Driving to Indy - Trip 2013

Summer is here and so begins our adventure to the Midwest. Last week, my mom flew to Austin to help me drive the 3 kiddos to the Midwest. We got packed up and out of the house by 8am last Wednesday. The plan was to drive to Springfield, MO and spend the night. This was a new way for us to go... never done the OK route before. We made pretty good time although through Oklahoma was kind of slow... I might try something slightly different next time. We arrived in Springfield about 7pm after only 2 stops all day! Kids were pretty good - Caitlin was a bit of a pill but she was just getting over a nasty sinus and ear infection. We found a hotel (after trying a couple... who knew a random week day would be so booked!) and got some dinner.  We were all in one room which just means it's difficult for anyone to get a good nights rest, especially with Caitlin snoring so loudly! 

We were up and back on the road the next morning about 8am again. We made it to St. Louis where we stopped to see the Arch!

Kids at the base

Close-up

Family pic next to the base

Beautiful park surrounding the Arch

Oma and the kids

We didn't go up in the Arch on this trip. I didn't think the kids would get too much out of it and we had more fun things to do! After lunch, we headed to the City Museum that our friends the Dolvigs told us about. What am amazing museum for kids. It was packed with school trips so it was pretty crowded but we enjoyed a few hours of play to break up our long trip.

We found a cool little pond with fish and turtles.

Perhaps one of the big draws are all the slides. They have slides throughout the museum that go from floor to floor (including one that is 10 stories!!). 

This one Evan could do by himself and was about 3 stories tall. 

The other thing about this museum is that it's just full of little passages to crawl through. In that way, it's kind of geared towards older kids, but we did find this one area that was for kids 5 and under that both of them enjoyed!

There was even a train they got to ride on!

They have a bunch of climbing and walkways outside but it was actually kind of raining so we stayed indoors.  They even have a whole cave section too. Overall, a lot of fun and a great way to give the kids a break. After that, we drove to Indy and kids slept most of the way there. We arrived in time for a late dinner and bed. It was a pretty good trip with all 3 kids! I know I should be amazed at their traveling ability, but I guess I just kind of expect it at this point! But I am very grateful that they are such good travelers. More of our trip to come!