Weekend Fun

This weekend was amazing. We had a 3.5 day weekend and we took advantage of it by driving to St. Louis. It took us exactly 11 hours. I was expecting 12-13, but the kids are getting older and are okay in the car. Our stops were brief and infrequent and that helped.

Once we got there, the kids (especially the boys) were crazy and wrestling on the air mattress. A was already asleep and it is amazing that she didn't wake up.

The next morning, A had somewhere to be. When she was done, we all went and picked her up and headed out to lunch at Red Robin. I have never been to Red Robin. There is a reason, but it is kinda personal....so, I just have never been. But, YUMMY! Every one of us LOVED our food. More importantly, we loved being together.



Our next stop was visiting the St. Louis Temple. It is so beautiful, but it was very cold! We walked around it quickly, only stopping for a moment or two to take pictures. I cannot wait to enter this temple with CK (when we don't have four kids with us!).





We got back and headed to the indoor pool that CK has at his apartment complex. I think we spent an hour and a half there and the kids could've gone for more. There is something very neat about being able to swim in the winter.

Sunday was a relaxing day spent together, at church, playing games, having home teachers come, and eating yummy food. The kids loved making up games and playing together.

Monday we didn't have school. The original plan was to drive home Monday, but, we had had to leave later than planned and so we decided to stay Monday (A was out of school, too) and drive on Tuesday.

We went to the arch. Of course. The kids had been waiting for a long time to do this.









We crossed the Mississippi River just so that all four of us could say we'd been in Illinois. It was just for a few minutes, but we accrued a couple funny/interesting stories. :) Ask me about them sometime.
Next, we headed to lunch. We stopped at Steak and Shake. The kids did so well. They really are great together. (Disclaimer: CK did not know he was in the picture.)
We then went to the Science Center. It was very cool. We had different children interested in different things, but it was still cool. The beauty of having two parents is that we could split up and each take a couple of them where they wanted to go.
They have this part where you can use a laser to determine speeds of highway traffic going underneath. Very cool.
They also had glass in the floor so that you can see the speeding cars whizzing by underneath you. I thought it was neat. Others around me were exclaiming that it was freaky. Maybe a little of both.
This is how much it would cost to send C in to space. I got on the scale with him after this picture....over $2 mil. to send us together. Yikes!






So, there you have it. A wonderful weekend. I am so grateful for CK and A and their hospitality of having us stay with them. I am so grateful that our kids are feeling more and more that they are siblings. It is difficult to mesh families and I am sure the challenges are just beginning, but I am so grateful we had this weekend together. I love CK. I love A. I love K, C, and J. I am one lucky woman to have such a great family. It isn't what I planned, but it is still wonderful and I see Heavenly Father's hand in the path my life has taken.