The Mice Will Play

Backing up to last week, remember how Frank was gone on a work trip last Sun-Tues?  Well, he had to turn right around and leave for work trip #2 on Wednesday afternoon, but this time, Jacob and I went with him!

We were in Fairview Heights, IL, from Wednesday until Friday evening, and we stayed at the same hotel that was hosting Frank's seminar, which allowed me to have the car during the day.

On Thursday, Jacob and I went to the St. Louis zoo.  I was a little nervous about taking him by myself, but I also knew this little trip would kill the whole day.

I forgot our stroller, so we rented this sweet ride for Jacob at the zoo.

We got to see lots of animals, but I think our favorite was the random peacock we ran into- literally!- right outside the bathroom.  It wasn't overly fond of us, and we learned that peacocks make a really loud squawk when they're mad.  (Jacob:" Bird noisy!  Hurt my ears!")

J got out of his stroller and did quite a bit of walking.  He also did quite a bit of stick-gathering.

We rode the zoo train, which he loved, despite his skeptical expression in the next picture.

So you know how most kids would go to the zoo, and their favorite attraction would be an animal?  Not my kid.  His favorite part of the zoo?  The air conditioning fan outside the monkey house!!  Weirdo.

We spent about 3 hours walking around and had a good time.  The walking and the 90 degree weather exhausted us both, but we were entertained the whole day.

On Friday, we had to be out of our room by 11, so Jacob and I found a local park and played there for a while.  While we were at the park, the sky began to get dark, and I had a text from Frank's mom that there were storms in the area.  We had planned to meet Frank's parents at Chuck E Cheese just after noon, but because of the storms, they were delayed.

J and I headed to the mall.  The mall in Fairview Heights is pretty nice, and it was definitely the place to be stuck as the storms rolled over.  After a delicious Chick-fil-A lunch (Why do we not have a Chick-fil-A in Normal?), we mall-walked until Frank's parents were able to meet us.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Chuck E Cheese, something I NEVER could have done without Gary and Anna.  Thirty minutes in there is about my limit- ha!  Jacob loved playing the games and getting tickets-- he thought they were money-- and he loved showing off for Grandma and Grandpa.

After Frank's seminar ended, we all went out to eat, and we were on our way home. It was a nice little "acation", which is Jacob-speak for "vacation."  (Well, for us anyway... poor Frank learned all he ever wanted to know about bankruptcy!)