Out West Trip 2010. Destination: Kansas!
May 23, 09:24 PM
We took the twins to Kansas on their first road trip ever in May. We left Saturday the 15th of May and returned home Saturday the 22nd. They did really well traveling which was a huge blessing. We stopped to feed them several times along the way. Evie started what we now know was her attitude during the first drive. It really was cute. They were in their rear-facing car seats and we have mirrors strapped onto the headrests facing them, so we can look back and see them and they can see us or at least the back of our heads. When she wanted to get my attention, she would make a noise: “ehhh” or “hmpft”. I would turn and look at her in her mirror and she would look at me with a huge smile on her face or she would have the look on her face where her eyes narrow slightly and she puckers her lips into a ‘I’m smiling, but I’m not’ look. By the time we headed back to Kansas, we realized that this was the start of Evie’s ‘tude. Charming? Yes. Are we in trouble? Yes :-)
We made it to Olathe, Kansas that night. We went back and forth on whether or not to stop or push on through because we were only about 3.5 hours from Kristy’s hometown of Winfield. We were exhausted and Evie started letting us know that she had just about had it with being glued down to her seat once we hit the East side of KC. Kristy had offered to take over the driving for Rob, but was exhausted and didn’t think she should drive, so we found a motel for the night. We were so glad we stopped! We were able to sleep in a little bit and then head on to Derby where R.J. and Evie got to meet Papa Hopper and Nana Cathy for the first time so they got lots of loving! Aunts, Kamy and Stephanie, drove up from Winfield for family pictures sans Cathy’s children. Afterward, we drove to Sumo’s Hibachi Grill to eat some good Japanese food. Then off to Winfield we went.
The babies then got to see their Grandma Teresa again. The babies had not seen her since October when she and their Great-Grandma Laura had come to visit two weeks after the babies got out of the NICU. We got in later in the evening and got to see Kristy’s mom’s new house for the first time since she had moved in. We had seen it before when we were out for the baby shower, but that was before she bought it and shortly after the Bodkins had inherited it from their friend, Stan. It was a nice, cozy house and we got the babies’ pack ‘n play set up in one of the two spare bedrooms. We decided that we needed to buy another one since both babies were rolling around all over the place in their cribs at home when they were asleep. The two of us went to Wal-Mart (the first of many trips to Wal-Mart that week) to buy another one. Both fit in the room in front of Kristy’s old daybed and we managed to fit their bouncy seats in the room too. We stayed in the other spare bedroom and listened to them through our monitor that we brought from home.
The next day, the two of us went to Kristy’s mom’s old house to clear out the rest of Kristy’s bedroom. We loaded up the things that Kristy wanted to keep, threw some things away, made a pile in the living room of things to put in a garage sale, and put a ton of old notes, old textbooks, and papers in a huge box for recycling. That was work and we wanted to get it over and done with as soon as possible!
Another not so fun thing was that both babies were sick while we were there, so later that day, we had to take them to see Grandma Teresa’s doctor. Evie was running a temperature of 103 something and we didn’t even realize! They did a chest x-ray on her (he asked us which of the two we thought was more sick and at the time, we thought it was Evie) and it turned out fine, thankfully. They sent us to William Newton Memorial Hospital to have the lab do a mouth swab on both to check for RSV. Those turned out negative as well. We spent the whole afternoon running around, but we were thankful that we were able to get them seen.
One fun thing we did while in Kansas included going to the Carver’s house for dinner. We had some tasty taco salad. R.J. was pretty much sick the whole time we were out in Kansas except for the last day and he wasn’t happy while we were at the Carver’s so Greg carried him around most of the evening. Even though Shea is 5 years older now than she was when we got married (and almost a teenager), she was the same old Shea! We lamented to Susan that she probably wouldn’t even remember us, but Susan assured us that she would and that she was still the same old Shea we knew. And she was. It was fun getting to spend time with her again! We also got to meet Abbie’s boyfriend, Elliott. They are both coming to Capital University here in Columbus next year, so we are excited that our families will be staying in touch.
Another fun thing that we did was going out to Wellington to see Aunt Kamy at her job and to meet some of her coworkers. She was excited to show off her niece and nephew. We went to A&W for lunch and had some good root beer floats!
