The Day Everything Went Right!

Note how I dressed the boys in their brightest yellow matching shirts so they'd be easy to spot in a crowd! Thanks for the spiderman shirts, Grandpa Jim!

Those of you reading this who are parents know...a day like this comes along once in a LONG while...a day when everything goes right! We headed to St. Louis yesterday and decided we were going to have a good time even though the forecast was for a high of 39 degrees and snow mixed with rain...the night before Grace and I prayed and asked God to make it sunny and warm...(I had little faith that this would happen)...here is a summary of our perfect day:

Didn't run out of gas on the way there, even though I drove 75 miles an hour for an hour on E!

Made it to Qdoba on fumes for lunch instead of stopping at any of the 10,000 Mc Donalds' along the way!

The manager surprised us with free brownies for the kids b/c they were "so well behaved"

When we got to St. Louis, it was 70 degrees and sunny!! It was a miracle! (or at least an answered prayer!)

We found 2 parking spots (daryn had to drive separately so he could drive home Monday when his flight arrives back in st. louis) next to eachother in the FREE parking!

Free admission into the best zoo in the country.

Absolutely no crowd at the zoo! and all the animals were out so we could see them.

Not one major problem or complaint at the zoo! (parents of 3 kids-you know this is amazing)

The cheetahs were out and very visible..(our children along with a few of their cousins have a cheetah obsession)

Bathrooms were plentiful

The hippos were awesome

We let the kids pick out a small stuffed animal since they were all so good...They were only $5 each! I consider that a miracle, as well!

Hotels.com had booked us one extra room that we would have had to pay for (we were supposed to have only one) but the hotel let us cancel that room and not pay...(don't use hotels.com!)

The Ethiopian food was GREAT! (Queen of Sheba restaurant on Olive Blvd-we love it!)

The pool water back at the hotel was WARM!

They let us squeeze a rollaway bed in the room (some hotels won't let a family of 5 stay in one room)

All three kids went to sleep great!

Daryn didn't wake anyone up when he left for the airport at 3:30am

So, the day ended w/ many little victories...individually none of it seems very spectacular-but those of you w/ kids know-to have a day of roadtrips and vacation where nobody fights, nobody gets in trouble, and everybody is happy and complaint free-is a MIRACLE!!!! Yeah! Thank you, God...

of course, today is another story now that everyone is exhausted:) haha

Hear are a few pictures from the Queen of Sheba restaurant...you should have seen how much injera our kids ate!!! By the way-another awesome thing-Grace and Luke love Ethiopian food as much as Anteneh! haha...no complaints even though it is so different than American food...I love that we can eat at ethnic places w/ our kids...it's a special thing to eat it w/ Anteneh...and the kids LOVE eating with their hands....
and last but not least...Anteneh dancing at the restaurant...