Mother's Day in Missouri

Every year fishing opener just happens to fall on the same weekend as Mother's Day. My Mom and I have gotten used to the girls weekend, but this year we took it to a whole new level. A couple months ago my Mom mentioned possibly going to Missouri Mother's Day weekend to visit since its been a while. I didn't think too much about it and just told her, "Yea, that would be fun." The next morning I received an email with our flight itinerary. It was official, the girls were heading to the good ol' Show Me state for the weekend. 

After talking to my Aunt Joan to arrange rides and figure out logistics, our trip somehow turned into a surprise for my Grandma Josie. It's no secret, my Aunt Joan loves surprises. She recruited her friend Donna and they created the master surprise plan. Donna convinced my Grandma there was a surprise dinner at Los Portales for my Aunt Joan's birthday. The plan was for Aunt Joan to pick us up from the airport, walk in to her "surprise party" and have us follow a few minutes later for the real surprise.

We arrived to St. Louis around 4:30pm Friday afternoon. Harper was a rockstar again on the plane, no issues at all which made me one happy and proud traveling Mama. Aunt Joan was waiting at the baggage claim with Harper's carseat and pack-n-play in hand ready to boogie. We pulled into the parking lot of Los Portales around 6pm ready for the big reveal. Walking in and my Grandma's back was facing the door... perfect. I walked up behind her, tapped her on the shoulder and said "Hey Grandma, what are you doing?" Her face was priceless, and the hug fest began. My Grandpa was in on the plan, and he did a great job preparing for our arrival! (Thanks Pawpaw!) We spent the rest of the night actually celebrating Aunt Joan's birthday, and chowing down on great food and amazing margaritas. 

Birthday Shot!

This was Harper's first time visiting my old home state. DeSoto, MO has a special place in my heart. The small town about 50 miles South of St. Louis is the place I was born and raised until I was 9. I have many fond memories from my childhood, and every time we go back to visit - I can't help to smile driving down Main Street. To be able to bring my own daughter to visit seemed special.

Harper walked into my grandparents house and immediately saw the giant ceramic piggy bank. She made her snorting sound and climbed on. This pig has been around forever. It's often used as an additional chair in the living room, so Harper sitting on it wasn't all that shocking. She loved that pig, and sat on it every day we were there.

Saturday we woke up and my Aunt Nita and Kenny drove down from Illinois to spend the weekend. The girls made plans to go to Grant's Farm for the day. It's a historic farm and landmark near St. Louis. It was owned by Ulysses S. Grant and now belongs to the Busch family (Anheuser-Busch). It's the perfect place to bring a 1 1/2 year old. We rode the tram, saw tons of animals, pet the baby goats, rode the carousel (which Harper hated) and got a free samples of Anheuser-Busch products. We had such a fun day spending time with Aunt Joan, Betty, Aunt Nita and my Mom. Harper totally mopped up in the gift shop leaving with multiple stuffed animals as souvenirs from her first Missouri trip.

Riding the tram!

Harper showing us her elephant!

I had made a restaurant request for dinner, Pogolino's. It's just about my favorite pizza place in town, and it was on the top of my list of things "to do." The food was just as good as I remember. If you ever find yourself in the little town of DeSoto, MO, check this place out. I highly recommend ordering a house salad (best ever) and a pork sausage and mushroom pizza. TO. DIE. FOR.

Saturday evening we also got to meet Piper, my cousin's daughter. She's nearly 1, and has the goofiest/cutest laugh ever. Harper gave Piper a few kisses and played for a bit. It was fun finally meeting her, and having a quick mini playdate.

The weekend went fast, as I expected it to. We were only in town for roughly 48 hours, and there were so many people I wanted to see and places to visit. Sunday morning we headed over to Aunt Margie Schumer's house to see her and Maggie. In the short amount of time we were at her house, Harper managed to rip every single kid toy and dog toy out and throw it around the living room. Little did she know the Harper tornado had hit. It was so great seeing Aunt Margie, and Harper even left with a cute alphabet caterpillar. (Thanks again Aunt Margie!)

With only a few hours left in town, we headed to the Elks Lodge for a Mother's Day lunch. It was a great way to end the trip with everyone together. It was an extra special Mother's Day being able to spend it with my Grandma and Mom. I don't remember the last time we were all together for that holiday. This trip was a special one. Certainly one I'll remember and cherish.

Since this a blog about the whole Helleen family, I suppose I should mention Mitch's fishing trip huh? My Dad, Mitch, Austin and two of his friends headed 4 hours north to the small town of Babbit, MN for the fishing opener. Since it's been an unusually chilly Spring, they were unable to fish on the lake... SINCE THERE WAS STILL ICE! They did find a river close that would do the trick, and had some success. They suffered through early mornings, cold temps, freezing rain/snow mix to catch walleye - and claim they had fun doing it. Now that we have all this fish, it's time for a fish fry!

Until next time...
The Helleen's