I am totally a summer person. I love sun, sun bathing, bbqing, all of it, but I do love the change of season into Fall. Some of my favorite things in fall are pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin beer, spicy scented candles, sleeping with the window's open, sitting outside with my ipod, and a glass of wine in a sweater, and day trips around MO. We decided to take a day trip out to Hannibal yesterday with the kids.
It is about an hour drive for us, but we decided to take the longer more scenic drive because it was such a pretty day. We planned it so that Drew would sleep the whole way, little did we know....
Drew slept for about 45 mins, then suddenly woke up screaming! I tried to give him back his dodo (what Tater has named the pacifier) but he kept spitting it back out. I then gave him a sippy cup of milk, which he drank, the threw, then continued screaming. I then hopped into the backseat with him and tried giving him a cookie, which he threw at me. I tried toys, I tried singing, nothing would work. Finally, we decided he was just going to have to cry it out. Tater Tot was on one side of me with his fingers in his ears, and Parker was behind me rolling his eyes and huffing.
After about an hour of this, Parker went into, "how much longer? I never wanna do this again. Someone get this screaming baby to be quite!" When Grant told him to cut it out, Parker decided to unbuckle his seat belt because he wanted to go to jail and never see us again. I told him to get it back on, and he yelled no, so Grant told him to get it back on or he was grounded. At this point of our trip, Parker is crying, Grant is yelling, Drew is screaming, Tater Tot is singing "the wheels on the car go round and round" and I just had to laugh.
We finally arrived in Hannibal and decided it was not a good idea to take the ferry boat because Drew could be screaming the entire time, so we went straight to Mark Twain's boyhood home. Online it said it was about an 1 1/2 tour, but with the boys, it took maybe 45 mins. Drew was fussing, so Grant and I had to take turns holding him and pushing the empty stroller. We wanted to check out the caves, but when Tater Tot became hysterical at the pretend cave at the museum, we decided it wouldn't be a good idea.
We would finally get Drew to fall asleep in his stroller, then as soon as we'd go back outside, he'd wake up, so we decided to sit down and get a drink and a snack. The first spot we saw was a wine bar so we went in. Fortunately, it was empty and she said it was fine to bring the boys in. That was the best hour or so of the trip. Grant and I enjoyed a cold beer, while the boys drank kiddy cocktails and ate some snack mix. Drew even gnawed on some bread sticks and smiled. Parker and Tater had mock sword fights with the drink swords. It was wonderful.
People had started to fill in, so we decided we should leave soon. We asked to owner if she could suggest a kid friendly restaurant. She named off a bunch, and then at the very end, she mentioned one that made their own root beer. Tater Tot loves root beer, so we thought that would be perfect, plus it was walking distance. As we left, the owner and a few patrons commented first on how we have our hands full. Parker responded with, "Everyone always says that." LOL! I said that's because everyone was right. Then they said to us how well behaved the boys were. We were so glad that THIS was the place they decided to be well behaved!
When we got there, it was not what we were expecting, but we went in with an open mind. Fortunately, it was almost empty, because Drew began to scream again. Our waitress was in her late teens and smiled when she smiled at us we discovered she had no teeth. I walked around bopping Drew trying to get him to stop crying. When our food arrived, Grant put Drew on his knee, and eventually, he feels asleep. We ate as fast as we could (except Tater who wouldn't eat), and then left. The food had no taste, even with a bunch of salt and pepper on it.
We got to the car and decided to take the direct root home. All we wanted was to get out of there, well, then we got lost. How do you get lost in a small town?!
Finally, we figured out where we were going and we were on our way home. In the car Parker said, "That was a fun day." I'm so glad even with all of the craziness, he still had fun. Tater Tot said he wants to go back again. We all talked about our favorite part of the day, and then the boys feels asleep. Grant and I listened to the Cards/Cubs game.
So, you are all probably wondering, "Will you go back?" Yes, but we will take the direct root, research exactly what to do and where to go, and probably leave the kids with Nana and Papa!
