Missouri Trip 2020

The next morning we packed up and drove along the strip before heading to the airport. It's nice and empty during the pandemic. Allison tried but failed to fall asleep on the flight. Oscar actually sat in the lucky seat on our flight, which won him 5000 miles. Unfortunately it doesn't amount to very much. It's basically half of a cheap one way fare, and it has to be booked within 90 days, so we're probably not going to use it. I think it's dumb to call them miles if they don't honor them mile for mile. They should just call them points.

Ryan picked us up from the airport and Emily made us a delicious waffle dinner. The kids had lots of fun with their cousins!

We'd planned on staying at a hotel, but we arrived only to find they'd given us a room with only one bed. I'd booked a 2 queen room weeks earlier. They had zero excuse for giving it away without notifying me or at least calling to ask if we were still going to need it. The manager told me they knew we'd booked a 2 bedroom so they gave us an extra large room instead. We might have been able to make it work if it'd been carpeted, but anywhere for the kids to sleep would have been on hardwood floor. They knew they couldn't give us what we'd requested yet they let me check in and sign paperwork and pay for it without telling me.

Fortunately Ryan invited us to stay with them. We slept on a full size bed in his office, Tyler slept on the poof, and Allison used an old toddler bed in the living room.

Originally the plan was to drive to 6 Flags St Louis the next day. Part of the reason we booked this trip was because we have 6 Flags passes and only certain 6 Flags in the country had reopened. Going to Missouri let us visit family and go to a 6 Flags. It was a win win.

6 Flags is 3.5 hours east of where the Andersons live in Independence, and a heavy storm hit that morning. It cleared up around noon, but unfortunately that same storm was moving east and predicted to hit St Louis around 3pm. We ended up hanging out with cousins until around 4:30 then drove to our hotel in Wildwood, MO by following 30 minutes behind the storm. It worked out well, and we were thrilled our hotel was much, much nicer than the first one we'd checked into in Independence.

On the right the kids are cuddling with daddy in the morning. Everybody slept in since we'd been coming from the pacific time zone. Tyler slept until after 10!

At 6 Flags we had to wear our masks at all times, which was very challenging in the heat, humidity, and sunlight. It was very hard at first, but the more we wore them, the less they bothered us. They never fully stopped bothering us, but they became gradually less noticeable. We were allowed to take them off in mask free zones, on water rides, and while swimming at the water park. I see no reason why you can't take them off when you're just walking around the park far away from anyone besides your own families. It's hardest in the direct sunlight. Shade helps a lot. Disposable masks are also less hot than cloth.

The first ride we saw was Mr Freeze's Reverse Blast. It's a 54+ inch ride, so Oscar went on it while I took the kids on the scrambler and the log flume.

After that I went on Mr Freeze while Oscar took the kids on the Collosus ferris wheel. They got a video of me riding the ride while they were high up on the ferris wheel. I was in the very back row.

I saw them in their gondola as I was walking over after finishing up the ride. I waited for them in the shady mask free zone then took Allison on the train while Oscar and Tyler went over to the 48+ inch American Dream roller coaster. I actually caught them coming down the roller coaster while we were on the train. I tried to get a video, but my phone was on the camera setting. By the time I switched to video they were out of my sight. At least I got a picture. They're in the very front row. That's a fun coaster too! I got to try it a few days later.

I pulled my mask down on the train because we were 5 rows (about 15 feet) away from anybody else. I told Allison she could take hers off, but she said "no. I want to keep it on." The kids do better at wearing masks than I do. I have no problem wearing masks indoors, but outside feels much more suffocating.

After the train I took Allison over to the kids' rides. She wanted to ride with other kids, but they wouldn't let her.

Oscar and Tyler caught up with us and we went over to ride the giant swing. Boomerang, the orange and green coaster, was similar to Aftershock at Silverwood but a bit too jarring. It banged me around a lot. I rode Boomerang and the Superman drop tower with Tyler then we all did Screamin' Eagle. It was Allison's first big wooden coaster, and she loved it! She liked all the big hills.

We let the kids do a few more kids' rides then I rode Supergirl with Tyler (Allison had fun in the test seat) and we parent swapped with Tyler on the Boss coaster. Allison played darts with daddy and won a dinosaur prize (kids under 48 inches win every time). Tyler and I rode the Thunder River ride then we headed back for the day. We'd brought our swimsuits but didn't get around to the waterpark.

