So Friday, we left here as soon as Karl got home from school. we stopped just west of St. Louis for dinner at Longhorn steakhouse (yum....you'll learn by the end of this post that this was a total "blew my diet BIG TIME" kind of weekend...and that's okay, 'cuz all diets start over again on Monday, right? RIGHT!).......then when we piled back into the van, I got Alaina and Matthew all situated with their DVD players and HEADPHONES (must not forget the headphones or else the parents are subjected to listening to hours and hours of kids' movies from the backseat!). I sat by Zach and flipped open my laptop and I scrapped the whole way out there. YAY!
So this is what I got done in the car.....a 2-pager layout of our visit to the princess Diana memorial fountain in London....
we got out to the Kansas City area around 9:30ish I think? had to make a couple potty stops of course......our hotel was downtown (we were getting a free night at the Hyatt, so we splurged and paid for the 2nd night vs. just getting an el cheapo hotel). by the time we got checked in and everything carted up to the 35th floor (seriously, 35th floor? impressive! we kept singing the theme to "the Jeffersons"...the snooty people probably didn't think it was as funny as I did!), it was WAY past bedtime. we got the kids in their jammies and into bed ASAP. We were conducting an experiment in hotel behaviour....putting all 3 of them in a bed together......we put zach in the middle, thinking he might roll off, and the beds were HIGH (taller than him), so we thought that was the best......they ALL flop around so much, we just knew one of them was going to end up bruised in the morning! Zach was infatuated with watching the cars on the street below out the window....and putting just about anything he could fit into the little mini fridge we had in our room (shoes, my purse, water bottles....more shoes!).....for some reason, Zach wanted to sleep with his sippy cup....I don't know WHY, as this is something he never does at home....but since he started screaming like a banshee when I took it away, I compromised and let him have it (for fear we'd get a call from the front desk from someone else complaining about a screaming kid!), figuring I'd just take it away once he fell asleep. So that's what I did. so off we all went to bed...
Saturday morning, I tried to sleep as late as possible, but didn't last past 8 or so. bummer. we all got up and around and went downstairs to eat breakfast at the buffet in the hotel.....knowing full well that eating there was our most expensive option....we were that lazy! then we walked over to the mall that was connected to our hotel to kill some time while we were waiting for Kerri to get off work. We went to this little model train store and that would've entertained Matthew and Zach for HOURS.....then we went to the Crayola store and let them color.......and then just kinda window shopped around and then headed back to our room. Watched a movie on the hotel TV (Ghost...haven't seen that in YEARS!) and I put the finishing touches on the layouts I did in the car.....then we left for lunch at Gates' BBQ....which is a tradition for us whenever we go to Kansas City. YUMMY BBQ!! totally pigged out there....then it was finally time to head over to Kerri's.
After the ball pit, Alaina and Tessa went to a cooking class....Matthew and Zach hit the water tables, and of course Zach wouldn't have anything to do with the jackets that keep you dry...OH NO...what fun would THAT be? So he got completely and totally drenched. He finally quit even TRYING to stay dry and just started dumping the water on himself....nice! then he tried to dump it on ME....but thankfully, I'm still faster than him!
All the kids except Zach painted their faces.....and I don't get what Tessa was doing either, so it's not just you, Kerri.....but they were cute anyways......Matthew told me he was an "ant".....see the brown antennae? yeah, I didn't really 'get it' either until they told me. I must have no imagination anymore, huh? But here they are:
They also played in the little pretend grocery store, and Zach really liked the pizza place....he's not really showing off his 2-year-old physique.....his shirt was just that wet!
So we had a lot of fun at Paradise Park.....and I still have lots to scrap of it! We headed back to Kerri's house and Karl was awake, swearing he "didn't really sleep" after we left....SUUUUUUUURRRRRRRE! :P Sue and her baby boy Kalani showed up, so I finally got to meet that little cutie! I sent karl out to get some medicine for Kalani (which worked pretty quick, huh?) and an ice cream cake for dessert....he comes back with a DQ ice cream cake with a Superman on it and "Happy Birthday Karl" written on it. Uhm, his birthday's in APRIL! dork! The kids insisted on singing "happy birthday" to him anyways......we should've made him blow out candles too, darnit. so happy birthday karl, ya big dork! good cake though!
