Saturday was an action-packed day for the Lebanon Lawsons. It started with the Lafayette Lawsons coming down to hook up for some pizza lunch, then caravaning down to Bankers Life Fieldhouse to do a little Disney on Ice action! Dare To Dream had stories from The Princess and the Frog, Cinderella, and Tangled with plenty of jumps, spins, and huge costumes. My favorite part was when Flynn Rider first came out and was hoisted way up in to the ceiling so he could drop down to steal the crown jewels. I think Parker’s favorite part was getting his Flynn Rider sword from the souvenir shop! Taylor and I both got a stuffed Pascal, but Riley got a foam frying pan that makes noise when you bop people on the head!
After the show, we took a very, very cold walk over to the Crowne Plaza to hook up w/ Mema and Pepa. They were coming down to stay in a train car hotel room before going to the Indy Home Show. We took a tour through their train car room and it was pretty cool, but soon found the TV remote and had them all dialed in to Nickelodeon. Our next plan was to hit Ruth’s Chris to burn through some gift cards, but they were packed to the gills (do cows have gills?). So, we wobbled our frozen selves up a few more blocks to Buca for some garlic goodness. Parks and I had plain spaghetti pasta and bread…mmmmmm…carbo-licious!
On Sunday, the Lebanon Lawson household was Grand Central Station for grandparent visits. Gigi and Poppa came down to clean our junk out of Poppa’s truck and hang out for a few before they snowbird to FL. Then, just as they were pulling out, Mema and Pepa dropped in to give Momma all sorts of ideas about home improvement from the Home Show. Finally, Daddy wasted the rest of the day watching dumb football games with his foot up in the air while Parks and I entertained ourselves and Momma darted to Indy to refill her makeup case. No surprise that we crashed early on Sunday after our eventful weekend!
It was a Christmas Miracle! We actually got Mema and Pepa, along with TC, Renee, and Mitchell, to go on a short road trip to St. Louis with us! Unfortunately, the trip began with what Mema likes to call, “An ICE STORM!!” but we all made it there safe and sound.
Our first stop was the City Museum. We’ve been there several times, but it never gets old, and it was the first time any of the Macy Crew had been there. We hit the whale room first where they had added a new climbing area. They even had a slide UNDER the floor that Parks and I went down several times. Daddy and I did all the hidden tubes up above in the ceiling, too. Awesome! We tried to take Mema in the caves, but that was a little too scary for her, so we caught up with Mitchell in the toddler room for some block stacking fun. After that, we headed to the skate park room where we all did some sliding together, but we were getting a little hungry so we took a break to get a grilled cheese made on pretzel instead of bread!
Next, over to the building architecture room for a toodle around really cool old building pieces. We tried our hand at the big hamptser wheel while Pepa and TC went through a bank vault, and the trip wasn’t complete without a ride on the train for Parks and Mitchell. After a quick COLD spin outside by the Lawsons for some climbing in airplanes and more crazy slides, we decided to head back to the hotel for a bit. I think Mitchell loved all the climbing, sliding, running, tumbling, block tower crushing, and all around “boy stuff” to do. Mema and Pepa liked the old acrhitecture room with salvaged building decoractions the best. We just liked showing everybody all the cool stuff there!
Back at the hotel there was no resting! Straight to the pool for us! Daddy hung out in the hottub while Momma, Mema, and Pepa stayed poolside. They talked about all the funny things Mitchell did at the museum and the crazy things he said there, like “No way!”, while they watched us swim and play with the hottub bubbles!
After our swim, we hung out in Mema’s room for a bit while we decided what to do next. Daddy got some free drinks and snacks from downstairs and we decided to head to “The Landing” to get some grub. If you ever see Mitchell, ask him how he liked those brick streets! We started out trying to eat at The Old Spaghetti Factory, but the wait was over an hour! So plan B was Morgan Street Brewery. It was a cool little joint, and I didn’t even know I owned a brewery! Daddy was stoked they had the provel cheese pizza and Mema was pretty excited about the flight of beers Daddy got. We actually heard Daddy say when he described one of them, “It tastes like Christmas!”
The next morning, we got up and headed straight down to the free breakfast where Parker made the most of sasuage consumption. He had THREE!! Mema and Pepa joined us, and Mitchell and TC came down later on. After eating, we took Mitchell over to the two fountains in the lobby. He really liked the bronze statue of Seaman (Lewis and Clark’s dog) that was in a display by one of the fountains. He enjoyed grabbing onto his tongue and laughing like crazy!
After figuring out a plan of attack, we walked over to the St. Louis Arch. TC and Mitchell had never been there in person, so we thought it was imperative to make a stop there. We went up to the top (and when I say WE, I mean everyone minus Pepa, Mema, and Momma…party poopers) and looked out the very tiny windows. Lots of butt pictures will be found in the picture albums…I think Uncle TC’s even made it in! Mitchell not only looked out the “Minow”, but licked as well! Yuck!! That kid is crazy! After coming back down, we took a tour of the museum and Momma let us get our own ornaments from the gift shop. Buddy loved his so much that he carried it around and eventually fell alseep in the car holding on to it.
On to the last stop on our trip…St. Louis Union Station. It’s mostly shops and resaurants, but they have a huge pond outside where Parks and I fed the carp…like thousands of them! We walked around the train station and got to see the grand lobby area which was awesome. I guess old stuff can be cool sometimes.
We finished our trip with lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. With everyones’ bellies full and it getting late, we piled into our cars and started back home.
It was a great trip with everyone, and maybe we can work Mema and Pepa up to a two-nighter sometime soon!
St. Louis
Thanks to all who made it down to my Christmas Program! Here are some of the special moments from the night:
Christmas Program
Last Saturday was a super-packed Lawson Family day. We started it off with the yearly tradition of Breakfast With Santa at Poppa’s work! We had pancakes, donuts, little sausages, and bananas, but the highlight was the jolly man himself. Riley, Taylor, Parker, and I all had a chance to sit on his lap and list all the fabulous things that we deserve this year for Christmas from his magic bag.
Next, we ran a few errands before meeting back up with the Lafayette Lawsons for a trip to the west side. All Fired Up was our target to rock their Christmas ornament painting extravaganza! I chose a peace sign, Parker painted a reindeer, and Riley and Taylor both painted beautiful flutterbys. Then, we hopped right next door to Scotty’s Brewhouse for lunch (Momma had been craving it for quite a while). It started out a little rocky due to some tight quarters and a few goofed orders, but ended on a high note with 2 free desserts for our troubles!