When the cat's away....

Okay - maybe not the most appropriate title, but it was the first thing that popped into my head. So, Zac and I took the big kids to St. Louis for the weekend. We had a great time! We planned way to much for such a small trip and I've caught a bit of a bug so I was pretty much out of commission. I tried really, really hard to be fun, but it just didn't work out so well. Anyway, we started off at the City Museum - awesome, awesome, awesome. The kids and Zac had a blast. I would have too, but wasn't much into crawling through tight, metal spaces. Next time, I'm in! We had no idea what to expect of this museum, but have definitely learned that the kids need to wear tennis shoes next time. Flip-flops didn't work out so well. Zac also thought to put the kids' names and our cell number on their wristbands. He's so smart! We didn't lose them, but it would have been really easy to do so. They would crawl in one hole and end up on another floor on the other side of the museum! We highly recommend this stop (A little pricey, but worth it if you have the time to spend there).
Next stop, to the Cardinals game. It was free poster day and a pretty good game with great seats. Beyond that, the kids both took turns napping. It was hot, hot, hot and they were very tired and cranky. We had planned to hit America's Incredible Pizza Company for dinner and some entertainment, but thought it would be best to just go for a swim and order pizza.
This morning we had the hotel breakfast buffet (the highlight for Zac and I). It was soooooo yummy! They actually had a crepe station. You could get a crepe any possible way you could imagine - mine, you ask? I had the chef surprise me with an apple butter filled crepe topped with bananas foster and toasted almonds. Completely sinful, yet delicious.
After breakfast, I started feeling especially icky, so Zac took the kids up in the arch, which they LOVED. They could have stayed for hours looking at pools on top of hotels, the mighty, muddy, Mississippi, and all the little itty bitty people walking around St. Louis. Then, a brisk walk to Union Station for a little trampoline jumping for Jack, fudge for Brooklyn, and a few souvenirs.
Next-free Ankiel lunch boxes at the game today (highlight for the kids!) Another hot, but great game. The kids went the the Build-A-Bear where Jack made Fredbird (aka Albert Pujols) and Brooklyn made a pink Cardinal's bear (aka Lisa) with appropriate fan attire! Then back to Peoria and back to check on Olivia, which brings us back to the title.
Here's what Olivia did while we were away:
1. Got rid of her arterial line in her arm
2. Got rid of high flow and returned to 2 liters off the wall
3. Got held a lot by grandma's and grandpa's
4. And I think all of her medications are now oral
She made big headway this weekend. I haven't seen her since I'm not feeling well. I'm going to go in tomorrow morning and just wear a mask. There are plans to put in a port tomorrow to make her blood draws easier and possible do a swallow study and start feeding. I'm sure there is probably more, but I'll have to go over it all tomorrow! Hope you all had as good of a weekend!!!