Tues April 11th after work, headed to Tebbetts, MO to see mama Vicki and drop our 3 pups off. Got to her place around 3am. Harley escaped and ran to neighbors place barking at their dog…took a few mins to get him back home, little stinker. The dogs had to get settled with each other. Went to sleep around 5am since we were catching up and chatting. So good to see mama Vicki and the pups.
Wed morning I logged on to work on reviews (had 15 total to complete). Hung out with mom & pups, Left Vicki’s around 3pm to check into our hotel (Fairfield Inn & Suites) in St. Charles and to spend time with the Duncan/Call family from Cali. Aunt Lesley, Bill, Katie & her 3 kids (Carter 6, Collin 4, & Jillian 2) were at Grandma Duncans already. Carter had a bug and was sleeping on the bathroom floor. The Call bros. and Sarah/Colleen (Kevin & Mike’s GFs) and Kingston were picked up from the airport that night and we had delicious chili that Britt & Bill made. Met Cousin Ollie and her friend Helen. Grandma also made delicious cookies. Yum.
Thur we planned to go to the zoo. The hotel was nice, worked in the AM to get more reviews done, got breakfast then went to meet everyone at Grandmas. The family came with us to the zoo. Jenn came with us although slightly late but it was fun even though it was hot as Texas hell and the polar bear exhibit was closed due to cleaning the pools. I saw my penguins!! And the seals and otters, Finally! Lots of walking, my cell phone noted I exceeded my 6k goal with 17k steps. We also got Lions Choice for lunch! Yum.
After a nap at our hotel, we went back to Grandmas for dinner of grilled Chicken breasts, hot dogs/sausages. Hung out and visited with the family. Katie’s kids are adorable. Jillian cracks me up. We ended up dropping Jenn off at her house and met her new puppy. So cute, wanted to kidnap her and her short legs. After we dropped Britt off at Grandmas, Ry and I went to the InTowne hotel to try to hang out with his cousins but was not the right hotel (they were at TownPlace Marriott) so just went back to our hotel. Lol my bad. For late dinner, got White Castle since we got hungry again! Yum!
Fri we all went to see Grandpa Duncan. He was very excited to see all his family. His mind isn’t as sharp as it once was and he cannot verbally communicate 😦 but I’m so glad he got to see all of us in one place. I showed him a pic from our wedding but not sure he saw it although he did say ” oh yeah”. After seeing Grandpa, Britt took us to a store that sells Stihl Blowers. Ry got a new blower for the farm. Later, we all met by the River and went to downtown St. Charles to walk around. In the glass store after Colleen made a purchase, we heard a loud crash, I looked over where Ry and I just stood looking at some glass work and a lady was there, she swore she didn’t do anything but put the piece she was holding down and the shelf crashed! So glad it wasn’t me! Everyone kept joking that it was me. We stopped by an ice cream shop. Yum. Perfect for the hot and humid day. As we continued walking, it started pouring rain. Ry and I went inside a fancy glass store and ALMOST spent over $100 on a handblown glass ball called Orions belt. It was beautiful but pricy! We ended up at a pub (old bank where Vicki and Britt met/worked) to have some beers since the Brewery we wanted to go to was temporarily closed due to a kitchen fire. After that we went to play demolition ball! It’s bumper cars while playing lacrosse (whirlyball in TX). So much fun, hilarious to participate in. We had Imo’s Pizza for dinner with the family later that night. Pretty good for thin crust. Grandma made a “dirt” cake with gummy worms for the kids. Knowing how sick Carter had been, I didn’t eat any of the worms. Had some pudding plus ice cream cake. Watched some Blues playoff game, chatted with the fam more, ended up going to their hotel to hang out some more since they were leaving Sat. At the hotel we finished watching the Blues, they won! Hung out and chatted but I started to get nauseous and thought, shoot I’m getting Carter’s bug so we left around midnight after Colleen and Sarah gave me Airborne n nausea meds. Back at our place, I threw it all up in the trashcan including the Zyrtec D I just took due to sinus headache all day. Ry ended up cleaning it for me and he threw up too! I was so worried that my whole rest of the week trip was ruined. Luckily I only threw up once. No bug for me.
Sat woke up from Hotel, went to try to see Grandpa again but Grandma and Barb had gotten sick from Carter and didnt get out of bed. Since we didn’t want to pass anything to Grandpa, we didn’t go either. Ended up at Walmart close by, Ry got 3 new pants, 3 new shirts and I got a new ballcap (actually ran thru Walmart to change it out) and a Cardinals shirt. Katie said that her family had gotten sick too and Kevin as well so only some of the family left on their flight on time and the rest stayed an extra day to get better. Got Lions Choice again for lunch, I got Chili and a sandwich. We ended up at the I55 Speedway that night to see the late models at the dirt track! It was awesome! Ry n I got new late model shirts and new clear glasses. Ry even got to race in a late model car in a contest but his fast time got beat by a girl who worked there. We had a blast still. Great racing.
Got White Castle again after the races!
Easter Sun we hung out in the hotel until checkout at 12. Ate breakfast. Tried to work more. Packed up and figured we would stop and check on Grandma, she didn’t answer so we headed towards Downtown St. Charles to see if anything was open but since it was Easter everything was closed. We swung by to see Grandpa Kuechlers old house and Aunt Martys place next door then decided to go to the Casino since that wud be open. It was pretty fancy inside. We spent $13 playing penny slots and left with 0 dollars won. Drank lots of soda to try to make it up. Lol
Around 2pm, we headed over to Aunt Cori’s for Easter with the family. Aunt Marty gave us a cute Pitcher/cheese platter set with a sugar/creamer set. She is so sweet. I also got a couple of awesome rocks from Aunt Cori!
We hung out with the family and played some Texas Hold em. Had a good time seeing them. Isabel is almost taller them me and Becca is graduating a year early. So awesome! After that we headed back to Mom’s to see her and our pups!
Mon hung out at home. Finished all my reviews so I’m officially done with work.
Tues we went to the Capital and toured the building.
Wed hung out then left to go to Mountain View
Live, Laugh, Love! 