoln and Rachel

Toddler-sized chairs at a restaurant where we ate in Indiana.

On Monday we met up with Spencer and Leslie's family in Lake St. Louis.  It was so fun to see them!!  We did our very best to convince them to move to NY, but since they just moved to St. Louis I don't think it will happen.  We had lunch and then we went to McNair Aquatics Center for swimming.  It was so fun seeing Ethan and Lincoln play together on the slides and in the water.  Thankfully it wasn't overly hot that day.

When it was time to go we took two last pictures by the pool.  I'm glad we can look forward to seeing them each year when we visit St. Louis.

Edie going for a ride in Heather's chair.

Here's another seat that Edie liked sitting in...

Our last day in St. Louis we went bowling and had a great time.  My mom had a coupon that allowed all of us to bowl as much as we wanted for 2 hours.  We were at the far end of the bowling alley away from all of the other customers and that was really nice, too.  The kids had a great time bowling.  I'm not a great bowler so I was always neck and neck with the 3 toddlers using the bumpers and the ball ramp!  

                   

Kimball and Joseph had one last hurrah on the way home.  They talked me into letting them take a trip to the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.  I stayed at our airbnb house while they went to the HOF.  Since I wasn't along for the adventure I'll just post their pictures with minimal commentary.

Standing next to the busts of some of their favorite players.

Who would want a leg that huge?  I mean, really!

It was nice seeing family, but it was also really nice to be home again!  

July

We had a very exciting month!!

Joseph and I attended an outdoor symphony performance.  The weather was perfect; I could wear pants without worrying about sweating or getting eaten by mosquitoes.  It was a great date night!

For Family Home Evening we talked about the importance of anchors and have Christ as our anchor.  We made fun paper chains and anchors.

It was a great month, but also a month of injuries.  Joseph took the big kids camping at the beginning of the month and Kimball cut himself with the hatchet.  I didn't think to take a picture.  Then, Lincoln, Annika and Rebecah were playing with a door that we use for forts.  I didn't realize it was glass until they all laid on it and it shattered.  Lincoln ended up with a gouge out of his foot.  It was bloody and emotional for me.  I knew he was hurting and it was hard for me to look at it so I could doctor him up.  Of course, Joseph was working.  Here is a picture of his foot the day it happened, and then two days later.  In just two days it looked so much better.  He hobbled around walking on the side of his foot for 5 days, but then started walking normally again.  It is amazing how quickly kids heal.  Then, two days after Lincoln cut his foot Annika cut herself with a knife.  She wasn't feeling patient while I was vacuuming so she helped herself to a knife to cut her fruit.  She calmly walked into the living room and told me she was bleeding.  It was bloody enough that she needed more than a band-aid, but not so bad that she needed stitches.  Again, no picture.  I hope we are finished with the injuries for the time being.  I like being married to a medical guy, but I don't like having to participate in the bandaging!

I walked into Rebecah's room one morning and I saw this sweet scene.  I loved seeing all of my girls happily building Legos in their pajamas!

What would a blog post be without a sweet picture of Eden?!  She is so wonderful.  I love it when she says "Thank you, Mama." in her sweet voice.  

The weekend Joseph had to work we arrived at church to see everyone standing outside and a few minutes later the fire trucks showed up.  It was very exciting for Lincoln.  He loved being up close to the firemen and their trucks.  The fire alarm had gone off because of a malfunction with the heating system.  It was all resolved in a short amount of time and for those who arrived late to church had no idea it even happened.  I joked that the first weekend the Bishop had to work instead of attending church the building goes up in flames!  Thankfully we didn't see flames!

Rebecah started a 7 week gymnastics session. She loves it!  

Can I just say I hate the way the gym smells!!!

Annika is so funny and tries to be so self-sufficient. She has such a sweet face.  I wrapped her special blanket around her head like a turban and she loved it! 

Lincoln had to be in on the action, too!  Twinners!!