Eric, Elle and I left a tad earlier than everyone else in the hopes that Elle would sleep through the night in the car. Eric was coming off a couple of night shifts so it was a no brainer to have him drive overnight. After I got off work Friday we finished up some last minute packing, headed to Chick-Fil-A for a quick dinner and run through the play area and then hit the road...after stopping at a gas station to get Elle's beloved bedtime sting cheese. 15 minutes out of town and she was fast asleep. She let out a few "mama" whimpers throughout the night but overall did awesome! We spent early Saturday morning having a quick St. Louis Bread Co. breakfast (I just can't call it Panera) where Elle sat in a booster seat for the first time and then treated other diners to a rendition of "Let It Go" complete with dance moves. That's my girl!
After breakfast Elle and I slowly browsed through Target so Eric could get a tiny bit of sleep before driving the last hour into Heyward. Once we got there we met up with the rest of the fam for lunch at a neat little brewery. We were all so excited to be off the road and officially on vacation!
Once we got to the house we noticed "wow, there are a lot of mosquitos outside" which was a running theme all week...but my goodness it made this vacation memorable! We spent the week taking boat rides, eating way too much yummy food and for the guys fishing, fishing, fishing.
The house we stayed at was so nice and right on the water which made for such a pretty view. Elle threw a stage 5 meltdown one afternoon as we were sitting on the dock with our feet in the water. She was insistent on jumping in with her clothes on. I'm proud to say this mama won that battle.
There was a little upstairs loft at the house which had 2 twin beds and a little TV. Henry and Elle were obsessed with it. They were both constantly asking to go to "jing jing's" (their odd term for going upstairs, I swear those 2 are creating a secret language). One night Elle asked me if we could go to jing jing's, when I said no she hit up Eric. When he said no I saw her walk over to Will and say "Unc, jing jing's?". She was so excited when Unc said yes, she immediately ran to grab Hensy so he could join the party.
One night for dinner we went to this neat BBQ restaurant on the water which had such a pretty view.
After mom and dad treated everyone to ice cream. Don't these 2 look like they're on a little date?!
Movie night! I beleive Frozen was our movie choice.
To break up all the eating out each family took a turn cooking a meal one night. The Hylton meal was St. Louis burgers and pasta salad. We were all sitting at the kitchen table eating when Henry noticed cheese in the salad. Big boy doesn't like cheese. My dad jokingly said "toss it here Hen, I love cheese!" Henry took this literally and threw a cheese cube at my dad which bounced off his head. We all died of laughter. There is no one in the world like our Hensy!
The boat rides were always lots of fun. Will was always the driver, the ladies were always on high alert with the kiddos on the boat and the guys were always laid back with a beer in hand.
Saying "hi" to a "fishy"...love Nick holding onto her life jacket.
Elle didn't like the wind in her face so she would cover her eyes :)
One boat ride that was particularly memorable was one of our last nights there. We took the boat to a restaurant on the water. As we were docking the mosquitos were Out.Of.Control. There was screaming, running, swating, panic. How I wish we had a video of our crazy family running on and off the boat that night. I'm laughing and feel itchy just thinking about it.
The day the guys went on their fishing excursion us ladies took the kiddos to the "zoo" in Heyward. I use the term zoo loosely (I think the STL Zoo has us spoiled rotten), this was more of a wilderness walk. Elle kept telling the goats to "get back", she didn't like them all up in her business. :) Most animals were more of the farm variety (horses, goats, pigs, ducks, etc.) but there was a tiger who was in no mood to see us. As we approached the cage we joked about how non secure it seemed and made sure to grab on to the babies in case we needed a quick getaway. :) We also saw the tiger crouch low and zone in on something. Seemed a little creepy. Then there was an insanely loud ROAR!!!! and the tiger jumped down from the platform it was laying on. I had Elle in my arms and ran to the exit. Mary took off with her boys in the opposite direction and little Mama Rita was at the cage trying to get a picture! Turns out the tiger hates strollers and it was close to his feeding time so he was a little testy. Not easing my fears. We left very shortly after.
We spent one afternoon at the Fishing Hall of Fame. They had a stocked pond for kiddos to fish in. Elle was able to catch a few fish and screamed in delight each time. It was the cutest thing ever!
TJ photo bomb!
Spoiled rotten, laying in bed, watching Frozen and getting a foot rub from daddy. If you stop she says "more".
On Saturday after a week of fun we said farewell to Heyward and headed to the Mall of America. We took the kiddos to lunch at Rainforest Cafe which was so neat. When the thunder would start and the lights would flicker Henry would run around the table into my lap and say "monsters coming".
We spent most of our time in the mall at the Nickelodeon Universe theme park. The kiddos loved it! Elle's favorite kiddy ride was the rollar coaster, I thought it was a tad too fast for her but she loved it!! The rest of the family was planning on driving a few hours then stopping for dinner and staying at a hotel but the Hylton family hit the road for home. This little theme park adventure wiped Elle out! As soon as her little buns hit her carseat she was out. She slept a solid 3 hours before we stopped for a quick dinner and then we hit up another Target to let her run through the toy aisle for an hour. After we got her back in the car she watched Frozen and then slept the rest of the way home.
Elle was such a great traveler, which is totally out of character for her. I was really really dreading the long roadtrip but we did it! We had such a fun time and we are so so thankful to my mom and dad for such a fun trip. They even snuck in a little surprise, everyone came home to freshly mowed lawns. I've said it before and I'll say it again, best parents ever!!!
