let the countdown begin!

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one week from now, we will be en route to rome via philadelphia and boston.  i'm so overwhelmed as to how much needs to get done in the next week that i've resorted to blogging about it and looking at pretty pictures online of the places we get to visit.  and not to mention how much of a change it will be to be away from the guys for 10 days. and so far away!  i go back and forth between needing a break so badly to breaking down at how much we're going to miss them.  bryan's parents get the first shift over the weekend, my parents get the week, his again the next weekend, then mine to finish the last leg before we get home on tuesday.  they're all moving in, and i'm so grateful the boys don't have to be uprooted - they don't do well with that sort of thing.  

will try to update as we near the big day, but most likely my next post will be after we've returned and i have 487 pictures to post!

the lou!

we started with the idea of los angeles or new york, looked at plane tickets, thought about all of the logistics of traveling that far with the babes, and settled on chicago.  we then looked at the weather and found freezing and snow. boo.  so! st. louis it was.  which was perfect, because we didn't have to deal with planes, and the drive was just right.  well, just right would have been 20 minutes, but lee's summit wasn't an option.  went on friday, came home sunday, and visited a few places in between.  the weather still wasn't great (30s-40s and snowing/raining), but we couldn't stay in the hotel room the whole time.  although the boys would have been fine just riding the elevator up and down the entire weekend.  we went to the children's museum (the magic house) on saturday morning- this place was amazing.  most places that say appropriate for kids all ages don't really mean for 2 year-olds.  but they had a whole section that was perfect.  they had a blast.  that afternoon, we went to the city museum and their aquarium.  another great place for the littles.  sunday morning brought freezing temps, but sunshine, so we went to the zoo (awesome!) and did all of their indoor animals.  birds, reptiles, and the monkeys.  we can't wait to go back to see the rest!  trader joe's was the highlight for me, and then home we came.  a fun little spring break adventure!

there were just too many pictures to post one-by-one, so i did it this way.  if you click on the collage, it will get bigger.