Vacation, Interrupted

To say our vacation was interrupted is probably inaccurate. It never really started.

We made a grand plan to travel to St. Louis for five days last week. We had hotel reservations, plans for the zoo, the children's museum and even a few places to eat. I had Mapquested all the routes we needed. Lists were made. Day cares were notified of impending absences.

Of course, with two small children, I'm getting accustomed to our plans changing. Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, Keaton started drooling in bucketfuls and he grew increasinly cranky. By Sunday evening, he was barely eating anything and randomly crying. To make matters worse, both kids were starting out at new day care providers on Monday. By Tuesday, it was clear that Keaton was not feeling well and on Wednesday morning (the day we were scheduled to leave) he woke up with a fever. We spent the first day of our "vacation" taking care of a cranky baby at home and running him to the doctor's office.

We made it to the doctor's office by lunch time and Keaton had no sign of a fever. The doctor, in addition to diagnosing me as crazy, said nothing was wrong and confirmed what we already knew: the little guy was cutting some new teeth.

Cate was so disappointed about cancelling our vacation. About two weeks ago, we made a paper chain at home and she had been removing one paper link each day, counting down the days to our trip. At her new day care, they asked all the kids about their favorite Fourth of July activity. Most of the kids said fireworks, a few said picnic and Cate said "thinking about my vacation." To say my heart was broken for that little girl would be an understatement.

As an alternative to our big St. Louis adventure, we set out for Kansas City on Thursday morning. We went to Union Station and Crown Center in the morning, where Keaton drew a crowd with his screaming. At one point, I drew a crowd when I screamed because Keaton bit me on the shoulder. We quickly packed up and headed to Olathe, where Stephen's parents graciously agreed to keep Keaton while Cate, Stephen and I enjoyed some other activities.

We found a hotel with an indoor water park and Cate had a lot of fun swimming there. We also took her to her first movie, Up. She impressed us both by sitting completely still and not saying a word for the entire movie. I see more movies in our future.

And thanks to one of my co-workers (shout out to Seth on this one), I learned about Kaleidoscope at the Hallmark Visitor's Center. They have awesome art activities for kids, so we took Cate over one morning. She had fun painting and coloring for more than an hour. Truthfully, the best thing for her was their unlimited supply of scotch tape. Who knew that scotch tape held such joy?

In case you can't tell, this little girl has serious attitude.
Working hard on some art projects at Kaleidoscope. Whatever Hallmark employee thought up this use for their leftover materials -- Genius.
Unpacking all her important stuff in her new princess backpack.
Enjoying some candy at Crown Center.