Missouri Visit Recap

Yes we have made it home from our travels and are thoroughly exhausted, but trying to ralley for tomorrow's fourth of july celebrations. We were road warriors on our way to SEMO, with a pretty uneventful trip. We had lots of snacks and both boys had a DVD player this time which worked very well. Rowan watched all kinds of Little Einsteins and thoroughly enjoyed himself. Actually we all got to listen to it since Rowan has yet to master the art of using headphones. Don't worry his brother has it completely figured out. Much to our detriment. 

 

 

We had a good visit with all of Zach's family. I have missed my niece and nephews desperately. They are all growing up to quickly, but were all lovely to their old Aunt Audra. Adeline of course was the most chatty. I love that girl, she is so sweet, so loving, and was beyond wonderful with Zane and Little Rowan. Blaine is a big baseball star now, spending all of Saturday at a baseball tournament on the traveling team. When he wasn't at a real game there was a baseball game going on in the front lawn. Zane joined in a little bit, but was mostly more interested in exploring Papa's barn, looking for snakes, going to the woods, playing with tad poles, picking blackberries, and playing with Shy the dog. Clay is the oldest as was so kind to both of my boys. He carried Rowan around or brought him back to us when he was crying. What a great kid!

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday while the big boys were at the ball games Zane and Adeline had a blast together. Playing in the sprinklers, playing with the water rocket, and Zane's favorite activity by far, the rope swing, which he is surprisingly very good at. While on yet another snake hunt we found some tad poles, which is always a blast. Zane might have squished his to death, but that's part of it. Of course there were tractors to be ridden on, rocks to be dug in, and all sorts of farm fun! I love all these pictures of the kids swinging. The boys arrived later and joined in the fun. Zane adores his cousins and loved playing with them while we were there. 

 

Rowan on the other hand had a bit of difficult time. When we arrived at Grammi and Papa's we quickly learned that little Rowan is terrified of dogs. He hasn't had much exposure to dog, if any, so this isn't terribly surprising. Then there were lots of new faces, all wanting to love on him, that were a little overwhelming. Needless to say he stayed very close to Zach and I the entire time. Actually he would have preferred to be touching one of us at all times. While we weren't around he did let, I think, everyone hold him at some point. Adeline and Clay might have been his favorites though!!  He also thought we should hang out for at least three hours during every night. Yes, this was after giving him benadryl, which didn't help at all. Zach got his wish with Rowan, he is a daddy's boy and prefers to be with daddy during the night as well. Monday morning Zane woke up super early and on our way to the bathroom we found Daddy and Rowan, both laying on the floor of basement living room. I have no idea how that played out or how the ended up in that position but it pretty much summed up Rowan's sleeping struggles. Good thing that I had walked to the bathroom with Zach because he would have completely stepped right on Rowan on his way there. 

 

 This rocking chair and the rubber dice were pretty big hits though!

 Adeline with Rowan reminds me of how I was with my cousin Nick when he was little. I think I am six years older than him, just like these two. I remember thinking he was such a cute little tan, white haired baby and that I was so much older than he was. I carried him around just like this, but now he is much big than me and we are somehow the same age!

 And of course no visit would be complete without the cousins photo, which I think went rather well this year. Added bonus, after the cousin photo shoot I caught my nephews by surprise and captured some wonderful pictures of them as well. 

This is my favorite of the probably seventy five I took. How cute is Adeline kissing Ro??

 Last year Papa wasn't in the picture for some reason. That's not ok. I don't think I was there that visit, so I fixed that this year.

 Blaine at 9 years old!

 Little Levi, just turned five!

 And my oldest nephew Clay, who turned eleven in May and still likes talking to me! Hooray!!

Our drive home was pretty interesting as well. Zach and I were beyond exhausted, but neither one of us could sleep because Rowan or Zane constantly needed something from us. We made it to Joplin for lunch and thought we were making good time. We even found a white mac-n-roni store where we could eat lunch. Too bad Zane quickly informed me that he didn't like white mac and cheese anymore because it "made his brain hurt." I spent most of lunch arguing with the contacts people, again. So things were headed down hill fast. Between Panera and the gas station Rowan threw up everything he had just eaten, think horror show. I cleaned up Rowan, getting myself covered in vomit in the process. While I was changing clothes somehow Rowan locked himself, his brother, both our cellphones, and both sets of keys in the car, which was not running, so no AC was on. Zach and I then spent the next five minutes yelling at our four year old, trying to convince him to take his headphones off and stop watching Aladin long enough to get out of his carseat and unlock his door. He was not understanding that this was a bit of an emergency. Meanwhile Rowan walked all around, across the two front seats, having the time of his life. He was beat red and sweating, but having a good old time!!! The rest of the trip our car reaked of vomit and Zach and I would just occasionally say "what the hell happened?" I'm surprised we made it home without our cars wheels literally falling off.

As soon as we got home it was unpacking, laundry, and trying to pull our house together since I had to work the next three days. That wasn't really scheduled well, but we made it work. Zane was very weepy and sad that night, crying about how much he misses his Grammi and Papa. He is such a loving little guy and I hate that we can't live close to both families. Hopefully Grammi and Papa can come visit us soon. Zane is dying to see them again already!!!!