ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

I had long, long, LONG been wanting to go on a train trip and wish the US had trains that ran as efficiently as Europe to make it easier to do so. Every time I had checked previously, it was going to be too expensive and take way too long so we'd never done it. As I was looking at our time off over break, I thought it might be nice to try to fit in a few days in St. Louis after Christmas. We hadn't been to St. Louis in probably 10 years which means Blake had never been. In addition, since my mom was recently laid off, she was able to go with us.

In early December, I booked the train tickets and then used Priceline.com to get a hotel for us. Plans were set!

So early on the morning of December 26, we set out for Union Station in Kansas City to catch our train.


We were moving along right on time and made our way through Union Station to get to the ticket desk.



Then we get up to the ticket counter and......the line went out the doors. Apparently there was some kind of backup - too few people working, broken down kiosks, more than normal travelers, I don't know, but the line was LONG. People were everywhere.


Luckily they let us move to the front of the line since our train was due to depart in 10 or 15 minutes.

Out on the platform ready to board the train...



Once on the train, I wasn't sure what to expect. Blake and I sat in a row together and got comfortable including setting up the GPS on his window to track our progress. He thought it was hilarious to set it on automobile mode and watch is constantly try to recalculate to get us back on roads. Ahhh....geek humor.


This is blurry but Payton had my laptop watching a DVD while Blake has his portable DVD player in his seat. The strip along the wall that had two outlets per row was SO great especially for watching DVDs.


Along the way, we took pics at each stop. Each little town's stop was charming.






Side note: I don't particularly like rural areas but they seemed much more lovely from the train. From the car, not so much.

The train seemed to kind of rock us all to sleep and Blake even took a nap mid-morning for a while. The trip did take longer than scheduled so we were on it for around 6 hours total.

Arriving in St. Louis.






Once we arrived, we went to the taxi stand to find a large enough taxi for all of us plus our luggage.

Side note: it was my goal to navigate using public transportation and not have our own car on this trip. We were staying in the downtown area plus everything we did was within a couple of miles. I think it's interesting for the kids to see different ways of getting around.

We found a minivan taxi fairly quickly and we were soon on our way to our hotel.

We arrived at our hotel, Crowne Plaza Downtown, and got our keys for our room on the 28th floor. When the front desk asked how many keys and I told them we needed 5, they said "uhhh...we aren't sure that's possible" but in fact, it was. Just easier if everybody has their own key.

The view from our room...


At this point, we were starving so we headed a couple blocks from our hotel to Caleco's for some Italian food. Apparently there is some St. Louis style food - pizza and toasted ravioli - that I wasn't previously aware of so we had to try it out.

Caleco's was yummy and St. Louis style pizza (basically thin crust) was FANTASTIC. We had good service, they had a train that circled above, an aquarium, etc.

I think we probably went back to the hotel and took a nap as we had been very tired from getting up so early. Of course, the kids had to make a contraption (a zip line) across the room for entertainment. Other fun things to do in the hotel room: make a paper airplane and sail it down 28 floors out the window and jump between beds. Grandma is pretty silly but I'm not quite sure she ever got used to the constant flurry of activity around her. I haven't either and I live it everyday!


That night, we took a cab to St. Louis' Union Station which is not where their train goes into anymore but was once the busiest train station the world.

It's a beautiful building but for all intents and purposes, it's just a mall.



Blake's ever-growing independent streak had him taking the escalator alone a couple of times to get pressed pennies.


Side note: When Payton was around 4, we started encouraging her to order for herself, ask for change at counters, just generally do things independently. Of course, because she is Ms. Independent, she did them. Blake, however, is an entirely different human and refuses to speak to anybody or do anything on his own...until this weekend in St. Louis. He went to counters and asked for change for a dollar, he ventured on the escalator....he's only 3 years behind his sister but he's getting there!

His favorite (and very affordable!) souvenir. Had to get some to add to the Pressed Penny Collection book.


Beautiful building...






As Union Station was nearing closing time, we started walking toward the exit and a strange and freaky thing happened. Blake saw the bungee cord trampoline things and said "I want to do that!!!" and then I went like this:

You may or may not know this but my kids are CHICKENS. They don't ever want to do ANYthing which has been a huge disappointment to me. Andy and I went on our honeymoon to an amusement park that has the most roller coasters in the US and love rides and then we have kids who don't.

But this day, I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough. Blake and I were both going to do the bungee trampoline thingies!








Side note (this is a whole blog posts of side notes, I know, but it's ok): The weight limit posted said 25-200 pounds. I would pay $20 to see a 25 pound person (a baby!) do the bungee trampolines. How funny would that be?

We started out jumping so high and it was so fun and I was flipping forward and backward and all around. Then I kind of started getting nauseous from all the movement (I'm getting old, people) and the sight of Blake jumping 20 feet in the air was scaring me. My BABY was jumping to the second floor. Even people walking by were commenting "omg, I can't believe how high he is." Yeah, thanks, people. I can't believe it either!

So after our turn, Payton decides she wants to go. I faint again. She's much more cautious and timid than Blake is and very much likes to sit back and observe before doing anything. She decided she'd give it a try. Blake also went again because he was determined to try to flip this time.



After this very exciting fun, we finally headed out and got a cab to take us back to our hotel. The next day had much fun in store including the arch, City Museum and a night out on the town without kids.

As usual, Christmas morning was spent with everybody awake except Blake. We wait for him every year. Opposite of many families, I know.

Santa leaves gifts out in our family so the kids can see them right away. Everybody (including my parents and even their dog) has stockings so we open those after the kids have had a chance to see their gifts. Have I mentioned how much I love stockings? I LOVE them. This year, my parents decided that they'd make my stocking fabulous as well and it was a highlight for me.

