A long time coming

We finally made it back to the cabin

(it's been a busy summer!)

and after all the chores and clean up,

we got a chance to relax

and ride 4 wheelers

and play around.

But the best part about this weekend

is that our friends the Heinz's

(who Mom and Dad have known for nearly 25 years)

FINALLY made it down to the Cabin

We spent the day lounging and wrestling

swimming and exploring

and, of course, tubing

I, of course, needed to show off a bit

All this AND a trip to the 

"best Mexican restaurant in Osceola?"

I'm sure this won't be the last visit!

The Triumphant Return to Worlds of Fun

It's been 3 years since we've made our annual WOF trip

and we were SO excited to be back!

The upside to being away for so long

is that we are all much taller than last time we were here

which means LOTS of roller coaster this year!

We ALL rode the Boomerang

and the Prowler.

But turns out, Tucker's stomach isn't up for roller coasters yet.

He threw up after the second coaster.

He recovered with Dad and Jack

while I hopped back on with Mom and Wes

(see him in the back?)

I was hooked.

I'll ride anything, anytime, anywhere.

But...

there's something about Snoopy World

that always draws me in.

We rode everything there too,

including the little boats.

The day was PERFECT--

it was supposed to be blasting hot

and then they thought it was going to rain.

That seemed to keep everyone home.

But it ended up being warm and cloudy

and we had the park to ourselves.

We spent most of the day in Worlds of Fun,

riding everything multiple times.

Check this out--

even Jack hopped on some coasters!

Tucker braved the Mamba,

but threw up.

He decided to stick to wheels that were a bit slower.

In the late afternoon,

we headed to Oceans of Fun

and rode EVERY slide, 

rode the waves in the wave pool

and even begrudgingly wore life jackets

in the activity pool

so that we could say we did it all in OOF.

You'd think that would be enough for one day,

but you clearly don't know the Reeds (and Mema).

When Oceans of Fun closed,

we headed back to Worlds of Fun 

for a few more rides...and some pretzel bites.

We headed to the taxies

for a jaunty drive through the country

(and got to see a family of skunks that are 

apparently living in the park!)

We rode the Viking Voyager

but broke with tradition and finished the night

with multiple rides on one of Mama's favorites,

the Sea Dragon

We got into a yelling contest on our last ride,

trying to see which side could be the loudest.

Not sure who won.

We tried to top of the night with WAFFLE HOUSE

(delicious, right?)

but when they were only serving take out,

we had to settle for Taco Bell

so that we could sit in a booth

and take a load off to debrief the day.

It. Was. Awesome.

Gate opening to gate closing.

Making up for lost time.

Day 10: The CRAZIEST museum ever

There were lots of things we wanted to do in St. Louis--

Six Flags, the zoo,

a brewery tour.

But there were a few things we couldn't miss.

The first was a trip to City Museum.

We went when we were here last in 2016

but Tucker was tiny and he and Mom

didn't get to do much of anything.

The rest of us barely remembered going.

Mom and Dad kept trying to explain to us

what City Museum was all about

but couldn't quite find the words.

That made it even more intriguing.

Once we got there,

we understood why.

It's this giant, um, playground

full of things to climb on and around and under.

There's a 10 story slide

and holes in the wall

and trees

and more slides

and secret passageways

and caves

and...whoa.

It's hard to describe.

We stumbled on this exhibit with "Doctor Fish."

It's the fish that like to nibble off all the dead skin

on your hands.

I dove right in.

Dad had no problem.

It took everything Mom had to keep her hand in.

Beck couldn't quite get the courage.

There's a huge outdoor area too

Look at Brave Jack!

Waaaaay above his comfort zone

Lots of bridges

and even a few old planes

perched in the air

We crawled and shimmied and slid everywhere.

This was our favorite discovery of the day.

There are hidden passages everywhere

but this one goes under the main hall.

It's really dark

and really narrow.

but how cool is it to pop out of the floor under a whale?

After a crazy lunch in the pinball game area,

we headed up to a yet-to-be-played-in section

and had a ball in the human "skate park"

It was a heck of a trip!

After experiencing a convenience store

in the middle of the inner city

(hey, we were thirsty!)

we headed to our next stop:

Gotta see the Arch!

(It's a National Park now, after all)

We wandered through the museum

and learned all about the history of St. Louis

and the building of the Arch.

Did you know the Arch was accidentally built on springs

so they have to constantly pump water out?

And with last week's storms,

the base of the Arch where the elevators start

was actually under water!

Glad we came a few days later.

We took a ride in the funny egg-shaped capsules

and rode to the top

to check out the view

And it was a heck of a view!

Family picture from 630 feet up!

Safely back down,

we were sworn in as Junior Rangers

and headed out for one more family picture.

Our last stop was another St. Louis must-do--

dinner on The Hill.

We ate at Mama's on The Hill

and despite my insistence

that we weren't taking home any leftovers,

we ordered way to much food

and took home A LOT of leftovers.

All that and a belly full of alfredo?

The Littles didn't stand a chance

of staying awake on the ride back to camp.

Nothing to do now

but spend the next day driving home.

11 days,

4 states,

5 stops,

47 hours of driving,

2473 miles.

An awesome summer camper trip DONE!

Day 9: Who wants a BONUS STOP???

The guy we were renting the camper from

can't pick up the camper until Tuesday.

Mom checked her schedule--

she doesn't have anything scheduled Monday.

We are still on summer vacay.

Sooo...

Mom and Dad surprised us and diverted our course

for St. Louis!!!

Mom, in her duties as co-pilot,

found the fastest route.

She got really nervous when we were suddenly

on farm backroads

crossing through the middle of nowhere.

It was rather picturesque!

And luckily, it worked!

We landed in Eureka safe and sound.

Dad thought our KOA looked oddly familiar.

Turns out, we were here before!

Our friends Tori and Patrick were married

at this very KOA in 2016.

How about that coincidence?

We were glad to get in early

and have a night to chill.

We swam

and rented the poorest-condition bikes we'd ever seen.

They had this cool 4 seater that 

we couldn't even get to pedal out of the parking lot!

So we settled for these.

They had a lollipop hunt.

We had no idea what that meant

so we had to check it out.

It's like an Easter egg hunt,

but with dum-dums

We'll never have to buy

suckers for happy hikers again!

We've had a lot of s'mores on this trip

but tonight's were some of the best

Maybe it's because everything tastes better

on BONUS vacation!