the Lecaques: trip to Missouri

In June we took a trip to Missouri, our first in a year and a half! We had hoped to go later/for longer/also head out farther west this summer, but Thomas ended up teaching a class in July, so plans changed.

The boys were super awesome travelers! Jamie has been for years, so no surprise there. However, the longest trip Jacob has ever been on was to Charleston last summer. It was 6 or 7 hours and he was 4 months old. We didn't know what to expect from him this time, and he amazed us. He mostly just sat quietly looking out the window or playing with a toy. Over and over when I asked Jamie if Jacob was asleep because he was being so quiet, Jamie would answer that he was still awake. It was crazy but awesome. And any time he did get fussy, a snack took care of the problem.

On our first day of traveling, we stopped in St. Louis. Thomas's sister Emily and my brother Johnny both live there now. They met us at our hotel, and we went swimming, got dinner, and stayed up playing games and talking once the boys were asleep. The next day Emily met up with us again and, at Jamie's request, we planned to go up the arch. Thomas and I hadn't been up since our respective 8th grade trips to St. Louis, and though Thomas is terrified of heights, he agreed to it for Jamie's sake. First we went to the Old Courthouse, and Jamie earned a junior ranger badge there. Then we headed to the arch, where we found out that due to the extremely wet week they were having in St. Louis, there was water seeping in at the base and currently no trams were going up. Jamie really wanted to go, so we ended up waiting to see if we'd get a chance to later. In the meantime Jacob wreaked havoc and Jamie earned another junior ranger badge and listened to Emily tell him stories from Greek mythology. Our waiting paid off, and we did get to go up to the top.

I stole a bunch of these pictures from Emily. Thanks! :)

at the Old Courthouse

at the top of the arch

Emily and Jamie in our little elevator pod

outside at the base of the arch - also, this weather made for the worst hair day ever. yikes.

Afterwards we caught a late lunch with Emily and then drove the rest of the way to Kirksville.

In Kirksville we had a busy and (mostly) fun week. The boys spent lots of time playing with their grandparents and aunt (Emily drove up from St. Louis and spent a few days of our visit there too).

We had a late combined birthday celebration for Grammy and Jamie.

watching Peter and the Wolf - he was so funny, sitting in that bin the whole time and quietly cheering on Peter and the animals

We went swimming at the aquatic center where Thomas used to be a lifeguard.

Jacob hit the 15 month milestone.

Thomas's parents threw a party to celebrate his finishing the Ph.D.

Jacob and Papy

Jacob and Heinz

We went to karaoke at the Dukum and saw lots of old friends.

We spent time playing outside. Jamie loved going on walks around the lake and pretending to fight goblins.

Uncle Johnny was in town and hung out with us at the end of our visit.

Thomas and Johnny on a team for Make-a-Million. There's no telling what will happen. Oh wait, yes there is: absurdly high bidding and lots of bluffing.

ha ha, I love this picture

And last but definitely not least, Thomas helped his parents clean out their computer room/office which had suffered some bad water damage shortly before we arrived. I wish I had a before picture to show just how much stuff he moved out of this room. He also spent a lot of time cleaning out his old things from the storage unit, which ended up with us bringing lots of old Legos, Ninja Turtles, and GI Joes back to Knoxville.