Thompson Troop Travels to St. Louis

This Sunday, the only Thompson excited to be back in Blue Springs, Mo., was the smallest one. Owen traveled with his two older brothers, mom and dad to St. Louis, Mo., for a quick trip of weekend fun. A quick phone call to Vivian letting her know they were headed her way confirmed their stay at the Holiday Inn Select downtown. Another call to Owen's grandma, Valita, confirmed that he'd be entertained at the hotel while the Seann and Turner played around town with Deeon and Jessica.

The family left Blue Springs Friday evening and stayed the night in New London, Mo., near Hannibal, Mo., at Valita's house. They arrived late, went straight to bed and woke up refreshed and ready to hit the highway for the remaining hour and a half drive. Arriving at the hotel around 11:30 a.m., they checked into one of their two rooms, since it was already prepared, and went to restaurant inside the hotel for lunch. After lunch, Uncle Jim showed up and went with Seann, Turner and their parents to the City Museum while Owen stayed back with his grandma and napped.

The boys were excited to explore the museum, and after catching sight of the big indoor slide, headed straight up the stairs for it. Next, they headed to the dodge ball pit where it became "get back at Dad" time. Then they climbed around, found slides and attempted to climb up a slide with the help of a rope. After finding a plane suspended in the climbing zone, Seann stated that he and Turner "flew the plane across the nation!"

After running around, a drink was in order for all. Then they enjoyed the drinks while viewing the indoor aquarium. The aquarium allowed the children to touch certain animals, so both Seann and Turner were able to touch a shark!! They saw turtles of all sizes, stingrays, a ferret, sharks and an assortment of fish.

When they were done exploring the museum late Saturday afternoon, the family headed back to the hotel where Jim met up with Vivian and they headed to the St. Louis Cardinals' game with Vivian's brothers, who were also visiting that weekend. Seann, Turner and Deeon were able to go swimming and hang out together that night while Jessica laid low with Owen and her mom. The next morning everyone enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and checked out so they could walk to the Gateway Arch and take the tram ride up to the top. Turner said his favorite thing about the Arch was the tram car (egg to the Thompsons). "I liked the eggs! They were fun." he said. Once they returned down to the ground, they walked back to their cars at the hotel and headed home. Owen, who noticed all weekend he was out of his element, was the most excited to see home and play with his toys. The rest of the family agreed that another drive down I-70 would be in order sooner rather than later.