With “Holiday Road” from the Vacation movies playing in our heads, we set out last Wednesday for our first major vacation with the kids.  The plan was to drive halfway across the country to visit Candy’s extended family in Kansas City, MO, including her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Many may have thought us nuts for driving over 1000 miles (each way) with two 11-month-old babies, but happily, the babies were as easy-going and well-behaved as ever.  Characteristically, Candy had mapped out the entire trip in extreme detail, down to the hour and exits for all of our rest stops.  Uncharacterisically, we managed to stay on or ahead of schedule the entire trip!

We set out from home by 8am last Wednesday (July 22) and were on our way after a quick stop at the ‘Bou-Thru.  Our first scheduled stop was for lunch off of I-68 in Morgantown, WV, and we arrived ahead of schedule.  Next we headed up through Pennsylvania to pick up I-70 south of Pittsburgh, then headed west on I-70 through Wheeling, WV and into Ohio.  We stopped for a mid-afternoon snack near Cambridge, OH, then pressed on through Columbus to our overnight destination, just outside of Dayton.  On our second day, we crossed Indiana and Illinois (stopping for lunch outside Terre Haute, IN) and arrived in Saint Louis around 1:00pm CDT.  After checking into the hotel and feeding the kids their afternoon snack, we headed over to the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial and the famous Gateway Arch.  We went up to the top of the arch to check out the view, and were struck by the irony of the claustrophobic conditions of our nation’s monument to Manifest Destiny.

On Friday morning we headed out from Saint Louis and drove across Missouri to Kansas City, arriving at Candy’s cousins Tim & Michelle’s house in mid-afternoon, after a stop for lunch and a carousel ride at the Columbia Mall.  Riley and Veronica were very excited to meet their 2-year-old cousin Jacob and see Great-Grandma Pauline, Great-Grandpa Richard, and the rest of the KC relatives.  Candy’s dad also met us out there for the weekend.  On Saturday we visited the Truman Presidential Library and walked around Independence, stopping for lunch at the soda fountain where President Truman worked as a young man.  We visited Grandma and Grandpa’s place in the afternoon, and that evening was Jacob’s 2nd birthday party.

On Sunday, Grandma had rented the community room at their apartment complex, so there was a party in honor of our visit with all of Candy’s other aunts and uncles and cousins, all of whom were very pleased to meet the babies.  After the party, we went to visit the Liberty Memorial in KC to see Grandpa’s brick honoring his service in Korea.

Monday morning we set out early once again, and headed back toward home.  For the sake of variety, we took a more southern route home along I-64 from Saint Louis, which took us across southern Illinois and Indiana and into Kentucky at Louisville.  We spent our last night on the road outside of Lexington, KY.  On Tuesday, we left early and headed home by way of West Virginia and Maryland.  We had a wonderful trip but were very happy to see the “Welcome to Virginia” sign when we crossed the Point-of-Rocks Bridge!

July 22-28 | Road Trip to Kansas City

I enjoyed my very first Father’s Day with a quiet weekend at home with Candy and the kids.  They surprised me with some wonderful gifts, most specially a picture frame with their handprints embedded.   They took me out for a delicious dinner at Blue Ridge Grill and we had a nice walk around the neighborhood.

The next weekend we went up to Delaware to celebrate Thomas’ first birthday.  The weather was great and it’s always fun to see the cousins all playing together.  That night we made it home in time to catch the tail end of the Brambleton Freedom Fest and our second annual fireworks display, which was just as impressive as last year’s.  They did get started late due to some technical difficulties, and Riley fell asleep during the fireworks display in spite of the noise.  Veronica was not a fan of the noise but did finally stop crying long enough to watch some of the pretty colors.  I ended up having to carry her home because she was too scared to go back in the stroller.

For the Fourth of July we had the whole clan down our way, and started the day with the ceremony at the National Archives and the reading of the Declaration of Independence.  After that, we watched the parade and hung out in Mom & Dad’s hotel before dinner at The Dubliner and the big fireworks show.  This time both Riley and Veronica stayed awake and there wasn’t a tear in sight!

2009 - June 20-21 | Father’s Day Weekend

2009 - June 27 | Thomas’ 1st Birthday

2009 - June 27 | Brambleton’s Freedom Fest

2009 - June 29 | Afternoon in the Playground

2009 - July 3-4 | Fourth of July Weekend Kaitlin’s Pictures Jeannie’s Pictures Nikki’s Pictures