Where do I begin??

So, while my parents were here we decided to do a little trip up to St. Louis to do a little touring around. It is only about a 4 hr drive and we thought we could leave Thursday morning and get there around lunch time, stay over night and drive back on Friday morning. The moral of the story before we even get started is... no matter how much gas you have in your car, just fill it up before you leave town! We left town with about a half of a tank no biggie. Drove about 2 hrs and stopped for a Julianna potty break in Tennessee just before we crossed over in to Missouri. We thought about filling up there (I was down to about a 1/4 tank) but figured we would stop again for lunch soon anyway and would just fill up then. Usually, that is no problem. However, maybe you have heard about the ridiculous ice storms that hit Missouri last week. Yeah.... we forgot about that. So we cross over in to Missouri and are amazed by the destruction, power lines snapped in half, trees down for miles and miles. Then it dawned on us... if the power lines are on the ground there probably isn't any electricity. GAS??!!!!! Crap. So, my handy little car said 41 miles until empty, we went to the first gas station. Closed of course. We headed back south about a mile because we saw a police car we thought we should ask him where the closest open station was. "Hmmmm", he said. If you passed an open station on your way up here you might want to head back south. We explained to him where we last noticed an open station and he said... "well, it might be about the same distance north. I guess just keep going, try to get to exit 67. If you break down dial #55 and someone will come to help you out." GREAT!!! Nothing I would enjoy more than running out of gas on a stretch of highway that has no electricity for 40 miles with a toddler in the car! My car now said 0 miles until empty. My heart sank. We prayed, to ourselves and out loud.... 10 miles later we were still going and got to Exit 67 but where the heck was this open station. We drove and drove. Finally we saw some people and some open restaurants but no gas. It has said o miles til empty for at least a half hour. We finally see a gas station with a line wrapped around the corner. YAY!!! We made it... we just had to wait our turn and we knew we could push the car that far if we had to (and by "we" I mean not me or Julianna ;) ). We come to our place in line and sit and look at what the tiny little church sign we were sitting in front of said...

"If you are looking for a sign from God, this is it!" HAHA How hilarious and perfect was that. We should have run out of gas so long ago but look how far we made it. Right here to this little "sign."

Here is what it looked like all around us.

The ice was so thick on everything.

We finally made it to St. Louis and were very happy to be out of the car. We got to our hotel and headed to the Arch.

It really is an amazing thing, and pretty difficult to get a picture of!

Trying to be creative with my camera angles!

We rode the little egg looking elevator all the way to the top to look out of the tiny little windows.

Julianna liked it. I had not been since I was about 9 years old.

It was cold and there was snow on the ground. I look about 250 lbs in this picture... it's just extra layers! ;)

Bundled up and happy to go along for the ride!

Pretty snow, trees, and you can see the bridge in the background. Very pretty.

View of the arch from our hotel.

On Friday we headed to the City Museum. It was kind of a weird place but fun for kids. Pop Pop enjoyed playing with the blocks in Toddler Town.

Julianna being a statue. I asked her what kind of statue, she says "A real statue!" duh!

Pop Pop's girls!

Sweet girl. Having a good time.

This was a huge slide that went from the 3rd floor down to the first. They have another one that is 7 stories long.

Then we went to the Anheuser Busch Brewery Tour. We saw the Clydesdales and they gave out free beer at the end! lol

Julianna slept through the first half of the tour.

Our ride back home went much smoother. Saturday morning Nee Nee and Pop Pop packed up their car and headed back to Maryland. They got home this afternoon safe and sound.

We had a fun trip and were really glad they were able to come. Mom is so lucky to enjoy jury duty for the month of February so they got their trip in just in time. Thank you for coming. We miss you!!!