Blake going through his stocking (Tribot brought by Santa is beside him)


Payton in her new apron (purchased from Etsy.com - I'm addicted to that site)


Payton's Tiffany necklace


And she got Rock Band 2 for the Wii


Red iPod nano we got for my mom


Harley's stocking stuff


After we opened gifts, my brother's family came over to exchange gifts.

Nathan watching the train and saying "Where'd it go?"


The girls playing Rock Band 2.


The kids opening gifts from Grandma and Poppy



Adorable





And then, of course, more awesome food!



The rest of the afternoon was spent playing with new stuff and then Andy and Rusty setup the ping pong table Rusty got my parents for their basement.


We didn't go anywhere or do anything but did have to spend the evening packing because we were leaving for St. Louis via train very early the next morning!

We got up on Christmas Eve and my mom had made us a wonderful breakfast - pineapple, raspberries, cherries, sausage, biscuits, quiche and peach nectar. Beautiful. Yummy. I love my mom's food!


After breakfast, I spent a few hours working on a scrapbook of Nick and Celeste's wedding shower that was way overdue and I wanted to be able to give it to them later that day. I don't usually like scrapbooking but it was really fun. I wish I had taken a picture of it because it was very cute.

While I was busy doing that, my mom started a project to keep Blake busy where they cut out pieces of tissue paper and formed a mosaic pattern in the shape of a Christmas tree.

Picture is blurry but the only one I have with Blake in it.



In the middle of the afternoon, we headed over to Andy's mom's house for Christmas Eve festivities with his family.

I wish I had taken pics of the food at Andy's mom's house but I wasn't around to eat most of it. I had been fighting a stomach virus for the previous few days and had to go lay down while everybody ate. Her ham and slaw sandwiches are one of my very favoritest things to eat in the whole world.

After dinner, it was present time!
Alan and Bree


Blake opening a piggy bank that has his name on it. This is the only gift we ended up leaving in KC. There's a spot on his dresser reserved for it!


Isaac and the back of Joey's head


I had Celeste's name in the drawing and got her these red Williams-Sonoma mixing bowls and measuring spoons. I have them and love them and she asked for red mixing bowls. I hope she likes them!


Weather station for Andy's mom that connects via wireless Internet.


Andy likes for me to open his gift to me when we are with his family. This year, he got me a Nikon digital camera with wireless built-in. That means that when there's a wireless connection, I can send pics to people via email or upload them automatically to my Flickr account. Aside from being wireless, it's also better resolution and a more compact camera. I love it! All pics taken after this one were taken using my new camera.


After hanging out with the fam for a while, we had to head back to my parent's to make cookies for Mommy and Daddy....I mean Santa...and get the kids in bed for the night. They didn't end up getting in bed until around 11:30 or so because Blake figured if Santa didn't come until midnight, he could stay up until right before then...and he did!

We arrived at my mom and dad's house on December 23. Their house is so lovely at Christmas with their gorgeous tree, beautiful Christmas dishes and my mom's villages that she has setup.

Blake is enamored with the villages.


We got unpacked and then it was time for me to dive right into a dreaded task: wrapping all the gifts I had shipped to my mom's house. For probably 10 years, I've ordered gifts online and had them shipped to my mom's so we don't have to transport all of them. It also keeps them out of the kids view and prevents snooping. Downside is that I have to wrap a lot once we get there. I spent hours in their basement wrapping and bagging and taking inventory of what gifts we had.

I discovered 4 gifts had not arrived. Phone calls were made, packages were tracked and soon Andy and I were off to Lawrence to pickup my mom's main present from us at a Fedex facility. Turns out the package just had a name and city on it but no address. The place I had ordered the gift from had omitted the address line from the label. No wonder it never made it! One of the other gifts was delivered while I was wrapping. The other two never arrived.

I had already hoped to go to Lawrence with Andy this night because the Liberty Hall movie theater is my absolute favorite. Old, beautiful, shows independent films and cheap. Perfect. We saw Slumdog Millionaire and it was great. Beautifully shot, interesting storyline and look at the slums of India and the music was even good.

Since we had two weeks off, we took the first few days to hang out at home and take it easy. It also cut down the time we spent in KC which is better for Blake. Despite the fact that he's spent time away from home since birth, he doesn't do well when we are away for a long time. Before he could even articulate it, he would start repacking our luggage to indicate that it was time to go home. So December 20-23, we stayed home and relaxed and packed. Of course the day that we left (December 23), a wintry mix of ice and snow came through which was impeccable timing.

I have a lot to talk about from the holiday break but it seems only fitting that my first post would address Andy's Superman status. We have an older house and older cars and he has a crazy wife who sometimes breaks things so everything seems to be breaking lately. Things that have broken and needed repair within the last month:

• Downstairs heat. Thermostat was down to 52 at the lowest point during the coldest days we had. HVAC people came out twice and did nothing. Andy got it fixed on his own.
  
• Dryer. Has had trouble since we moved, the most recent being incessant squeaking while it's on. Andy ordered some parts on eBay and had it disassembled in the hallway and got it fixed.
  
• Van battery. Right before we went to KC, the van battery had died. Got it jump started and went to KC and it died again there. Since we were leaving on a train, my dad helped out getting this one fixed.
  
• My car battery. Yep, it died too.
  
• My laptop and our wireless connection. We took the router to my parents' house while we were there and the settings got messed up going between location. To add to it, I messed up the laptop settings in the process of trying to fix it myself.
  
• Endless amounts of putting things together - mounting Blake's new stereo, putting together Blake's motion detector kit which required soldering, etc.
  

When Payton was little, she once said (to my horror) "it's nice to have a man around the house." I'm afraid she's right and we're grateful for everything he does to keep our family moving forward!