Kristy and mom went to try to find some really cute bloomers that say Grandma’s girl on them for Evie. They checked out a hair salon called Curls Gone Wild where some baby clothes were sold, but couldn’t find what they were looking for. Kristy had been wanting to get her hair cut shorter since before she got pregnant, so she set up an appointment for Thursday morning. After the appointment, she went back over to mom’s old house to try to get the recycling out so as not to leave the huge box of papers for mom to have to take out, but it was too late. She did see the trash truck coming, so she was able to take the trash cans around just in time. Shawn pulled up just after she got the last one around. She invited him to come meet the twins later that day.
Then, she left and went to see her Grandma and Grandpa Hopper’s old house. We had been hoping to take the twins to meet their Great-grandma B in the Spring, but Grandma B passed away at the beginning of February. Kristy was hoping that the house would still be in the family when we were able to make it to Kansas, but it had been sold to one of her cousin’s (Michelle’s) friend. She backed into a parking spot for the the little park area in front of their property and just looked at the house reflecting on different memories. Her Grandpa, Leland, let her drive the riding lawnmower when she was really young and she drove it into her Great-grandma Faye’s trailer house that used to be on the South side of her grandparents house. She was fine and so was the trailer. She loved her grandparents dearly and was really sad that she couldn’t walk through the house to get closure and to see everything again. She was also looking forward to smelling the garage again. Her sense of smell is often what triggers memories for her and the garage had a distinctive smell that will always remind her of them. As she viewed the house, she was sad, but thankful for all of the memories. She said a quick prayer before she said ‘goodbye’. She hopes that she gets to see them again in Heaven. She also hopes to have a marriage with as much love as theirs that lasts just as long as theirs did. Fifty-five years!
Kristy’s mom made up some hors d’oeuvre’s and that afternoon we had a few hours where friends of the family could stop by to meet Evie and R.J. The people that came included mostly mom’s friends: Ruth, Dana, Maggie, Karen and Don, Barbara, Stephanie’s mom, Kathy B. and her friend Melody and her daughter, Stephanie’s grandma Doris, Shawn, Madison, and Gracie, and Great-grandma Laura. Kristy tried calling Barbara’s daughter, Lisa, who was a few years older than her in school, but wasn’t able to connect. Lisa was sad she didn’t get to meet the twins. It was fun to show off the twins and R.J. was finally feeling better and was more himself!
While we were there, Kamy and Stephanie gave the babies their birthday gifts early. One gift was another musical table, so now they have a pink and a blue one. We really thought that Evie was going to start crawling while we were there since she had been rocking back and forth on all fours for awhile, but she didn’t. Looking back, we are glad she didn’t because the house wasn’t baby proofed and we didn’t bring a play yard to keep them contained. It would have been a lot more work for all of us and a lot less rest!
Thursday evening, Kristy’s Dad came down to see the grand kids one last time. We went for a visit to the home that Terry (Papa’s oldest brother who is mentally retarded) had been placed in. Terry was happy to see them. One thing that was very sweet was when he would gently hold the babies’ foot. We got some good pictures!
We left Friday morning and stopped off for about an hour at the South Topeka exit where Pam and S.K. met us. They got to meet the twins for the first time. It was fun getting to see them again! We debated about whether to stop off in Lawrence or try to make it the whole way home that day and we finally decided that we are not in Kansas very often, so we should stop. We went to a few stores on Massachusetts street and bought a mini Jayhawk backboard and hoop with a soft, little ball and car magnets for the van, and a little Jayhawk basketball! Then we ate at Jimmy John’s. Afterward, we drove by Allen Fieldhouse and parked in a nearby parking lot so that we could get some pictures with the babies with the Fieldhouse in the background!
We made it to Terre Haute that night and stopped around midnight. It took us awhile to find a place to stay and we got the last room in the motel where we ended up. The next morning, we stopped to get breakfast at a McDonald’s on the East side of Indy and we had to drive a ways off of I-35. It was not a good area and Rob told Kristy to lock the doors of the van while he got out to get gas. As Kristy was observing the area from the passenger seat, she glanced from time to time to this man who was standing by his car smoking. After awhile, she realized that he was packing heat and then tried to get Rob’s attention. She finally knocked on the window in the middle section of the van and tried to gesture to him that the guy wearing the hat had a gun, but he thought she meant that the people who were in front of us that had just left did. He was done pumping gas anyway and we got out of there making a mental note to not stop there ever again!
It was nice to be able to get away from Columbus and go back to Kristy’s hometown and see relatives and friends. It was a nice break from our jobs. We had both been ready for a break. Rob felt that he had a nice break, but Kristy felt that she needed another vacation as soon as they got back! Overall the trip was a success and the babies, as usual, were very good!
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