Our trip to Springfield was really great! It was so nice to get away and spend time back in Missouri. Here's a basic timeline:

Sunday 10:00 pm, Toledo: Brett, his dad, me, Baylea, Molly, Connor, and Cole pile into a 15-passenger van and head south. Our plan was to drive through the night to make it easier on the kids (and in turn, easier on us.) At 11:00, Brett tells me, "Go ahead and rest now, we may need you to drive later." Sure, so I sack out. At 3:00 a.m., I feel the van stop and look to see we are at a hotel somewhere in Indiana. Apparently, we will be stopping to sleep for a few hours. Heh, guess that worked out for me. I end up getting about nine hours of sleep, which is more than I get at home.

Monday 10:00 am, Podunk, Indiana: Aaannd, we're off again.

Monday 12:00 pm, Effingham, Indiana: Sure, a KFC buffet sounds great when you're hungry. Afterwards, not so much.

Monday 5:00 pm, Springfield, Missouri: When did they take down that huge American flag at the hotel that's at the intersection of I-44 and US 65? The sight of that flag when you're approaching from the west on I-44 was always the sign that you made it.
"Look kids, there's where mommy and daddy went to church. Yes, it is big isn't it?" It's weird, frequently my dreams take place in that building.
We turned onto Battlefield Road and marveled at how much that area has changed. Brett wanted to drive by his elementary school, so we wound around a few streets until we see Sequiota. It's funny how schools seemed so big when you're a little kid.
We then drive around to mommy's high school with the funny name. No, Molly, it's not Pickapoo, it's Kickapoo. Still a funny name, nonetheless.
We drop off Brett's dad at Brett's grandmother's house, chat with her for awhile, then head off for our final destination. Finally, we arrive at my parent's house. We survived the trip! Mom makes us chicken casserole, which I didn't remember liking it as much as I did that night. Keith and his girlfriend come over and entertain the kids, or maybe the other way around. They head out to the backyard and play catch with beach balls and toy airplanes.

Tuesday: Brett heads off to the golf tournament, and I get the kids dressed and fed. Connor needs a haircut badly, so we go over Cookie Cutters. He chooses the airplane seat and wants to watch Justice League on the video screen. Why can't I ever come up with a brilliant idea like that? We go next door to see my best friend that I grew up with, Mandy Britton. She's over at Jellybeans so we traipse over there. We catch up on things and chat for awhile. I look around and wish for the day that I can spend $80 on a cute blouse for one of the girls.
I take the kids over to Irene's house and spend a couple hours there. She makes us turkey sandwiches and we play Yahtzee. Well, we played the kid version where you just count up the dots and first one to 300 wins. It came down to the last roll between Baylea and Irene. Irene ends up winning. Baylea takes the loss surpisingly well.
Later, I meet up with Brett, his dad, and Irene at Tasia's. Wow, that place is good. You see, here in the north, cashew (or sweet and sour) chicken is not that wonderful. It is not all-white meat, has a squishy breading, and the sweet and sour sauce is a bright red liquid. I don't understand why it's so hard to deep fry chicken the way Springfield does. Brett and his dad were lamenting the fact that their favorite restaurant, Gee's is no longer. They thought there was no way they could enjoy Chinese food again. . . until they tried Tasia's. They loved it and ended up eating there two more times before we left.
I then met up with Mom, Dad, Keith and the kids at Incredible Pizza. They loved it, of course. Pretty impressive buffet, but I was stuffed to the gills with crab rangoon, egg rolls, fried rice, and cashew chicken, so I didn't eat there. Connor, age 4, ate five pieces of pizza! I've never seen him eat that much. I guess when your intestines are operated on when you are one day old, you can pretty much stomach anything. We ran into Andrea Wilkinson's parents. She's currently teaching graphic arts at a college in New Zealand.

Wednesday: (Wow, this post is getting long). Today, we visited both sets of grandparents. We went to the Holland's in Nixa in the afternoon. It's weird to see your kids play with toys that you remember playing with as a little kid. We went on to the Tyler's later, where my grandmother fixed an excellent dinner. I always have to get seconds when I eat there, and I always end up hurting. The good kind of hurting, though.

Thursday: Mom and Dad were very busy today with appointments and all, so I hung out with the kids at my house. I try to convince myself that having a bigger house only means that there are more messes spread out. It was nice to enjoy the space, though. Brett and I discuss the possibility of putting up our house for sale, and trying to get something roomier. The cost of housing in Michigan is much higher, so we'll have to see if anything comes along.

Friday: Brett, his dad, the kids and I go to Silver Dollar City. We decide to do Fire in the Hole first. Baylea, our resident worrywart, works herself up into tears over riding the thing. We assure her she will love it, not knowing if she will or not. We move along in the dark, looking at the various fake fire scenes, hearing the warbled soundtrack, and smelling the musty odor that hasn't changed in thirty years. Okay, we're approaching the burning bridge. . . will the children freak out at the dip? Wheee! All's well, I don't hear screaming. Connor is next to me laughing is head off. We proceed to the oncoming train, which totally freaked me out the very first time I rode that ride. Today, it just looks like a flashlight glaring in your eyes. All right, last hill. . .FIIIRRE!IN!THE!HHHOOOOLLLLE! I forgot about the water splash at the end. Evidently, Connor does NOT like to be splashed, so he ends the ride crying about getting wet. Baylea ends up loving it, just like we told her she would.
Then we go to the hot-air balloon ride that spins in a circle. Baylea works herself up to tears again in anxiety. We assure her, she will love it, which she does. Does anyone remember where the room is that is dark and has lights and mirrors in it so it looks like you're in infinite space? We thought it was Grandfather's mansion, maybe they took it out.
The new kid's section was pretty cool. Their favorite was the spinning teacups. Yeah, I felt the aftereffects of that ride for awhile.
That night we went out with my family for dinner. We'd planned to go to Cheddar's but figured the wait would be too long for a party of eight, Friday 7:30. We ended up going to a Chinese food place in Ozark, where I had Korean-style cashew chicken. My mouth thought it was great, but my intestines disagreed a few hours later. Goodness gracious, I had about three hours of breaking out in a sweat and stomach cramps that brought tears to my eyes.

Saturday: Time to head back home! It was a great week and I'm glad we got to do it. Heading home, the kids help up fairly well. Baylea was so proud that she had to go to the bathroom six times on the way home- I think it became a game for her, she was trying to set a record. Me, I never want to see a gas station bathroom again. 10:30 pm EST We arrive home, exhausted, bored, yet happy. Unpacking will have to wait until tomorrow. . or the next day.