Month of June: Trip #2

Six days after we got back from Memphis, we loaded up again and headed to Oklahoma City. I just repacked the suitcase that was still laying on my bedroom floor, half unpacked. It is quite a feat to pack for four people. I make multiple lists and check and recheck. This was the summer regional meeting for all the Edward Jones agents and their families in the Wichita area. And since that is one of Jon's sales regions, he was chosen to come and speak during the weekend to represent his company. The seven hour drive felt much shorter than the 10 hours to Memphis, but Dawson and Channing didn't do so hot. Channing only slept for about 20 minutes each naptime, and as usual, Dawson never naps in the car, so going into the weekend, he was already tired. It was fun to be a part of the weekend since our meals and hotel were provided, but to all be in one hotel room for four nights put the fear of God in me. I think we've only stayed in a standard hotel room with kids twice since Bennett was born and that was for one night each. Not my cup of tea. They stay up super late, wake up earlier than usual, not to mention, having to be super quiet at night and during naptime when they are sleeping. I knew this would be a stressful situation so I was determined to have a good attitude and not complain about it. I think I did very well, all things considered! Thankfully we have a crib tent for Dawson that goes over the pack-play, and we just cover it with blankets and he has his own little cave to sleep in, so he can't see us. He and Bennett were still up until around 10pm every night and woke up at 7:30 or 8 every morning. He got a normal nap on Thursday (while Bennett and I hung out in the hallway of the hotel with the baby monitor for two hours because I knew he wouldn't be quiet enough in the room) and about a 20 minute nap on Saturday. This was tough for him since he usually sleeps 12 hours at night and takes a 2 hour nap almost every day. He's very affected by lack of sleep so we pretty much just expected the worst from him. I suppose when you expect the worst, anything short of that is tolerable!

Friday we got to go to an amusement park with the group. Super hot but super fun. I cannot wait until Bennett's tall enough to ride real roller coasters with me! For now we just do the wildest rides that he is tall enough for. He loves them, just like his mama. We put Dawson's bravery to the test on the Tilt-a-Whirl, and as you can see from the next couple of pictures, he hated it. I felt horrible. The poor kid was completely freaked out and was literally trying to climb out of that thing while it was spinning! Major mom fail.

Much later in the day, we found the kids area of the park and figured Dawson would do OK on the kiddie coaster. There wasn't anyone else in line so they all just stayed on and rode it four times in a row. Dawson was hilarious to watch. You can see in the pictures, he has the fiercest look of determination on his face. He was like that the whole ride--just dead serious. He wanted to get off after the first two rounds but got back on for the fourth. And look at the kid in front of them in all the pictures. He cracks me up! I wish I knew who his mom was so I could send these pictures to her.

Since we didn't have to pay to get in, Jon was feeling generous and bought them cotton candy. Bennett was in heaven:

I caught this moment in our hotel room. I actually didn't even pose them that way! It was one of those moments that just made my heart swell. I'm so proud to be the mother of these three gorgeous boys that God has blessed us with:

On Saturday everyone had a free afternoon so we decided to go to the zoo. If we ever have the chance to visit a new zoo, we jump on it. We all just love it. Again, it was super hot out but still worth it. A lot of the exhibits were built around these small air conditioned buildings (like spokes around a wheel and we were in the center) so there were a lot of breaks from the heat.

And as far as zoo experiences go, this was a great one for seeing animals up close and active. Dawson checking out "King Kong" with his own little Kong:

This next one isn't a great picture but I wanted to post one on here--this baby chimp was missing one of it's arms below the elbow! The poor little thing was fascinating to watch. It was sad to watch him struggling to climb from one thing to another, taking lots of tumbles, but he sure was determined. I'm glad he's not on his own in the wild:

Nobody wants their picture taken right now. But isn't that our prerogative as the mom?? Sorry honey...just appease me. You all looked so darn cute:

These tiger cubs were the highlight of the day. They were going at it, wrestling with each other! It was awesome. We stood there and watched them for a long time:

Sorry, the video is terribly out of focus but it was hilarious to hear all the boys cheering them on like they were watching a WWF wrestling match:

All in all, it was a fun trip. Bennett learned how to do a front flip into the pool! Seriously...totally shocked me when he did it. I need to get a video of it. And he swam across the full length of the pool (it was a small one). I'm so proud of him! They had childcare during some of the meetings and we got to get dressed up for an adults only dinner one night. I was freaked out trying to pack since I had no clue what anyone else would be wearing and "dinner dress" just isn't very specific! Talk about unnerving for a girl. Jon did awesome during his talks and has gotten lots of calls from that region since so I know people liked him! (Duh.) It was well worth the lack of sleep, although, we're still paying for it, big time. Dawson has been a wreck still, all week :( Thankfully Judie has them tomorrow so I can finally get that suitcase off our bedroom floor!!