Flyover States

I am officially a Road Warrior.  I just completed back to back road trips with my 3 little people, the second one sans hubs.  In D's words, it was Epic.  Our return trip from the 'Lou we made straight through in 14 hours.  I would not suggest this to just anyone.  It requires lots of snacks, new books/games/toys, good music and the knowledge of a Blue Moon at the end of the road.

I don't know how to explain the smell in our van right now, but it's righteous.  I need to call a fumigation team today to sanitize it.
Walks with Purpose essentially potty trained while on the trip.  Again, not something I would recommend to most mothers.  We had to use the training potty on the side of a few interstates and we quickly came to realize that she simply prefers to pee in the grass on the side of the road.  Whatever works.
My kids are GREAT road trippers.  Of course, there were some bouts with whining and bickering and crying jags but really, those were few and far between.
I was really impressed with how sweet D and Gogo were with my grandma.  She is 87, in a nursing home and not accustomed to loud little people.  They were so thoughtful of her and I was really proud of them.
You learn a lot about your kids while hurtling driving down the road with them.  WWP is very capable of entertaining herself for long stretches, if need be.  Gogo is like me-she just needs her music and a good book.  My D is a thinker.  He and I had some interesting conversations-he is a dreamer and wanderer as I was a child.

We drove through a few flyover states and all around them and their stark beauty never ceases to amaze me.  Where we live now is very lush and green and mountains can be found not too far from our driveway.  So, the kids are always surprised to see such flat land-nothing but cornstalks and sky in most directions.

This trip we did a lot of things I did as a kid or very young adult but had sort of forgotten about.  The kids loved it all.  D and Gogo both told their dad last night how awesome the trip was and how much fun they had.  I think D failed to mention he didn't want to come home and would have gladly stayed a bit longer at Grandpa's house.

Yummy food found here.  And cool chairs.

We drove up to Springfield to see the Lincoln stuff and it was beyond cool.  This old train station was right across the street from the new museum.  Totally worth the drive.

The Lincoln Tomb was really moving.  We rubbed his nose for good luck on the way in.

I had not been down here in many years but it was still so neat.  D was in heaven because of all the crystals and the rest of us welcomed the 60 degree temps on a 95 degree day.

We also just bummed around the City.  We did the Science Center, Cunetto's, the Landing and 

Soulard Market.  This place is so cool and way more than any farmers market they have ever been to. 

There was a lot of merry-making in general on our visit.  It's so bittersweet to go home-I love to see everyone and show my kids all the cool stuff but it breaks my heart to leave.

 My kids are beyond exhausted.  We plan to catch up with friends, hang by the pool and generally enjoy summer break laziness for a while.  One more Epic trip in August then back to reality.  Thank God for summer break!