Trip to St.Louis 2010

 I love this picture. Curtis is not happy when he's hot. Glad I got a picture of it.

 Ivy loved this mural on the wall. She kept clapping with the crowd.

 Ivy loved uncle Reza.

 Cove was pretty hot the entire trip and he hates being hot. At the zoo Reza took him in with the penguins to cool down.

 The hale looks small but it wasn't. Look at it in comparison with the yellow line.

It's hard to see how dented the car got but it was bad. We were so happy. We got a new paint job for just $200.  That's not a bad deal at all. Thank you insurance.

In the beginning of June we drove to St.Louis to see Curtis's sister and family. It was quite the long drive. It was 2 full days. It was such a fun trip but really strange things happened on way there and on our way back. We barely get to Colorado and got a flat. Then while we were stopped changing the flat a fire starts on the other side of the free way about 1/4 mile up. I started getting a little freaked out but it ended up being fine.

When we got to our hotel room in Denver we were all (Curtis, Krissy, Ivy, Cove, and I ) so tired we went to sleep at 7 30pm. We were planning on leaving first thing the next morning but a stupid ghost, yes I said ghost, decided to wake us up at 11pm. Ivy started screaming, Krissy's phone started vibrating, Curtis's phone started vibrating, and the alarm clock radio started playing the song "magic's in the air" all at the same time. The alarm clock was set for 4:30am. We all tried to go back to sleep but none of us could so we decided to hit the road.

We drove all night through Colorado and Kansas. On our way I noticed Ivy didn't really have an appetite and her entire face, neck, chest and stomach was covered in a rash. I gave her some Bendryl but it didn't seem to help. When it got light outside we saw a sign that said "KANSAS THE WHEAT STATE". I was thinking, how did we not know this was the wheat state. We don't even have Ivy around flour and we toke her all the way through Kansas. The rest of the trip was wheat fields. It takes 7 or more hours to get through Kansas. My little celiac daughter had been ingesting wheat the whole time and we didn't even know. I didn't even know wheat could give her that bad of a rash. It was crazy.

It really was way to long of a drive with kids. The kids were being really good but Ivy didn't sleep the entire trip. I don't know how she did it. I kept falling asleep on her car seat but every time I closed my eyes she would say, "Mom, your eyes are closed." It was pretty cute and a bit of a bummer. Cove didn't cry at all and Ivy just watched one backyardgains episode over and over the entire time. It was interesting. I was really surprised how well they did. Kids are kids though and that just makes it hard to travel.

We didn't tell Curtis's sister we were coming early. They were really surprised to see us for lunch when they were expecting us for a late dinner. It was really funny to see the look on all their faces. It was so good seeing everyone. They are such a great family. While we were there we got to do so many fun things. We went to the Mississippi river, it is so huge. We went to the arch and the city museum. Ivy loved it because they had stuffed animals. I don't mean the cute little kind either. I mean the animals that were once alive. She thought it was so cool. We also went to the zoo and the science museum. It was really great going on a family trip. I think we all needed it.

The first couple of hours of our trip home were fine. Then it was constant stopping for the restroom. My poor Mother in Law was having some problems. That probably pushed us back an hour or two. Nobody seemed to mind though. Then we stopped for lunch. I had just heated up a burrito in the gas station microwave and set in on the back seat on a blanket. The baby was in his car seat next to wear I set the burrito. I left for a second and when I came back somebody had put the blanket on the baby and didn't see my burrito. Cove was screaming so hard. The burrito fell and slid under his foot. He had a really bad burn. I felt so bad. He was in so much pain. Luckily we were in the part of Kansas that actually had stores. We went to a Walgreens and asked the Lady what to do for a burn and told her what happened. She was so mean. She thought that it was on purpose. We got him all doctored up and then went on our way. Poor baby boy cried on and off in pain the rest of the trip. That pushed us back another hour or so. I felt so bad.

All the way through Kansas the wind was blowing hard and the weather wasn't the best. It was kind of nerve wracking considering we were in tornado alley. I was a bit on edge the entire time. We were just leaving Kansas into Colorado and I said. "Do you think the cloud looks like a Tornado is starting." Then I say,"This is so out of my comfort zone." Katie(my mother in law) says,"Not out of mine I'm fine." As soon as she finishes saying that hale the size of golf balls and bigger starts to fall. We couldn't see at all. The semi next to us slammed on his breaks and fish tailed into our lane so we had to swerve into the medium. Then the semi pulled over. Everyone was stopped and the hail just kept coming. Katie turned to me and said."I am out of my comfort zone now." It was so loud in the car but we were all so scared. I yelled to Curtis and asked if we should pray. He asked me to so I said a very loud prayer. As soon as I ended the prayer I looked to the right and saw light and the baby stopped screaming. Then we remembered a story very similar to ours that was told to us on our trip. My brother in law, Reza was driving and all of the sudden hail hit. He said everyone stopped and he kept going. He said he was glad he did because when he came out of the hail he saw a big funnel. We had a feeling that story was for a reason and started driving. We could hardly see but I new that we were going to be okay because of the feeling I had after the prayer.

We stayed the night in Denver and was so happy to be there because just over the hill from Denver they had Tornado warnings the entire night. I hate tornadoes. I have had tornado night mares my entire life. They freak me out. The only freaky thing that happened that night at the hotel was the bathroom light turned itself on a couple of times. Same hotel in case you were wondering.

The next day we woke up early and headed for home. For the most part it was an okay trip. There was heavy rain and a bit of snow and the Colorado rivers was flooding a little. But compared to the rest of the trip we felt pretty safe. Right before we got to Utah a car slid of the road into the medium. It was a green car and hard to see because the snow wasn't really sticking. It was more like slush I guess. We tried calling 911 for 45 minutes but didn't have any service. By the time we got service I had forgotten about them completely. We got home 5 hours later and remembered. Talk about good Samaritans, NOT. I felt so bad. Good thing they didn't roll.