Road Trip Continued

It's been a few days since I have been able to get on here. I will continue my ranting on the road trip we took.

The second day was pretty un-eventful. Just driving, and more driving. We got to the hotel and just went to bed. It was great fun. :)

The next day, Tuesday, we stayed around the hotel for the morning. Dad and mom went to Steph's parents house to help unpack and stuff. I did laundry. In the afternoon, we all went over to Steph's parent house and the kids went swimming for awhile before dinner. Dessa had another "almost drowning" experience, so she didn't stay in long. She thinks that if her head goes under, she "almost drowns". She is really afraid of the water. Kind of like me. I need to do something about that.

Ty and Annee had a lot of fun. Steve and JoAnn had a lot of floaty things for them to play with. Annee loved using the snorkel. They had a lot of fun.

Thunderstorms sprang up that night. It was really bad. A tornado warning popped up while the kids and I were watching tv. It completely freaked me out. It listed probably a dozen counties in IL and MO that had the possibility of a tornado. We were in Washington County and Josh and Steph were in Clayton County. They were both listed.

I was frantic. I went down and asked the clerk what we would do if a tornado touched down. He said he wasn't sure, but thought the laundry area would be the best place. !?!? How were dozens of people supposed to fit in a small little room like that!? He wasn't much help. He looked like he was about to bust out laughing though. I must have been hilarious to him, making a big deal out of a warning like that.

I went to mom and dad's room and talked to them about it. They didn't seem too concerned, just said we'll watch and see. For some reason, I was in a complete panic about it though. I did not sleep at all. It didn't help that the thunder was deafening at times and the lightening striking pretty close from what it looked like. The wind and the rain were nuts too. The rain came down so hard and fast that within minutes, the parking lot was a swimming pool. I saw a truck in the parking lot that I thought was mom and dad's, and it had some sort of sign or something sticking out of the back. I thought the wind had put it there. (I found out in the morning, it was not dad's truck, and it was a real estate sign that was supposed to be there. Silly me.)

Needless to say, nothing major happened. There was a tornado that hit a small town in northern MO, but nothing close to us. I guess those storms are common there. I couldn't handle it. There is no way I could live in that area and have warnings like that going off all the time. I would be a basket case.

The next day, Wednesday, we had planned on going to the zoo early in the morning. It was free to get into the petting zoo if you got there before 9. However, the storm was lingering, and I postponed us all from going. (I'm not sure if everyone else felt the same way, but I declared I didn't want to go in the rain.)

It started to clear up, so we went later in the morning. It was still cloudy and we had a few tiny sprinkles, but nothing major. It was very humid though. I didn't like that either. It felt extremely hot because of the humidity.

The St Louis Zoo is great. Because the land was donated, and the donating family requested it, there is no charge to get in. That is so unreal to me. Of course, the train or the food and stuff more than make up for it. I just didn't bring my purse, so the kids kept begging for stuff and I could honestly tell them I had no money. HeHeHe.

The kids hate zoos. They griped the whole time. It was frustrating. We wanted to see the new baby's, but they complained the whole time. I got a few good pictures in though. We left before too long, but had a good time taking pictures at this park where they had giant turtle sculptures. The kids liked climbing on those and it made for a good photo op.

We had lunch at a Steak n Shake on the way home. Stephanie had always talked about how good it was, and she was right. I had a combo that had 3 little burgers with different toppings. It was really good. The kids all had shakes and it was fun.

Thursday, we headed out for WI. It was a lot of driving, again. Nothing of note springs to mind to talk about, so I'll skip to Friday.

Friday was the memorial for aunt Ruth. We went to the mortuary/graveyard to get things set up. We were there really early, so we wandered the graveyard a bit. We found Ruth's headstone, where they had a pedestal set up for her remains. She is right next to mom's dad, Melvin. He passed away when mom was 11. Next to him is a great aunt and uncle, so there are 3 graves in a row that belong to the family.

Steph and I were talking and realized we didn't have any flowers for Ruth. That just didn't seem right, so we had to scramble to get some. Luckily, the funeral home had some silk flowers, so we got some for Ruth and some for grandpa. I think it surprised mom that we did that, but we felt it was the right thing to do. It was nice.

Meeting mom's family was interesting. They are definitely not the loud, rowdy, huggy group that we are. It was awkward because I wanted to hug grandma and Aunt Bonnie, but they gave no response. They seemed very uncomfortable with it. (Stephanie told me it was like hugging a chair, and she was right.) I did it anyway though, because that is just who I am.

It was really nice to finally meet mom's family. The only one not there was her little brother Richard. He lives in TX and has some health problems, so he couldn't travel. Rita came in from VA, Steven came in, I'm not sure where he is from, PA I think, and then there was Linda from here in Salt Lake. Then of course, grandma, Bonnie, and Robert, along with Robert's wife Debbie, and their kids, Ben and for the life of me, I can't remember the other boy's name. who all live there in Fond du Lac.

