The R & S Mess: Thanksgiving

This is how it started... After Evan was born Grandma Cindy begged us to go to Aunt Tracy's house in St. Louis for Thanksgiving this year. Everyone was going to be there, Aunt Janel (Uncle Roger couldn't make it...), Brinley, Titus, Aunt Tracy, Uncle John, Gram, Gramps, and Grandma and Grandpa. It was a long way out so, just like when we were kids, the answer was "we'll see". It wasn't because we didn't want to go, it was because well... we couldn't afford it. (Being a Stay-at-Home-Mommy has its downfalls!) But Grandma was NOT taking "No" for an answer. So, Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for helping us out so we could spend some much needed family time together!

I was SOOO excited to go... but... 13 HOURS in a car with a 5 MONTH OLD?! (and we took King too!!) Yikes! I wasn't too nervous about King, he loves car rides! But, I know how much Evan HATES his car seat, so I was super nervous. I packed a couple days ahead of time. I made sure we had everything except the kitchen sink.

Breast pump, check.
Clothes, check.
Jammies, check.
Socks, check.
Jacket, check.
Hats, check.
Shoes, check.
Pack 'n Play, check.
Blankets, check.
Stroller, check.
Car seat, check.
Diapers and wipes, check.
I even made sure to take some of his favorite toys away a week ahead of time, so he would be excited about them for our trip. CHECK!

Even having all of this packed and ready to go, I was still dreading the 13 hour drive. I pictured in my head Evan screaming at the top of his lungs, balling his eyes out, stopping every hour to nurse... I was ready (well... as ready as I could be) for the worst!

Since we know how Evan looovvveess his car seat... NOT! We decided to head out at 3am to, hopefully, have him sleep through most of the ride. So, we were up at 3am and ready to go. The last thing to go into the car... Evan! Luckily, he slept through the transition to his car seat! :)

And to my surprise, he didn't wake up until about 6:30am! So we stopped to get gas, feed the baby, let King pee and get out and stretch. To my surprise, AGAIN, Evan fell asleep. He slept most of the way to Tracy's with very little crying! YAY!!

We made perfect timing and arrived at Tracy and John's at about 4:30pm. Not too shabby for driving with an infant and a dog.

During our 6 day stay, we had so much fun! Thanksgiving dinner was awesome, we went swimming at Gram and Gramps hotel pool, made super delicious cinnamon rolls (Thanks Pioneer Woman), played at the City Museum (It is a MUST if you are in St. Louis!), and loved on the babies! But, I have to say, Ryan and I were pretty surprised that we spent 6 days with Gram... and NO CARDS! (If you know Gram, that is a HUGE shocker! She is a card playin' fool.)

Okay okay okay... I have to admit it... I am a terrible mommy. I didn't take A SINGLE picture on our camera. So... Thank you Aunt Tracy for sending me some pictures of our AWESOME Thanksgiving!

(They are not in any sort of order)