Little Steverino and I just took a trip 1,300 miles from home. I would venture to say it was quite a success! Honestly, I was pretty nervous to:

a) take him on the plane for the first time

b) maintain my pumping schedule

c) drive 4 hours in the car with him

d) have him meet his grandpa, great grandpa, second cousins, great aunts & uncles, etc.

e) do all of this without my husband

Thank goodness for sister and mom! They drove from Utah and we all flew out of LAX together. Our flight to St. Louis was delayed 3 hours (!) but to my pleasant surprise the kids were great during that time with all the waiting around. In fact, they were pretty great the whole trip. My nephew occasionally has a hard time listening – keep in mind, he is 3 – and Stevie had a couple meltdowns in the car. But otherwise, everything was exceptional. Like, no joke. We got some good kiddos on our hands.

When we arrived in St. Louis at 2am (!) our hotel room wasn’t ready with the roll-away bed and crib we had requested, so they comped us a 2nd room for free. That was a relief because it gave us so much extra space to spread out. A small hotel room with 3 adults, let alone 2 kids, starts to feel small pretty quick. We slept as much as we could that night and after a little lunch at Chic-Fil-A, we headed over to the St. Louis LDS Temple to see my newly married cousin and his bride walk out. It was quite the reunion since pretty much everyone was there and it was splendid to see everyone. My cousin Amy did the wedding photos – check out her website, she is really fantastic. After the official temple pics, we headed over to a big family dinner where they had a slide show and we honored the bride & groom. We caught a swim at the hotel later that night, and I think we officially wore the kids out. Not to mention ourselves. Sleep couldn’t come soon enough!

The next day, we tried to leave the hotel at a reasonable hour to do some sight-seeing before we headed southwest to Joplin. We grabbed breakfast at the cutest bakery called My Daddy’s Cheesecake and then headed straight for the St. Louis Zoo to ride the train. It’s safe to say my nephew is OBSESSED with trains, so we couldn’t resist taking him there. One cool thing about the StLZ is that you just pay for parking and the Zoo itself is free. The train cost $5 too, but at least there was no admission fee. More zoos should be like that. After a nice little ride around the area, we traveled over the see the Gateway Arch. My husband and I stopped there when we did our Midwest Roadtrip in 2009, and it was just as cool to see it the second time. Its just an amazing structure. We couldn’t ride to the top because the line was extremely long, but we walked around the museum and tried to stay out of the heat whenever possible. I WILL do that one of these days though!

After our quick tour of St. Louis, we started the trek down to Joplin for my cousin’s wedding reception. Stevie had a few tragic fits along the way, and my mom was just a huge help tending to him while my sis and I navigated the roads. We were running so late to the reception that a couple people had to change in the car (that in itself was a comedy act) but we made it and enjoyed our evening. I only wish I’d had more time to stop and take some photos of the tornado damage. I got a few shots from the car, but it was sobering to see up close and personal…

The following day was Sunday and we spent it with the family. We all got together for a big dinner to celebrate my Grandpa’s 94th Birthday, and it was a blast. Lots of laughs and photo opps. We watched old family videos of us as kids so that was hilarious and embarrassing. It was just a great day overall. My brother and SIL also cashed in on their Christmas gift and had me do a family photo session for them. Besides the heat and humidity, it went perfectly. The scenery by my aunt’s house was so pretty! Such a fun, fun day. That night, we had to drive back to St. Louis to make sure we were there plenty early to catch our flight home. All of that went fine – except for the part when we forgot to fill up the rental car with gas!! Who does that?? It cost us a small fortune, but we made it home safe and sound.

I’m so glad we all went. Some great memories were made and it was good practice for traveling with a little one. Time to plan the next trip!

P.S. If you’ve never pumped breast milk while in the back of a moving car or in the lavatory of a plane? Well, you just haven’t lived.