Saint Lou-ee Blues

In an effort to be a good mommy I agreed to go with my two kids, and with two other moms and their kids this week for a Spring Break trip to St. Louis. We went on a similar trip last year and had a great time going to the zoo, the science center, butterfly house, parks, etc. This year I was especially excited because I was going to get to spend an extra day over what we did last year...I had my calendar cleaned off so I could really enjoy it.

We got up there midday Tues., and went to the Arch...our first stop. Our friends had arrived earlier and decided to go to the top of the arch, which I opted out of for me and my two kids because I figured we might have some sort of freak out in the little elevator cars halfway up. I've been there, done that, and I'm not in any huge hurry to go back to the top of the arch, what with Al Kida running loose and all. And on top of that it was a really windy day, and I've been UP there on really windy days and didn't appreciate the sway one bit.

So we get there, and it is cold and windy which makes running around underneath the Arch not such a great option, unfortunately since that is one of our favorite things to do. There is a weird karma underneath the arch that affects me, and definitely affects my kids, and it can be great fun on a nice day. We did the museum, with the freaky life-like Westward Expansion robots, and looked extensively through the museum shop while we waited an hour for our friends to come back from the top. They finally arrived and instead of having a pleasant picnic on the Arch grounds, we all huddled in the parking garage eating sandwiches from the backs of our cars.

Then we went to the City Museum...I was excited about this because I've been wanting to take the kids there, but it's never been the right time. Apparently Tues. afternoon wasn't the right time either. Very well-meaning man working there told us to not waste our money on admission for just two hours. Said come back on Wed....spend all day there. We agreed and headed to our hotel. Went out to eat, went swimming, went to bed, ready for Wed. adventures.

Two hours later, my second child was awake and throwing up all over everything in the room. This went on allllllllll night. By morning he was exhausted and dry heaving, and I was just exhausted from being up all night, and his sister was READY TO GO HAVE FUN. Our friends went on to the museum, and we stayed behind, still thinking this might be a brief bug of some sort. We ended up staying in the hotel all day, watching crap t.v. and sleeping and not having any fun. We went swimming again last night, after going out to eat (sick boy ate a few fries and that was all) then decided to go to the Magic House today....surely he would be better. No, he wasn't. Nausea is gone, but he is really tired and not up to doing anything close to the Magic House. SOooooo....we piled in the car and headed home. Child no. 1 is very upset, and rightly so, about her ruined spring break, and I'm tired of listening to complaining and whining.

So folks, basically I just dropped a couple of hundred dollars to stay in a nice hotel room in St. Louis with one sick child, and one impatient child for two days.

Let's just say I'm glad to be home.