Last week we had the opportunity to take the girls and go out to Illinois and visit all of the Jake's family! And it was so. much. fun. We were not ready to come back...and that's a big deal for me to say. It's no secret that my relationship with Jake's mom has always been....umm rocky? But we honestly had so much fun, and everyone got along (!) to boot. We definitely could have stayed another day or two and been more than okay with it. The girls had a blast being with their cousin and aunt and uncle and grandma and grandpa. And meeting more grandma's and aunts! And of course they were spoiled rotten! (So were Jake and I) Which they love every minute of. We are so lucky to have such wonderful family!!
We started off our day very early. At 2:30 AM to be exact. Which was an accident. Turns out Jake had forgotten to fix our clock in our bedroom with Daylight Savings. So when Macie woke up and the clock said 3:36 we started scrambling to get ready wondering why in the world neither of our alarms went off! But once we were up and going and looked at the clock in the kitchen we realized it was only 2:30! By then there was no point in going back to bed. But it ended up being good because we ended up only leaving about 10 minutes before we had to leave without missing our flight. Turns out we needed the extra hour. I was surprised how well both of the girls did with getting up so early. I figured we'd peel them out of bed and they'd sleep the whole way. But once we woke Emery up at 3:30 she was up and ready to go. She stayed awake the whole drive and everything. As you can see above Macie was pretty happy as well.
We got to the airport and got checked in, which took forever. And contrary to what the American Airlines friendly very unhelpful people tell you over the phone...you actually CANNOT gate check your double stroller...yeah I was NOT happy. So here we are with 3 carry ons, 3 personal items (of course Emery refused to wear her back pack), and 2 kids. With only 4 hands. We got through security in a breeze, and got to our gate about 10 minutes before boarding. Enter reason #2 I won't fly with American again. They start boarding passengers with just one bag that fits under the seat in front of you. Well every other time we have gone to Illinois we fly Frontier Airlines, and every time when they board those people, they always board people with kids as well. Therefore allowing those with kids to get on, get settled, etc...before the chaos of everyone else trying to get on and find a place for their bag happens. So we go up to ask if we can board with them and they say NO! They said that we had to wait and board with our boarding group...which was group 4. The very last people on the plane. And to make matters worse, right at this exact moment Emery decides she can't stay awake for another second and falls asleep...So I am holding Emery, Jake is holding Macie. He a backpack and a suitcase. I also have the diaper bag (which is NOT light with everything I had packed in it), another back pack and a suitcase. I have no idea how we made it on there other than with the help of the other friendly passengers. One lady took two of our carry ons and took care of them otherwise I probably would have turned around and gone home. The flight attendant was SOOO rude to us, and getting mad at us for bringing carry ons and blah blah blah. By the time we got sat down I was more than frazzled. Of course Emery woke up as soon as we sat down as well. But she was really good! From there on out things got a little better. Both of the girls were seriously so good on both flights. Macie slept on both flights and Emery watched Toy Story on one and slept on the other. We were sooooo glad!
The only way we could get around (in a reasonable amount of time) in Dallas. I was a little jealous of the ride.
We were so relieved to finally get there, and get our stroller back! And an extra set of hands to help us out as Josh picked us up at the airport. We were so glad. We spent the rest of the night just catching up and lounging around the house. Macie met her (only) 1st cousin Madelyn and Madelyn got to hold her a little bit. It was nice. We had a little scare that night when Emery threw up...I was so worried we were going to be dealing with a flu or something the whole trip. But turns out it was just a one and done deal. I think she had just eaten too many apples...haha. I took a bunch of apple slices and she had eaten at least half the bag!
Thursday morning we got up and went to the St. Louis Zoo. Jake and I and Jake's mom were the only ones that got up and went at the time it opened. Every one else was lazy...haha. Just kidding. Madelyn had kept them up the night before I guess so they wanted more sleep. But we had fun checking out the bears. And then we headed to the Kids section of the zoo. That is why we wanted to go right when it opened. The zoo is free to go to, but the kids section is $4 except for the first hour of the day it is free! So we wanted to make sure to be there for that. And I'm really glad that we did. It was easily the coolest part of the zoo for Emery. Very hands on. She loved it.
This is a Tree Kangaroo. Which is probably my very favorite word that Emery says. She calls them a "Chain-ga-roo".
So cute.
After the kids section we went to the elephants, the hippos, and a bunch of other stuff. At about noon Kerry, Josh, Chantel, and Madelyn joined us.
Emery had so much fun playing with her cousin. They are just 2 weeks apart so it is really fun for them. This is them walking to go see the monkey's!
After a while at the zoo we were starving! So we headed to one of Jake and I's favorite places to eat out there (even though they have them in Utah too....) Cheesecake Factory! After a very yummy lunch we shopped and shopped and shopped and the massive Galleria mall. It was a super long tiring day, but it was so much fun! People were coming to visit the next 2 days so we really wanted to get as much in as possible on this day, because there really wasn't another day that we could just go do what we wanted!
I think that's enough pictures for one day...and frankly that took all the time I have to devote to blogging today...! So part 2 coming tomorrow!
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