St. Louis 2014

We went to St. Louis last month with Gpa and Gma Dawson.  It was tiring but fun nonetheless.  We have wanted to go back since last years trip.  And conveniently Uncle Taylor was spending about a month there for work.  We arrived on Friday and picked Taylor up from the base.  We grabbed lunch and then went to Anheiser Busch Brewery.  We did the 45 minute tour and Caedmon was so good.  I couldn't believe it but the tour was free and you got a whole pint of beer after the tour all for free!  Went back to the hotel afterwards for swimming on the roof and pizza.

There were some frustrating moments during the trip with Caedmon but it was because he was tired.  But honestly he did very well for being so tired.  Especially on Saturday after not sleeping well and not getting long enough naps in.  He had woken up in the middle of the night most likely because his head hurt.  Friday night he hit his head on the corner of the night stand and was bleeding.  He is definitely a trooper indeed.
 
On Saturday, we went to Grants Farm (owned by Anheiser Busch).  Caedmon loved it.  He got to pet and feed the goats, feed birds, go on a train ride, pet and get his picture taken with a Clydesdale horse, and see the animals.  He loved it even though he was tired.  He was so tired that he fell asleep before we got out of the parking lot.  We went back to the hotel for more swimming and ordered chinese in.  Caedmon will not go to sleep if he can see you so we sat out in the hall and ate our chinese and drank wine.  It actually ended up being fun just sitting out in the hall.  Our neighbors across the hall came home and offered us a drink which kind of funny.  Apparently someone was celebrating a birthday. We finished off the night on the roof of the hotel enjoying the view of the Arch and Mississippi River. 

On Sunday, we went to the casino for the champagne brunch buffet.  It was so good and I think they had the best coffee I have ever had.  I need to call them to see if they can tell me what the coffee is.  :-)  Caedmon liked seeing all the lights in the casino.  Then we went to the Arch museum and walked around outside of the park.  There is a nearby helicopter taking people on rides around the city.  Caedmon enjoyed watching the helicopter take off and land.  Again he would always growl and point at it.  He also liked to scream at the tops of his lungs when we were in the park.  Afterwards we went back to the hotel for Caedmon to take an actual long nap not in the car.  We sat out in the hall with Taylor and drank and talked again.  Then we all went to an early dinner at Schlafly brewery.  Afterwards Tanner, Taylor, and I went up to the top of the Arch (bought our tickets earlier).  We had a good time while Gpa and Gma stayed at the hotel and went swimming with Caedmon and put him to bed.  Thanks Sandy and Rick!! 

Then on Monday we headed home.  And we experienced the biggest fit that Caedmon had every thrown in his short life so far.  It was so bad that he was coughing and threw up a little.  It was most likely a combination of that he was tired, hungry, tired of being in the car seat, and home sick.  He was definitely glad to get home to his toys and his bed. Although the fit was awful at one point Tanner and I are just sitting there laughing because we couldn't help but laugh at him throwing this huge fit. 

Again excessive amount of pictures and a couple of videos beyond this point!

Clydesdale

view from top of our hotel

The small door on the tram to go up in the Arch

View from Arch - city side

View from Arch - Mississippi side

On the roof of hotel enjoying the view

Hanging out in the hallway

LOL!

View from our room. Caed would growl at those tractors down there

What a bunch of dorks

My fave pic from the trip....we were in the tram going back down the Arch

Memphis Part 2

Okay will try to remember this to the best of my ability.  When we got to Taylor and Heather's we pretty much just hung out at their place the whole day.  We just hung out and talked and drank margaritas and wine.  The next day Taylor took us into downtown Memphis (Heather had to work for a bit).  We parked at the Coast Guard station and got to see Taylor's boat.  Then we walked over to a trolley stop and rode that to a famous barbecue place in Memphis called Rendezvous.  More on this in a moment.

The trolley was really neat to ride and Caedmon enjoyed it.  And downtown Memphis was definitely different for a downtown.  It is weird because I read about the south in history textbooks and of course you cannot know what it smells like from a textbook.  But somehow when I was there it was like you could blindfold me and take me there and I would know I was in the south.  It has a distinctive smell and if you go there you will know what I am talking about.  It just cannot be described in words.  Ha!  And I was getting a kick out of all the black people on the trolley because they were all talking to each other and being loud, laughing, and having a good ole time.  Everyone was very friendly and nice.

So back to Rendezvous.  I guess alot of celebrities have eaten at this place.  The place was odd to get to, down an alley and then in the basement.  It was a huge place and all the workers wore the old uniforms that they wore back in the day.  I like barbecue but I am not the biggest fan of it where I crave it or anything.  And I only really eat pulled pork so after the third barbecue place I was over it.  LOL!  The food at Rendezvous was okay but I like sweet barbecue which they didn't have.   

After lunch we took a stroll over to Beale Street.  It is a street where there are a bunch of bars and shops and live blues music.  We started to get hot and tired and decided to head back to Taylor and Heather's house.  Also because Heather was off work at this point and Brandon was going to be getting there soon.  I think then for dinner that night we went to Central BBQ.  This place reminded me of Squealers here in Indianapolis. Then back to their house to hang out some more.  We were discussing what we wanted to do the next day and they mentioned some outdoor places but it was soooo hot while we were there.  We were fine with not doing a whole lot of sight seeing and just hanging out at their house.  We figure we will come back again when it is cooler out and do some sight seeing.

