Our wild weekend

We were very excited because we were supposed to meet my sister from Boston, her husband and their two kids in St. Louis this past weekend. After work on Friday, I rushed to pick up Emma from school and hit the road for the four hour-plus trip. About 10 miles out of town, our car's electrical system suddenly failed! That means no radio or DVD, no opening the windows and locks and, most critically, no air conditioning. I was in a total panic. I pulled over and restarted the car and the system came back on, but kept fritzing out. I knew there was no way we could go so I turned around and headed back home.

Emma started crying and wailing "But I want to see my cousins." And I did too, of course. So on the way back home, I called the car rental place near my house (unfortunately, I have them on speed dial.) They had one car left. So we raced over there, drove our car home, with the car rental guy right behind us. Dumped all of our stuff into the rental car and took off again for St. Louis. The trip was fairly uneventful until we hit a blinding rain storm about 30 minutes from our hotel. I mean, a traveling-20-miles-an-hour-on-the-interstate rain storm. And, of course, with a rental car, it was fun to try to figure out how to work the windshield wipers and all that stuff in a torrential downpour. It was past 9 pm when we finally got to the hotel...we were so happy to get there!

After a good night's rest, we revved up for a day of fun with Emma's cousins. Since it was 100 degrees over the weekend in St. L, we decided to forego the zoo and other outdoor activities. We spent a good part of the day at the Science Center, which the kids loved. Here are D.J., Emma and Brennan goofing around...


The next morning, we checked out of the hotel and decided to brave the hot and humid conditions and go to Grant's Farm, which is always fun. Emma was excited because she got to pet one of the Clydesdale horses...


I think what excited Emma more than anything was eating her first snow cone!


Anyway, after a long morning at Grant's Farm, we had to head back home. We hadn't gotten very far at all when Emma started wailing that she didn't have her khaki (blanket). I pulled the car over and tore through the car looking for it. I just KNEW I had put it in the car when I packed up everything that morning. By now, Emma was crying and I was pretty close. I'm sure all of you with kids have had that moment of panic when your child's most prized blanket/stuffed animal, etc. goes missing. So I called the hotel and asked them if they had found a child's blanket in our room. After an interminable wait, the girl gets back on the line and tells me housekeeping had the blanket and they would hold it for us. So I turned back to St. Louis to get the blanket. I don't know who was more relieved...me or Emma!

So we're back after a nice weekend, despite all the little bumps. Now I'm dealing with car repairs and rental cars, school and work...back to reality!