St. Louis part 1

Seize the adventure!  We’re on the road back from our latest adventure to St. Louis MO for our first Angelman Syndrome Conference.  Boy did we have one rockin’ time! 

First thing’s first… we need to thank everyone who helped make this trip happen… to our family, friends, neighbors, and complete strangers who participated in Arianna’s Awesome Yard Sale.  We raised enough money to cover my portion of the trip (which included some pretty cool adventures like the Zoo, Water Park, and Face Painting).  To Great Grandpa for letting us borrow his big car, to grandpa for the gas, Bubbe and Grampa for their support.  Thanks to uncle DooDah for watching the animals and my toys.  Thanks to Nana for taking such good care of sissy and I.  To the Somrack family for letting us stay on their farm (sorry I decided to pull the all nighter on a school night). 

Along the way to St. Louis we stopped at several restaurants called Cracker Barrel, they have awesome mac and cheese.  I need to say a special thank you to their wait staff who is always excellent with me and the family (we take up a lot of room and I like to leave quite the mess).  Especially Wanda in Columbus, and Debbie in Indianapolis.

Sissy and I were very good girls in the car.  Nana kept us company in the back seat and played DJ for the trip.  She also kept me fed between rest stops. We went through PA, OH, IN, IL and ended up in MO.  Each state had something amusing to offer, especially Indiana, there was a drive through that sold beer by the can… we thought that was kind of weird.

The rest stops along the way were beautiful and I had a lot of space to run around without getting into trouble.

I figured out that if I climb on the luggage carts I get free rides at the hotel, loads of fun.  Our hotel was right across from the convention center.  It was really nice, and there was a pool!  There were other conference attendees there too, so we got to spend some time with them in the pool.

The first night in St. Louis we had a big banquet with all the families.  It was awesome to see so many of my online friends.  I got to give Maggie a great big hug.  I really missed her and her family a whole bunch! 

So now it is time to shout out to all my friends… Hi Mag, Erin, Audrey, Charissa, Kate, Louis, Cole, Danielle, Karsen, Caden, Aiden, Aiden & sis Cloe, Noah & Talia, Shlomo & Family, Maddie, Drew, and all the other awesome friends mom and dad met.  I have to give a special hope and prayer to our friend Kassy who is in the hospital.  If everyone could keep her in your thoughts and prayers  for her fast and healthy recovery we would appreciate it.

Mom and Dad learned so much from the experts, especially Dr. Calculator, Terry Jo Bichell, Jackie Golden, and Kim Marchman… thank you for helping them understand me better you are awesome!  Mom says that her and Daddy have a lot of fun things to bring into our new school year, I’m sooooo looking forward to them, especially if it includes food and a pool!

I learned a lot with Nana on our adventures.  We got to know so many other kids and their families.  Sharing stories was amazing, and there was so much fun and happiness. 

The service in St. Louis was Amazing, especially at the convention.  Greg and Tori took wonderful care of us and we will always keep a special place in our hearts for them.  Thank you gentleman for helping Mom and Dad and for the extra bananas!  The staff at the Drury was very helpful too (sorry I left the floor such a mess).

We’re in Columbus now and I just wanted to get this first post out before we got home.  I am hoping to get the pictures up soon after we get home and then have a little more from the trip. 

All in all we had an excellent time, we learned that our futures are so bright and that there is a lot to look forward to. The challenges ahead can be successfully overcome if we take them in bite size pieces, but I -of course- will make them interesting along the way!  Most of all we thank those in our lives who help us along the way… from holding the door to sponsoring our walk a thon, from getting me an extra banana to making sure the hot food doesn’t get too close to my “octopus hands”.  Friends, family, strangers, and kind souls we have not met yet… thank you and god bless you all!

With great big hugs- Arianna (from the latest awesome adventure)