So the next day I think Heather and I headed to the mall for some girl time and shopping while the guys hung out at the house.  Then we all went to our final barbecue place, Memphis BBQ (which was actually in Mississippi).  I remember the food being good.  I think I got something different but cannot remember but am pretty sure I got a side of Mac N cheese because I am obsessed.  Then we headed back to Beale Street so we could take Brandon there to see it.  At this point it is starting to get dark out and all the lights on the street was really neat.  And despite being out late Caedmon did really well.  Maybe he enjoyed looking at all of the lights.  Then at some point the next day we did the trek back home.  Which was uneventful compared the trip down there.  Were hoping to maybe be able to make it back for another visit in November.

Warning: Excessive amount of pictures below this point!

Story time with Aunt Heather

At the CG station

On the Trolley

At Rendezvous

Beale Street

AWWWW!

The Mississippi River

This is going to be a new huge Bass Pro Shops

It's a dogpig

Beale Street at night

Bye Uncle Brandon. He's off to Fort Sill.

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Wearing Uncle Brandon's army boots

4th of July 2014

We didn't do anything too exciting for the 4th but definitely crammed alot of entertainment for lil man in one weekend.  He definitely keeps us busy.  There were tractor rides, wagon rides, swimming, playing with other kids, having fun with toads, and more.  It was an eventful weekend for sure.  Rick's side of the family came to their house and we had a cookout.  Caedmon had fun playing with the other kids. 

Caedmon is starting to like the pool more the more he is in it.  At the beginning of the summer it was like he forgot what the pool was and was afraid of it.  He would cling on to us for dear life.  Now he is doing better and better and actually gets excited about getting into the water.  I have been taking him to the YMCA to get used to the water.  He fell down in the baby pool a couple of times and didn't cry about getting a face full of water. 

A funny story about the tractor rides.  Gpa Rick took Caedmon for a ride on the riding lawn mower (aka tractor) and he seemed to love it.  Then ever since he has been scared of it.  Rick has left it in the yard for him to look at and get used to.  Caedmon would even point at it but wouldn't go near it.  He also growls at it when he is pointing at it.  It is too funny.  And Rick would from time to time would drive it around the yard and Caedmon would watch him the whole time.  Then I decided I would get on there and drive it around the yard.  And Gma and Gpa got on the back of the wagon and we rode around the yard.  Caedmon watched us.  Then I drove up toward Caedmon and stopped and we asked if he wanted to get on.  He got on the wagon with Gma and Gpa.  He had a serious look on his face but he seemed to not mind it.  Then we stopped and got off of the tractor.  Later, Caedmon would grab our finger and lead us to the tractor as if he wanted to go again.  So Gpa Rick took him for a ride with Gma holding him in the wagon and he cried.  Then I got behind the wheel and Caedmon didn't cry.  Sweet boy only wanted his mommy to drive the tractor.  LOL!!   Love him so much! 

Memphis Part 1 (aka the eventful drive)

Okay so this post will be about the eventful drive we had to Memphis back at the end of May.  It felt like we stopped every hour when we first got on the road.  It was only supposed to be about a 7 hour drive from Indy.  We left at about 5 or 6PM.  We figured we get to Taylor and Heather's no later than 2AM.  It has been a couple of months now so I will try to remember the best to my ability.

Our first stop was in Columbus, IN for a quick dinner at Wendy's.  Then about another hour or so later we stopped south of Louisville, KY at a rest stop.  At the rest stop were 2 horses.  The owner had one of them out and was brushing it.  We went over to let Caedmon see it and pet it.  Sorry no pics but thought it was funny and random but Caedmon enjoyed it.  And the guy brushing the horse reminded me of a mix between a friend of Taylor's back in Wilmington and Woody Harrelson. 

Then somewhere after Louisville we had to stop again to get gas.  I had to go to the bathroom too at the gas station.  I went into the restroom and there was water all over the floor and going out into the hall.  The bathroom sink was left on and was overflowing and that is why water was all over the floor.  I turned the water off before going to use the restroom.  And on my way out of the gas station I told the lady at the cash register about it.  Of course she was annoyed and had a look of "not again" on her face.  WTF?  Why do people do that?

Then we had to stop again (I swear we stopped every hour) because we hit a semi trailer tire tread.  Tanner thought we had a flat tire.  I am like just great.  It is dark out and have to pull over on the interstate, lovely.  Luckily no flat tire but it messed up the wheel well.  

Around 11PM or 12AM we approached Nashville, TN and get stuck in a traffic jam with stopped traffic.  I think we were in this traffic jam for about an hour.  It was because the road was 3 lanes going down to one lane on top of traffic merging in from another highway.  It was a nightmare but thank God Caedmon was asleep by this point.  So since it took too long to get through that mess we decided we better not drive the whole way especially since Caedmon will most likely wake up at normal time and we will be zombies.  We stopped and got a hotel room.  The room was okay but what is up with all this furniture in this tiny room?

Have you ever seen so much furniture on one wall in your life?

The next morning after we had been on the road for about an hour we stopped at a McDonald's because we were hungry.  Again I went to the bathroom and first there was no toilet paper in the stall.  So I went back out to wait for other person to get out of the other stall.  They get out so I go to grab some toilet paper out of that stall and go back in the previous stall so next person could use the other stall.  Of course the stall door doesn't lock and a lady tries to come in and while I am bent over she opens the door and hits me in the head with it.  Ugh!  Then the soap dispenser doesn't have any soap in it.  And then I learned that the bagel sandwiches in the south are different from Indiana.  There's were toasted and had butter on it.  And when you order a tea it is sweet tea.  It's good but too sweet for my liking. Oh and of course my sweet tea had a hole in it.  Reminds me of this which happened on the way home from Wilmington, NC last summer:

Lastly we came across this just outside of Memphis.  WTF?

And finally made it to Taylor and Heather's house!!