And the kids had a good time too, playing outside,
And since Sarah didn't make it out to Kerri's house to see us, we showed up on her doorstep this morning.....'cuz our hotel was pretty close to their house and there was no way I was leaving town without seeing little gigi! :P We didn't get to stay much longer than 10 minutes since they were on their way to church and Karl was already sneezing from his allergies (I conveniently forgot to mention that they had a cat to him until it was too late for him to back out of the visit!).
And me and Sarah, who will forever make me feel short! :(
And the Hartley three...Sarah, Scott and little miss Greta (LOVE those socks!)
Then we were on the road to home around 10AMish.......we stopped in Independence at Denny's for brunch and then hit the road for home.....I scrapped the layouts from Paradise Park and finished this one I'd started at Kerri's house on the way home......our hotel in Wales....basically the only hotel on the trip that I really liked and was worthy of taking pictures of!
Then i heard a big 'thump' at about 1AM and waited for "the cry" thinking he'd fallen out of bed (no, i did not have the energy to just bolt out of bed to tend to whichever child had hit the floor...anybody that's got 3 kids knows what i'm talking about, right? no cry no foul!) but it was Zach....he'd gotten out of bed by himself and gone to the little fridge and had gotten his sippy cup out of it and was just standing there in the middle of the hotel room chugging away at it. Then he insisted on taking it back to bed with him...and I was too tired to care....little stinker knew I'd taken it away and was forcing my hand on this 2nd round. whatever. Zach wins round 2...I didn't stay awake to take it away the 2nd time.
And this is how they ended up in the morning.....Zach somehow flipped around in the night and was facing the wrong direction, but other than that, not too bad!
Saturday morning, I tried to sleep as late as possible, but didn't last past 8 or so. bummer. we all got up and around and went downstairs to eat breakfast at the buffet in the hotel.....knowing full well that eating there was our most expensive option....we were that lazy! then we walked over to the mall that was connected to our hotel to kill some time while we were waiting for Kerri to get off work. We went to this little model train store and that would've entertained Matthew and Zach for HOURS.....then we went to the Crayola store and let them color.......and then just kinda window shopped around and then headed back to our room. Watched a movie on the hotel TV (Ghost...haven't seen that in YEARS!) and I put the finishing touches on the layouts I did in the car.....then we left for lunch at Gates' BBQ....which is a tradition for us whenever we go to Kansas City. YUMMY BBQ!! totally pigged out there....then it was finally time to head over to Kerri's.Zach fell asleep on the way over to her house, as we had to make a side stop at WalMart for batteries for the little train set we'd bought for Matthew...and a couple other things......so when we got to Kerri's, Zach was still passed out. we laid him down on one of their beds ,and then karl proceeded to crash on their couch while the older kids went out back to play and Kerri and I chatted. Once Zach woke up, we decided to take the kids to Paradise Place.....Karl was still unconscious, so we left him behind. :)
The kids had an absolute blast there.....it's a lot like the Magic House here in St. Louis....probably the favorite thing was the ball pit......seriously, if I wasn't pretty sure we'd have all been kicked out, I would've taken a big dive in here.......I really wanted to push Kerri in, but I think she knew that subconsciously 'cuz she never got between me and the doorway! darn!
and I already got this part of the afternoon scrapped: (this is what I did on the way home! see how productive I can be when I want to?)
