It really doesn't matter what one's job is. A person needs a
break every now and then.
For many, I'm sure that being a stay-at-home dad sounds like
it would be somewhat of a dream. I know for a fact that there are many dads out
there who would absolutely love to be with their kids day in and day out. For
me though, it really is a job. While yes, I love Ellie and Ethan, it can be
trying at times to be around them nonstop. I see them at their best and I
definitely see them at their worst.
That's the very reason why this past weekend marked
something I had been looking forward to for months and why it was such a
welcome reprieve from the day-to-day grind.
For those of you that don't know, this past weekend marked a
much anticipated bro-down with some college friends. Now, this wasn't any old
bro-down. No, this bro-down found six of us crammed in a buddy's minivan,
traversing across the state to picturesque St. Louis.
While we all have remained close since college, there have
definitely been times that we've gone months without communication. That's no
longer the case through the magic of 'Marco Polo'. Since downloading it this
summer, our group of seven has rarely gone a day without being in communication
with one another.
In fact, it was through 'Marco Polo' that the idea of a
bro-down first came up. It started with the idea of us going to a Royals game.
Then someone suggested doing a road trip to St. Louis to take in a Cardinals
game. Finally it morphed into us getting an Air B&B and staying overnight
so that we could spend the better part of two days hanging out, saying dumb
things, and catching up.
I won't go into painstaking play-by-play detail but I'll hit
the high points. The first stop once we all made it to St. Louis was our home
away from home for the night: what seemed to be a former storefront converted
into a small apartment. Yeah, it was tight but it was all the six of needed for
the night. Following that, we headed to Schlafly Bottleworks for burgers. It
was also home to one of the best sodas I've ever had in 'Ski'. If I had to
describe it, I would call it a Mountain Dew with extra bite.
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| I could eat one right now... |
After dinner, we headed to a grocery store to stock up on
snacks before heading to the City Museum. If you're not in the know, the City
Museum is less museum and more giant playground. After spending a couple of hours
getting lost within the confines of the building all while crawling on our
hands and knees, it was time to head back to our new home.
Once there, we settled in and made ourselves at home playing
board games, eating ice cream and other junk food, and watching lots of college
football. Once 1:00 am rolled around, we decided as a group that maybe it was
time to get some shut eye. However, that common sense suggestion was quickly
curtailed as we instead all laid in our respective beds telling crazy stories,
reminiscing about old times, and laughing way too hard. I think I was one of
the last ones to doze off around the 2:00 hour.
The unfortunate part of staying up too late like that is
that morning comes way too quickly. As we all have kids, we all suffered from
being accustomed to them waking us up early. By 7:00 am, we were all out of bed
and enjoying a wonderful breakfast of omelets made in bacon grease. Wonderful
tasting, not wonderful for us.
We had to be packed up and out of our Air B&B by 10:00
am. However, the Cardinals game didn't actually start until 1:15 pm. Therefore,
that left us with some time to kill. Just as everyone knows, when six adult
males have time to kill, there's no better alternative than going to the Saint
Louis Zoo!
Once we arrived at the Zoo, we just kind of wandered
aimlessly through the Butterfly pavilion and the African trail before it was
time to head out. Like any good husband would, I took the opportunity to begin
snapping pictures of various animals to send to Bethany. And like any good
mother would, Bethany took the opportunity to show them to Ellie. And like any
good daughter would, Ellie swiped Bethany's phone and asked Siri to call me
without her mother's knowledge or permission.
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| I took a picture with a bug quilt. Why? I have no idea. |
So there I was, walking around the Zoo with my college bros,
talking to my daughter on the phone while waiting to head to Busch Stadium.
Actually, talking isn't really the right word here. Instead, Ellie was
continually telling me how much she missed me and how badly she wanted me home
right that second. In fact, Bethany was able to confirm exactly how much Ellie
had missed me. Spoiler alert: it was so much that she cried about it!
Before I knew it, it was time to hang up as we were heading
downtown to Baseball Village and Busch Stadium for the Cardinals game. We first
grabbed some lunch at Baseball Village while enjoying a little trash talk about
our fantasy football teams. Then, finally, the moment we had been waiting for
had arrived. That's right, we received our free Cardinals winter hats as we
entered Busch Stadium. Oh wait, no that wasn't it. No, we arrived at our seats and
experienced a brand new stadium (for most of us).
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| FREE HAT!!! |
Just as quickly as Ryan Braun hitting a grand slam in the
top of the ninth leading my friend Brian to storm out in anger, our trip was
over and it was time to head home. Don't worry though, it was such a huge
success that we're already doing some preliminary plans for the sequel sometime
next year.
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| I'm still partial to 'The K' but Busch Stadium is a beautiful place. |
One great thing about getting away like that is that no
matter how long or short the length of time, I'm still happy to get home and
see the family again. What's super nice is that the next morning hug from Ellie confirmed she felt the exact same way. #DaddyWrite
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| The bro-down squad (clockwise from top left): Joey, Chris, Kevin, me, Nathan, and Brian (aka Teddy) |
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