National Lampoons take St. Louis

As most of you may know by now, my family chooses to celebrate our holidays a week earlier to avoid any and all family conflicts. This past week was no different. Last Thursday evening we set off in the I44 East sunset filled with antique shops, liquor stores, firework stands, and naughty shops.  Fortunately, our road trip routine has gotten pretty predictable (knock on wood...seriously...knock on it). As Kori strums away on the iPad and Stacey does whatever she can to NOT talk to me, my options are limited to memorizing Baby Genius DVDs or vetoing any purchase Stacey tries to submit from the passenger seat. These are simply observations I find funny.  Like last week, I was in the shower and noticed I had the smallest loofah out of our family of three. And yes, I loofah and it's frickin' epic when you have one that's bigger than a Christmas ornament.

Back to the trip, my friends. Friday, our day was spent at a photo shoot that was NOT so innovative at Portrait Innovations. I've yet to be impressed with the photographers they produce. I swear that training manual is titled close to the following, "It's their time but it's your agenda." Again, it's an observation. You can't go too wrong with my niece and daughter in their Christmas best.

Saturday brought few surprises which made for a relaxing day. We deep fried our turkey and had a buffet of food to compliment. Minus some Oklahoma football, it was a pretty great weekend. Hope to visit with some of the friends next trip.

As for the ride back Sunday, the girls napped, watched movies, and played on their phone while I struggled to keep my eyes open/fought the down pour...and the multiple reminders to "get new windshield wipers."  Would I have it any other way? Nah.


You know how in a fairy tale there's always a potion that makes the princess fall asleep and then the guys start kissing her? Well, this is like that except you don't wake up in a castle - you wake up in a frat house with a bad reputation.
~Phil Dunphy

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures on our trip to St. Louis....so here are some recent ones

High fiving on the swings

Kori's new favorite pass time