After the ball pit, Alaina and Tessa went to a cooking class....Matthew and Zach hit the water tables, and of course Zach wouldn't have anything to do with the jackets that keep you dry...OH NO...what fun would THAT be? So he got completely and totally drenched. He finally quit even TRYING to stay dry and just started dumping the water on himself....nice! then he tried to dump it on ME....but thankfully, I'm still faster than him!All the kids except Zach painted their faces.....and I don't get what Tessa was doing either, so it's not just you, Kerri.....but they were cute anyways......Matthew told me he was an "ant".....see the brown antennae? yeah, I didn't really 'get it' either until they told me. I must have no imagination anymore, huh? But here they are:They also played in the little pretend grocery store, and Zach really liked the pizza place....he's not really showing off his 2-year-old physique.....his shirt was just that wet!So we had a lot of fun at Paradise Park.....and I still have lots to scrap of it! We headed back to Kerri's house and Karl was awake, swearing he "didn't really sleep" after we left....SUUUUUUUURRRRRRRE! :P Sue and her baby boy Kalani showed up, so I finally got to meet that little cutie! I sent karl out to get some medicine for Kalani (which worked pretty quick, huh?) and an ice cream cake for dessert....he comes back with a DQ ice cream cake with a Superman on it and "Happy Birthday Karl" written on it. Uhm, his birthday's in APRIL! dork! The kids insisted on singing "happy birthday" to him anyways......we should've made him blow out candles too, darnit. so happy birthday karl, ya big dork! good cake though! Poor Kerri......uhm.........the lasagna? :P Is it done YET? thankfully the kids filled up on chips and other junk so by the time the lasagna was done enough around the edges that we could eat some of it (I'm thinking the rest of it STILL isn't done!) it was pretty late.......and the kids ended up not even eating much of it.....and so I know what Kerri had for lunch today! (and possibly tomorrow and the day after that!). But it's the thought that counts and nobody starved! Enjoy the rest of Karl's birthday cake, okay guys? :P
we spent the rest of the evening just hanging out.....Kerri's mom, Karen showed up for dinner too, and it's been a long time since I'd seen her too, so it was nice to see her again and chat about stuff. Kerri filled me in on everything I was ingorant of about our church camp friends....all these little kids we used to have in our cabins when we were counselors are married and having kids! Gosh am I THAT old? seriously? And I also showed Kerri how to do a digital scrapbook page to try and lure her away from that "paper schmaper" stuff she's still doing!
I was determined to get a picture of Kalani smiling....and I'm totally in favor of him being Elvis for Halloween.....with the "do" this kid has, it would be perfect! Kerri, Sue and I had so much fun just hanging out together!
And the kids had a good time too, playing outside, and bonding over an episode of iCarly......
but my boys refused to sit for a picture with a bunch of GIRLS....
And since Sarah didn't make it out to Kerri's house to see us, we showed up on her doorstep this morning.....'cuz our hotel was pretty close to their house and there was no way I was leaving town without seeing little gigi! :P We didn't get to stay much longer than 10 minutes since they were on their way to church and Karl was already sneezing from his allergies (I conveniently forgot to mention that they had a cat to him until it was too late for him to back out of the visit!).so here's me and little Greta
And me and Sarah, who will forever make me feel short! :( And the Hartley three...Sarah, Scott and little miss Greta (LOVE those socks!) Then we were on the road to home around 10AMish.......we stopped in Independence at Denny's for brunch and then hit the road for home.....I scrapped the layouts from Paradise Park and finished this one I'd started at Kerri's house on the way home......our hotel in Wales....basically the only hotel on the trip that I really liked and was worthy of taking pictures of! We finally made it back to our house around 5 I think. we stopped for a late lunch out in St. Charles at a Cracker Barrel (more YUMMY diet-blowing food), then we had to pick up Keely at the sitter's house, then we stopped at the mall really quick....so it was a long drawn-out trip home! Once we got home, we started in on the usual 'stuff', and are still doing that now.....for me, updating the blog ranks up there in the priorities.....whereas Karl and Matthew are playing Lego Batman on the Wii. I did clean out the van though, which was gross. and I mean GROSS....because I even cleaned out the goo in the wells where the seats attach to the floor. EWWW........ that's about as productive as I wanted to be today.
So that's it for our weekend.....on the go, which is the way we like it! Thanks to Kerri for having us over, and I really do hope you guys can come out here for spring break! I'll put a lasagna in the oven NOW, and it might be done by then, huh? :P
have a great week everybody!!!
1 comment:
Yay! The lasagna IS done...finally...and we had a great time, too! Love the layouts...SO cute! You were going to push me in the ballpit? NOT NICE!!!!!!!!!
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