Minneapolis

So I know everyone thinks we're crazy, but we did another six hour trek to Minneapolis to go to Ikea recently. I'm having a hard time remembering everything we went for now, although we spent a lot of time and way too much money there. The big purchase was a play kitchen for Lauren, and we ended up getting a lot of other little things for her there as well (some stools, a little table and chairs, an easel). Because our house is a) small and b) open floorplan, I insisted that any play kitchen that was going to be in view from the front door, living room, kitchen and dining room not be a pastel or primary color plastic monstrosity. I can be difficult.

So off we went to Minneapolis on a Friday morning for a long weekend. We stayed downtown (at the hotel we last stayed at with Miller, sniff) and although it wasn't exactly a real vacation, it was nice to get out of Kansas City for awhile. Lauren mostly tolerated the fact that we spent six hours in a row in Ikea. There were a few tantrums, but after letting her lay on the floor kicking and screaming in the food line at the cafeteria, instructing patrons behind us to "please just step over her and pretend like she's not there," receiving some knowing, understanding looks and some "you might be the worst parent we've ever seen" looks (those were from non kid-havers, I guarantee you. I'm now the person who, after receiving a look like that, thinks smugly "you have absolutely no clue. See you in five years."), we made it through mostly unscathed. We might have loaded the cart up with sheepskin throws and put her down for a nap in there. You do what you have to do.


Lauren LOVED staying in a hotel. Sean taught her how to jump on the bed (because why not?), which she loved, both before and after she fell off the bed and hit the floor pretty hard (right after the photo above was taken). Yes, we did sing "no more monkeys jumping on the bed" after the fall, but continued to jump on the bed anyway. Because you only live once. Lauren also loved room service, because there was no high chair in the room, so we just all sat on the bed and ate picnic-style.

We did run into some sleeping issues because the crib they sent up to the room was tiny and the mattress was so waterproof and crackly that Lauren just wasn't havin' it. So we rigged up a system where we pushed some chairs up against a loveseat so Lauren couldn't fall off. Which worked for part of the night, but then she ended up in the bed with us the rest of the night. To top it off it was daylight savings time change weekend, so her sleep schedule was thrown into a complete tizzy and we haven't recovered since. Sean and I repeat to each other every day, like a mantra, "at some point in the future there will be a day when we feel rested again." We don't especially care that it might be in 20 years, we just need to know that it will happen again. In the meantime we know enough to appreciate the fact that cuddling and playing with Laur in the wee hours of the morning won't last forever, so we are making the best of it.

No trip to Minneapolis is complete without a trip to the Mall of America. OK, it would be totally complete without a trip to the Mall of America. But we went anyway, because it has an aquarium and we thought Lauren would like it. She did, I think. I think she was more interested in the roller coaster in the middle of the mall, though. And by interested I mean fascinated and frightened.








After the aquarium and lunch at the mall on Sunday we headed back down south with a full car. Thanks to a portable DVD player and the 1970s animated movie "Charlotte's Web" purchased at a Cracker Barrel on the way up (Baby Einstein just wasn't cutting it), the drive up and down went pretty smoothly. Very successful weekend.

Lauren Bikes the Katy Trail!

Okay, so Lauren didn't bike it, Sean did. But we followed by car. And Lauren was wheeled along the trail a couple of times in her stroller, so I'm counting it. The Katy Trail is the largest rails to trails project in the United States (according to Sean, I haven't fact-checked this one) and stretches from Clinton, Missouri to St. Charles, Missouri (around 250 miles). Sean wasn't able to bike the whole trail because of time constraints and the fact that he wanted to spend some time with his family (which we appreciated), but he did a good portion of it, including an 80 mile first day, which is approximately 75 more miles than I would enjoy doing in a single day.

A lot of interesting things happened on the trip. Perhaps most importantly, Lauren developed an aversion to her car seat. I can't blame her. We were in the car for several hours every day. In the picture below, Lauren relaxes in the front seat on the first day when we cared that she had a car seat aversion and felt sorry for her.

We got over that pretty quickly, as it required multiple and lengthy stops. She eventually realized that we weren't going to stop every time she screamed, so she only screamed for about 20 minutes until she passed out. Awesome.

Lauren also learned how to put her feet in her mouth and suck on her big toe. This kid likes options.

In Clinton, Missouri, I went against my better judgment and visited that store I swore years ago I would never visit again. Wal-Mart. I had no choice, people. I was in Clinton, Missouri and needed an ipod charger, and Wal-Mart was the only provider in town. I think this look from Lauren pretty much sums up how I felt waiting in the self-check line for 42 minutes (it was shorter than the other lines by at least half an hour) while a woman in front of me self-checked goldfish. Not the crackers, the live animals. In a bag with water. IN. THE. SELF. CHECK. LINE. It took hours to get that glazed expression off of her face.

Lauren and I made many stops along the way while Sean biked the trail in 90+ degree heat. Here, Lauren relaxes at a coffee shop/antiques store in the Clinton Town Square (rumored to be one of the largest in the US. Haven't checked that fact, either).

Here's Sean at the end of Day One, 80 miles, from Clinton to Boonville, Missouri. I'm told we almost didn't see him again, after a 24 mile stretch where he saw not one other person, no other towns, and thus nowhere to get more water. Ouch.

The second day Sean biked from Rocheport to Jefferson City. Here he is at the end of Day Two, looking a lot less dazed than after Day One. Each town along the trail had one of these little depots with benches and shade, and sometimes bathrooms (and thus water).

We stayed at a little bed and breakfast in Jeff City, where Sean discovered the best bicycle mechanic in the Midwest. In Jeff City. Who knew? To celebrate, I bought a bike at his shop. Luckily we were the only patrons of the B&B because in addition to developing an aversion to car seats and discovering her big toe, Lauren also learned how to have meltdowns. And I mean meltdowns. It was here where Lauren had her first 60 minute straight screaming fit. I'll always remember you, Jeff City. Here, after the screaming fit, everyone was much happier.

Our next stop was Hermann, Missouri. Confession: I don't think it's that cute. Everyone else does. That's my dirty little secret. Our bed and breakfast, however, was amazing.

We had our own separate house (a necessity after the Jeff City Meltdown of '09), called "Das Landhaus," or the farm house.

One of the owners made the most amazing breakfast, so the Alpenhorn Gasthouse excused Hermann's general unimpressiveness in my book. Lauren even blew some spit bubbles in approval.

The breakfast wore Lauren out. Blowing spit bubbles is hard work.

Sean took off from Augusta on the last day of his Tour de Missouri. All in all a wonderful vacation, even considering the fact that we stayed in a different hotel every night and had to unpack and repack the car about ten times throughout the trip. We have plans to do it together sometime soon. And by "it" I mean about 20 miles of the Katy Trail. I'm not stupid.