The next day we did just a few rides we'd missed then headed over to Hurricane Harbor. We could all ride together on the Big Kahuna. Allison loved it! She also loved the Wahoo Racer slides where you slide down on a mat on your tummy. She did both of those multiple times.

Unfortunately most of the slides are 48 inch, so we had to swap off doing them with Tyler. We had to carry our own 4 person tubes up to go down the slide. They're big and heavy, so I really struggled to carry it with only Tyler to help. Eventually we found a way we could carry it together, but there was a lot of frustration in the learning process.

We left the water park to get lunch in the theme park since the lines were far smaller there. On the way back in the kids wanted to take a picture of them being eaten by the shark.

Unfortunately storm clouds were rolling in and a lifeguard told us the water park would likely shut down. We headed out expecting to go home, but no real storm ever came. Some lightning happened early on, enough that all of the roller coasters and high rides were shut down. But low to the ground rides remained operational, like kids rides, so we let the kids do a few more rides together. Allison had much more fun riding with Tyler than by herself. He can get a good spin going.

The clouds stuck around though the rain and lightning we'd seen in the water park never returned. Those clouds made the mask wearing so much more bearable.

The next day was the warmest and sunniest of them all. We rode a few roller coasters and I took the kids on the big ferris wheel then we hit up the waterpark. It was more crowded than the other days (since it was Saturday) and we ended up having a long wait in line just to go in the wave pool. We'd just made it to the front when they did their mandatory evacuate everyone from the pool and wait 10 minutes before they can go back in. We ended up waiting something like 30 minutes. We should have just gone on slides. Eventually we did go over and rode the Big Kahuna and Wahoo Racers a few times. Those are the ones Allison can do, and with limited time we didn't feel like splitting off with Tyler to do the bigger slides. We still needed to drive back to Independence that day, so we didn't want to stay too late.

Unfortunately we ended up in the park nearly an extra hour over a pretzel fiasco. Allison had asked for a pretzel, and we had an extra snack available on our dining pass. But with trying to order the pretzel through their online ordering app, canceling it to get one from a closer place, two places being out of pretzels with no time estimate on when they would be done, long lines for food, and a clerical error saying we'd already used our snack even though we'd cancelled, it took over 45 minutes just to get a pretzel. My pre-ordering it had taken it off my dining card, even though I cancelled it, and they ended up having to use our dinner credit just to get it for us. That was fine since we weren't staying until dinner, but I wish they'd told me it was an option while I was waiting around forever for a supervisor who never showed up. We had nothing but poor experiences with pre-ordering. The food workers didn't seem to look at the pre-orders because they were so busy preparing food for people in line.

We spent a few more nights with the Andersons where the kids had lots of fun with cousins. The one thing about vacations that can be challenging for the kids is not being able to play with toys and other kids for an extended period. This way they got the best of both theme parks and play time.

There were little frogs everywhere. One even jumped into our trunk as I was cleaning it out. I couldn't coax it out and had to get Oscar to help. I didn't want to close the trunk and let the frog melt to death in the heat. Oscar was able to get it to climb onto his finger.

Oscar and I drove around the area a few times and were pleasantly surprised to pass by the Kansas City temple. It was completely unintentional. We just saw it sticking out along our way.

The Anderson had just moved at the beginning of July, so there were lots of moving boxes to play with. The kids built box forts. Tyler even made one to sleep in. Joseph laid down for a nap in Tyler's sleeping box the next day.

They also liked building and playing with these mega huge blocks.

And we all enjoyed some sweet cuddles with baby Clark

On our way to the airport we saw a rainbow. We had to fly to Vegas again. It was fun to fly over the grand canyon on our way in. Too bad I didn't have a window seat. This time we just got a hotel with an airport shuttle and only stayed the one night in Vegas. We got into the hotel around 9:20pm and caught the 8:00am aiport shuttle the next morning. The cheap Travelodge we stayed at was a great deal for the price. We ended up ordering pizza for dinner, which arrived at 10pm. Coming from Missouri, that was like eating at midnight for us and the kids. But we all came through all right in the end and made it back home safely.