Pre-Spring Mini-Vacation! Part 1...Springfield, IL

That's right..I said pre-spring...because if you remember in 2012 this time of year it was 80 degrees in Wisconsin.  Right now it is pretty balmy in the low twenties...so we decided to head south for a mini vacation.  South to Saint Louis, MO!
We always love our vacations together.  It is a time to get together as a family and get away from our daily routine.  I know I always look forward to getting the things together...even though this time Melissa was the one who did the majority of the packing..and we stopped seeing whose suitcase was larger since they are combined.  And of course with a little Madster getting so excited we took along the normal ten books, animal figurines and a special car activity folder that Melissa put together for her.  It had pencils, crayons and play-dough in it...and it was revealed when we got in the car.  It went over well.

We had planned to take off about 1pm on Wednesday and come back in the afternoon on Sunday.  I could tell the ladies were excited about going on this trip.  Jon had to work a half day in the morning and loved seeing the pictures of the car packing taking place.  Maddie in the cooler, Maddie packing the cooler, Maddie packing her books...I could sense the excitement over email.  I arrived home and we took off.  We like to plan our vacations in a relaxing way so we decided that the first leg of the trip was going to be the four hour drive to Springfield, IL where we would set up camp in the hotel for the night.  The trip went very smoothly.  We had lunch on the go in the car and Maddie was very occupied.  We arrived around 5pm in Springfield and checked into our hotel.  We were pleasantly surprised that we were upgraded to a one bedroom suite which was very cool.  The first evening was spent at the pool where someone had a blast.  Maddie is getting to be a little fish...a fish with no fear.  She loved jumping off the stairs and paddling over with her life jacket on..and because she is such a family girl..it was all we could do to keep her from going in the hot tub while mama and papa took five minute turns.  Oh the smiles.....:)

And here is where we digress from the vacation story and transition to a short tale about swimming and potty; or should I say..swimming and potty training...however you put it...you always have to be on your toes.  You see...Maddie had been a rock star in the car...she is now to the point where we would say she is 90% potty trained..but had not fully tested the durability of the bladder on a long car trip.....we were nervous, but thought..what the heck..and it was big girl undies with princesses on them the whole four hour duration down to Springfield with no incident..YEAH!!!  So after a much needed stop in the hotel room before the pool we thought we were in the clear.....but in the midst of the excitement of jumping into the water..she said.."I have to go POTTY!!!"  And as Melissa was enjoying the full scale amenities of the Marriott hot tub..she casually smiled and said..."Its all you papa."  Now the conundrum...we were full scale in soaking wet swimsuit....so we tracked down the main hallway to find the public restrooms...now for any parents out there..you may know this..but for me it was a new thing...I would associate taking off and putting on a kiddos wet swimsuit with the equivalent of putting on scuba gear...and I've never put on scuba gear..but I'm probably not far off.  We got it accomplished....the plan was this was going to be a quick one..but it turned into a number two...Papa's first experience in a public restroom with a number two and a kid's wet swimsuit.  Plan for next time...bring two suits down...and opt for the dry one after the event......you'll thank yourself later.  But a big ole shout out to the Madster for being a big girl!!!

So that was the digression...and we finished up swimming like a rock star and headed up for some dinner in the hotel room.  Melissa had done a great job of packing healthy food and we snacked on vegetables with dip, and pulled pork sandwiches.  We had a little cute family moment when Maddie was curled up trying to go to sleep and all of a sudden said she wanted to sleep at home.  Our little girl was homesick.  But a few hugs and kisses always take care of that.......

After a good nights sleep we rose up early..sans alarm clock since our little lady likes to be an early riser...and we headed out for the days activities.  Our first stop was the Abraham Lincoln home...actually it was the National Park Service stop.  Maddie enjoyed looking at the map of the area and of course picking out a pencil (we collect them now) as a keepsake.  We went on a guided hour long tour of the house.  It was very interesting.  Jon had been there years back, but was younger and it is always nice to revisit because you pick up so many different perspectives.  Maddie was a rock star given it was a restrictive area with no touching..not exactly explorer friendly.  The highlight was explaining to her what an outhouse was....we didn't elaborate too much..as we didn't want her to get to excited and want to use it instead of the "in house..."

Our next stop was the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.  This was something totally unexpected as it did not exist when Jon visited last.  The word to describe it would be IMPRESSIVE.  The library itself is a research library so that was a pretty quick jaunt..but the museum was really done well.  It was a journey through the life of Abraham Lincoln as a boy, through his election, presidency and the civil war.  It was very moving.  They had life size figures portraying some of the events of that time.  Melissa and I sort of forget sometimes how big Maddie is getting and how impressionable she is.  There was an exhibit of a slave trade where a family was being separated.  You could see the looks of anguish on the characters faces and that really left an impression on Maddie.  She wanted to see it again, and then started asking questions about where they were going.  Mom and Dad comforted her with a lot of hugs and explained that we were celebrating a great man who helped make this a better country for all of these people and to keep families together.  That calmed her.  A step back for both of us to realize the caring, thoughtfulness and loving lady that we adore so much.  Highlights of the exhibit were many...but I know Melissa was impressed with a room that put the news headlines of the day into caricature form through pictures. Its amazing how the same topics transcend through generations.  Jon was impressed with a room that had a map of the United states and gave the history of the civil war in four minutes displaying how the front lines moved, the battles won and lost and the number of casualties.  Very moving.  And the highlight for Melissa and I was getting to see one of the ORIGINAL Lincoln stove pipe hats that he wore in the day....complete with a forefinger mark etched in the brim where he tipped his hat to passers-by.  VERY cool.  NEVER thought I would see that.  Oh..and Maddie's highlight was the kids area.  She was a rock star during the tour, and we relaxed for about an hour in Mrs Lincoln's playhouse....complete with dress up time period dresses, Lincoln logs, wooden toys to that era and a scale version titanium dollhouse of the Lincoln home.  This thing was huge...Jon got talking to the museum dude in the play area and he said that the museum contracted with a company that contracts with Disney to complete some of the exhibits..it really does show...a must see...and a wonderful time!!!

This was a full day and we headed over to see the Lincoln grave and paid our respects.  At this time it was time for all the family to rest and we headed back to the hotel..but Maddie had other ideas..thus began our second swimming adventure!!!  Dinner after that was the end to a great day in Springfield...yeah...we all slept well that night.....