July 13, 2013 was the Vetz (Fran’s side of the family) family reunion in beautiful St. Louis.  This was our longest road trip to date with little Finn and I must say he did wonderfully!  We decided to leave on Wednesday July 10th after Brendan got home from work.  We made it all the way to St. Clairsville, OH before we had to stop for the night.  Well, actually, we stayed a couple exits from St. Clairsville because there’s some pipeline being built and all of the hotels in the immediate area were occupied by workers.  So, Brendan called around and found a place with a room.  In hindsight Brendan said he should’ve known what kind of room it would be when the guy said:  “The only thing I’ve got left is one of them hot tub rooms.”  For most people calling at 1:30 a.m. for a room that must be quite a selling point!  The room had a big mirror behind the head board and on the ceiling.  It was, however, clean and had a bed.  Finn loved waking up being able to look at himself in the mirrors!

After a quick breakfast at Steak n’ Shake we were on our way again.  According to the GPS we were to arrive in St. Louis around supper time.  We were all planning to have supper at Fitz’s, which besides, A&W (what I grew up with) has the yummiest root beer!

We were lucky enough to stay with Brendan’s Uncle Jim and Aunt Jan.  Finn immediately took to Uncle Jim.

On Friday we went to the St. Louis Arch.  YIKES!  When Uncle Jim and Popop asked me if I was uncomfortable with enclosed spaces that should have raised a red flag, but I went anyway.  The ‘pod’ that you go up in has 5 little seats and you barely have enough room to sit up straight!  Once we reached the top is when the real trouble started for me.  I’m not a fan of heights and because of the ‘arch’ I was unable to get my balance the entire time.  We spent all of 7 minutes at the top and that was just fine with me.  At least I can say that I did it!

Saturday was the big day!  As always, it’s controlled chaos getting all of us on the same page and at the same place at the same time.  The reunion was being held at a park close by and we were all in charge of our own meals and drinks.  This was to be the biggest birthday party I’d ever had!   Turns out I had to share it with Dillon Easton, 2nd cousin once removed. 😉  It was wonderful seeing that I married into such a large family!

Sorry it’s taken me soooo long to finish this darn post!  We’ve had so much going on and there’s so much more to come!

Yummy!

Two peas in a pod

I had no idea what I was getting into

Updating the family tree

The McBride clan

PHOTO BOMB!

Popop trying to teach Finn the piano

My new bestie!