The service was short and sweet. It was neat to hear memories of aunt Ruth. Rita told of a time when Ruth visited them in VA and they got her to go clamming. That is something I have never thought of Ruth doing. Josh remembered Christmas with Ruth and Linda and putting up their tree. I think he mentioned the parade, or mom did, but it was mentioned how we always went to the parade with Ruth and Linda when we were growing up. Most of them hadn't seen her in a lot of years, I think Steven mentioned it had been over 30 years for him. That seems really strange for me, as most of the Weights live right here close. At least close enough to see often. But I can see that we are going to start spreading out a little, starting with Josh and Steph.

Anyway, I digress. It was a neat little gathering to remember Ruth. We all joined up at Robert and Debbie's afterwards. Debbie is a great hostess. Her house is amazing! It is old and she has a lot of antiques decorating it, so it almost feels like you have stepped back in time, with modern conveniences such as indoor plumbing. :) She is a great cook and made some amazing meals for us while we were there. The baked spaghetti was really good. I got the recipe from her because the kids really liked it to.

Dad and Mom had made a DVD to remember Ruth. We all sat in Rob and Debbie's living room to watch it. There were a lot of pictures that the family hadn't seen in years, some they had never seen. It was great to hear them all talk about the memories it invoked. They were all happy to have a copy of it.

Mom wanted a 4 generation picture, so we got one with grandma, mom, myself, and Annee. Then a picture bomb went off, and we had to get pictures of everyone in every combination. It was fun.

Steph and Josh had to leave Friday evening, as Steph had a test/class early the next morning. It was hard, knowing that would be the last time we saw them for a long time. It was really good to be able to spend that week with them. It was something I will cherish forever.

On Saturday, Debbie took mom and me "rummaging". That is what they call yard sales in that area. She has gotten a good portion of her home decorations from rummage sales, so she wanted to take us. I found some cute clothes for Annee and a few things for Dessa. I felt bad because I didn't find anything for Ty, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

Before we went rummaging, Debbie took us to a plant sale. (Debbie is a great gardener and her yard is absolutely beautiful.) I had never seen anything like this sale. There were all sorts of plants spread out at the best prices I have ever seen. I of course kill everything I touch, so I didn't get anything, but if we had that here, I might think about doing some flowers for the apartment. It was cool. I need to look into whether or not there is anything like that here.

After rummaging, we met up with the rest of the family and went "sightseeing". We started at Kris Kringle's, a Christmas store where mom got our personalized ornaments. She needed a new one, to add Wil and anyone else who might come along. I got one for my little family also, with a space for if I ever get remarried. Dessa got a little snow globe. The place was really neat.

We did lunch after that. I can not remember the name of the place, but dad had raved about it during the whole trip, so we had to go there. While were placing our orders, a very loud siren went off. It was for warning of a tornado. Mom told us that they test it every Saturday at noon, so people will know what it sounds like if it really went off. I thought about what would happen if there was a tornado on a Saturday at noon, and people just ignored the siren? Hopefully that never happens.

After lunch, we went to a candy store and cheese factory in a town a few miles away. The candy store was really neat. They had molded chocolate in every shape imaginable. I got some for the kids' teachers, some for Aaron and family, and some for me. I had told the kids they could have $10 each to spend any way they wanted, so Annee stocked up on chocolate, Ty got $10 worth of gum, and Dessa spent the rest of her money there too. We were there for a long time. They had old candy that you can't find anywhere. Very cool.

The cheese factory was...stinky. But I got some really good cheddar and a sausage log. Yum. Pure, fresh, Wisconsin cheese.

After the cheese factory, they took us to a light house by a giant lake in Fond du Lac. I can't remember the name of the lake now either. It had gotten really cold though. The wind was frigid and we couldn't stay there long. I have some really neat pictures of it though.

When we were done at the lighthouse, we went to Rob and Deb's again. I have to say, the kids got along very well. They had a lot of fun playing with Ben. They had Nerf gun fights that got rowdy, but they were having so much fun, it was hard to stop them. I'm really glad the cousins liked each other so much. We will definitely have to visit them as often as possible.

We left the next morning (Sunday) to head home. Lots more driving. LOTS of it. By this time, the novelty had worn off for the kids, (actually, it wore off around Friday,) and it was tense a lot. I was definitely ready for the trip to be over on Monday when we got home. With all that driving, it felt like we needed a vacation after the vacation. I was exhausted for the next few days.

Over all, it was a fantastic trip. I am so glad we had the opportunity to go. It is something I will never forget.