Days 13 & 14 - Oklahoma City, OK & St. Louis, MO

Unfortunately, we do not have any pictures from the last two days. :( Both days have been extremely long (over 8 hours) driving days and we've been getting into town late. I tried to take a picture of the "Welcome to..." signs when we entered each state, but going 75 miles an hour, doesn't make for a good picture and all attempts came out either of trees or guardrails or extremely blurry. So, no pictures, sorry! :(

We had a great time with Mark & Mindy in Albuquerque and after an early morning, we headed off to Oklahoma City, OK. Along the way we hit some really bad thunderstorms, which almost looked like a scene out of "Twister", but they passed quickly and before we knew it, we were in sunshine again. Oklahoma was a beautiful state and was a welcome change after driving through the desert for a few days! The best part of our stay, though it was short, was the simple fact that there was a Panera Bread just down from our hotel!! Mom & I were so excited and we stopped by there for breakfast! It was DELISH and we enjoyed every bite!

After our yummy breakfast we headed off to St. Louis, MO. It was another long day of driving, but the scenery was beautiful! We stopped in Springfield for lunch and kept on trucking along till we reached our hotel around 8pm. We had a few bumps once we got here though.....first, they had our name misspelled in the computer and had originally told Craig that they didn't have our reservation. Then, after we were given a room, I headed up there with the girls only to find that only ONE of the two queen beds was made and we only had ONE towel in the bathroom! I called down to the front desk and was told someone would be up to make the bed and give us fresh towels. When someone came up, all he had was towels and told us that he didn't make beds.......at that point we called down and requested a new room! They then had told us another room on the same floor which was good because Craig had brought all our bags up to the room and all we would have to do is go down the hall, but then the front desk called up and said we would be moving to a room two floors DOWN! So, once we got everything and everyone to the correct room that was clean and made, did we finally all relax and able to enjoy the rest of the night. Just a little drama, but nothing we couldn't handle and all turned out good in the end!

The most important thing about today is that it is Kylie's 4th Birthday!! That's right, our Kylie B turned 4 years old today! Can you believe it?? When we moved to WA she was 10 months old and now she is 4 and ready to go to pre-kindergarten next year! When I asked her this morning how old she was, she said "I'm 5, Mommy!" I corrected her and told her that she was indeed 4 years old and to PLEASE not grow up too fast, even though I know the years, just like the past 4 are going to fly by! We kept her birthday pretty low key and plan on having a party once we get back to MD. Happy Birthday, Kylie!! We love you so much!!!!

Tomorrow, we are off to Peoria, IL to visit our great friends, Mike & Jenny Weber and their children Aiden & Caitlin! I cannot wait because we have not seen each other in over 2 years and we'll get to meet Caitlin for the very first time! It's going to be so much fun!! It's also a very short driving day, so I think we'll all sleep in tomorrow! We will definitely have some pics from Illinois, so check back soon! ~The Thayers & Mom-Mom :)