Z Family Trip 2010 to Chicago, Day 1

We hit the road bright and early today to travel to Chicago to meet up with Dada's side of the family for our annual Z family vacation/reunion.

Our destination today was to get to St. Louis (about 5 hours total driving time) where we would be spending the night.  We ate breakfast at the Waffle House, the kids' first time and they loved it, esp. Stella who ate almost an entire waffle all by herself.

We didn't set up the DVD player for the trip but had it in the back of the car just in case, but surprisingly, we never had to use the DVD player the entire trip.  The kids kept themselves entertained with library books and with coloring/drawing pads.  It was awesome!

When we got to St. Louis, the first thing we did was check in to our hotel that was conveniently located directly across the street from the Arch.  While Dada was checking us in, the kids were happy to be out of the car and let out some pent up energy, horsing around in the hotel lobby.  Des was especially happy to be out of the car (as you can see from his mischievous smiles in the pics below).

Once we got to our hotel room, there was more horsing around, primarily in the form of jumping on the bed...

as well as some cuddle time with their Mama...

We soon left the hotel to eat dinner and after dinner, we went to see the famous St. Louis Arch.

We got tickets to go to the very top of the arch, which took some time with a lot of waiting around in lines, but the kids were troopers and behaved well.  Here are some pics of them looking out onto the city from the teeny windows at the top of the arch.

By the time we got back, it was quite late and by the time we all took baths/showers, it as super late at night.  The best part of the day for us parents was hitting the sack and getting to sleep with our kiddos...Dada slept with Des and I slept with Stella.

Stay tuned for more posts about our day to day adventures from our Chicago trip!