This past July, we arranged a family trip to Missouri and Alabama. Usually, we try and line up with a holiday to maximize our vacation. This time though, we aligned our trip with Sean’s high school reunion. I guess I need to go to extra Sean reunions since I’ve never gone to mine (if we even have one – I’m not sure I’ve ever been invited to one).

Are we there yet?

To save some money, we decided to drive this year. And since we had avoided so much expense on plane tickets and rental cars, we reasoned that the purchase of a second iPad so both kids could be entertained during something like 35 hours of car travel was well within budget. (Spoiler – the iPads were worth their weight on goooooold.)

I don’t recall anything eventful about our drive to Missouri. We arrived late with kids that were wired for sound and ready to play after their lengthy travel confinement. Grammy and Grandpa’s house has a whole room full of toys and a basement full of toys to boot, so the kids were able to run amok for a little while.

Collecting “sea shells”

The next day the kids’ cousins, aunts, and uncles all came over. We traveled by tractor-drawn wagon to a nearby creek to play for a while. The kids loved it! Maya in particular was all in once she discovered there were shells to collect. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen shells this large in a Missouri creek before, or even along the Mississippi. Maybe I just wasn’t looking hard enough.

Maya and Grandpa practicing their surprised faces

My parents had an adventure planned for us the next day. We all drove out toward Carbondale to see the Dungeons and Dragons Park. Maya and Ian weren’t super excited for another long car ride, but they loved the park. The grounds were well kept and there were sculptures all over the place. There was a giant dragon to climb on and a really great maze-like castle to get lost in. The kids ran and rand and ran. The adults sweated and sweated and sweated.

Sitting with Grammy

After that, we all drove over to Giant City State Park, and after a quick lunch, enjoyed a genuine hike in the wilderness. As I recall, Ian was wearing out by this point and needed a lot of carrying and piggy-backing. At the end of our hike, the kids played on a little playground for a while and the grown ups had a little rest before the long drive home.

Maya and Ian with Great Grandma. And no, they weren’t at their most cooperative.

Our last day in Missouri was for relaxing and visiting. We stopped in and saw Great Grandma Schmidt for a while in the morning. We saw a friend of mine from grade school and her daughter for a while in the afternoon. But mostly, we lolled around the house and the kids played.

The next day, we drove to Alabama. Before we left though, we had to deal with pants. Ian made it clear that he was particularly fond of a very cute pair of pajama pants he had found in the toy room closet a day or two before. They were purple with pink bows on them and the material was very soft. He called them his fancy pants. He had worn them most of the day before, to sleep that night, and did NOT want to return them the next day. Luckily, Grammy let him keep them. I can probably count on one hand the number of times he HASN’T slept in those pants since we left Missouri, and it’s been months now. He loves, loves, loves them.

Sliding with Pop (note the fanciness of Ian’s pants)

After what felt like a very short drive (7-8 hours instead of 13-14 for the trip from TX to MO), we arrived in Alabama with two kids ready to rock and roll. Lolli and Pop were prepared for that though and had already made plans to take us to Homewood Park and let Maya and Ian run out some energy. After a good run through the park, we went over to Magic City Sweet Ice for gelato.

Maya swinging with Lolli

A while back, Pop had mentioned to Maya that we might be able to take a canoe out on the lake during our visit. Little did he know that Maya, with her Moana fetish would latch onto that and keep it in mind no matter how hot it got. When we talked about our trip to see Lolli and Pop, Maya would immediately grin and remind us that they were taking her out in a canoe. Of course, they delivered. And that is how we found ourselves on a blistering hot day out at Oak Mountain State Park sitting like sweaty ducks out on the lake.

They are READY

Maya had a fine old time padding her canoe with Sean and Pop’s help. Lolli and Ian and I stuck with a more stable paddle boat. Ian kept hanging onto Lolli and I to keep us from falling out – ha! I think he enjoyed it, but it really was very hot, and bless him, he’s just a little more hesitant about things than his sister.

Making music with Lolli

The next day, we took Maya and Ian to the McWane Center. This was not their first time, but they do love it there. It’s a children’s museum / science center, and I’m not sure we’ve seen half of it. This time, one of the big draws was a giant piano they got to play on. Maya spent quite a while with Pop working on an animation project.

Maya and Pop

Sean and I can no longer remember which evening it happened, but we also went to the wonderful Homewood Pool and played for a while. Maya and Ian both love the pool and Lolli and Pop seem to love taking them. The kids hung out with their grandparents a lot at the pool, so Sean and I often found ourselves wandering around just to check in on them now and then. At one point, I walked over to the kid pool / splash pad area to see Maya midway through her run around-climb-slide circuit. I asked her how she was doing, and in a breathless voice she said, “Level 5 is hard!” and continued on her way. Perplexed, I watched for a while. Sure enough, Maya had devised a variety of ways to go down the slide, and each time she achieved one, she’d have to level up and do sometime different. I don’t remember any more what level 5 entailed, but apparently, it was tricky.

On our last full day in Alabama, we again mostly relaxed and got things ready for the looooong drive home. Sean and I went out to his reunion and Maya and Ian hung out with Lolli and Pop.

The drive home was again very long. I have to say though, having an iPad for each kid and a handful of activities made our drive more tolerable. The kids actually dealt with it really well. One thing we did learn is that they’re still really too little to eat in the car. Stopping to eat adds SOOOO much time to our trip, but it’s still imperative for now. All in all, the driving was ok, though we really (REALLY) don’t feel like repeating it any time soon. That said, I feel like this has opened the door for some longer road trips, so maybe we can work some of that in over the next year.