We began our journey back west with a super quick stop in Indianapolis to have lunch with a few friends. Again, not enough time to see everyone we would have liked but, happy to see the friends we did see.

After arriving in St.Louis and checking in at the hotel, we headed to St. Charles for a nice dinner. It was a nice, relaxing evening.

Friday morning was pageant registration. After registering, we headed back to the room to get our game face on. Okay, well Wade got his game face on. K and I watched T.V. Competition began Friday afternoon with 3 events. K did great. It was the best we’ve seen from her. Afterwards, we headed out for a nice dinner. We sat out on the patio and enjoyed non-115 degree heat and non-99% humidity.

Saturday started bright and early. As we were preparing for her last event, visions of The Arch danced in our heads. Except, the director had decided to move crowning up to that evening from the next day. The Arch was pushed back to the next day and we began the waiting game. After crowning, we all returned to the room smiling and passed out!

Today, we headed to The Arch. K loved it. From the cramped closterphobia inducing egg ride up, to looking out every window. As we were waiting to head back down she asked for another museum. That kid! (How about a beer museum?)

K enjoyed the small bit of the pride parade she saw from The Arch.

Now, on to Tulsa!

In order to be able to have 3 weeks away from Phoenix, Wade had to work 5 days remotely. Since he had to finish his last two days after the pageant, Keely and I took off for Ohio to see a couple of people. It wasn’t NEARLY enough time and we didn’t see NEARLY the amount of people we would’ve liked.

Our first stop was at my brother’s house to meet my nephew who is almost a year old and see my other nephews. It was a short but good visit.

We then headed to Dayton, after a Skyline stop. We were able to see my aunt, two of her girls and meet baby Maddie.  Again, super short visit but a much needed one. 

The next stop was my best friends house. It doesn’t matter how long Niki and I go without seeing each other, its like we’ve never missed a day. What’s weird is, her oldest and Keely get along like they’ve known each other forever as well. They were besties instantly. We also got to meet baby Beckett. He’s totally adorable! Love at first sight! (While K and I were in Ohio, Wade was able to meet up with a friend from high school/college.)

Tuesday morning we had to head back to Indiana. However, I ran through my old hometown for a quick minute to show K where I grew up. We, of course, had to squeeze in a Waffle House stop.

Back in Indiana we were able to spend a little bit of time with K’s favorite uncle and his cats. Wade and I also got away for a couple hours to go to the Botanical Gardens in Fort Wayne. Its not very big but, it was nice. The butterfly exhibit was great!

Now we are off to St. Louis!

After bible school on Friday, it was a mad dash to prep and leave for the pageant in Michigan. While this pageant wasn’t the largest we’ve been too, it was well run and we weren’t super stressed between each event. The best part was that we were close enough to Wade’s Aunt, Uncle, and cousins that they were able to come over for it. In the audience for Keely were also Grandma, Grandpa, Darrin, and Janice. They all got to see her do what she loves. Keely keeps growing on stage and that is something we are super proud of.

At the after pageant party, the clown/magician had Keely on stage. It was pretty funny to watch since she is still at an age where she buys into all of that. Just ask her about Mom’s magic thumb. The highlight however, was Wade getting stuck with Vanessa (Keely’s baby doll), carrying it around and getting tons of compliments.

Keely really enjoyed spending time with her family. She was so excited to meet a new cousin that she kept going up to Chris, poking him, and running back to me, “I have a cousin and I poked him!” After lunch with family, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Fort Wayne.

We arrived in Louisville late Sunday night. Quickly chatted with Dan and Elaine for a bit before grabbing some shut eye. Wade and Elaine had to work Monday and Tuesday, which left Dan and I to play with the kiddos. Keely and Hailey got along as fabulous as a 2 1/2 year old and 4 year old can. They played, they argued, they played, they argued, they played.  Essentially, they acted like sisters. Little Sam. Oh my, little Sam. He is one adorable, cuddly, sweet baby. He is happy as can be and him and I chatted a ton.  Dan and Elaine definitely know how to make some cute kiddos. We got to see our friend Zac (Mr. Zac, as Keely calls him) as well. She refused to get up from nap on Monday until he got there.  

Dan and Elaine asked Wade and I to be Sam’s Godparents. We are both honored and touched that they would ask us to fulfill such a big role.

On Wednesday morning we headed to Fort Wayne. The first stop was at Nine Mile, Wade’s favorite restaurant in Fort Wayne. After making it to Wade’s moms house, we were able to take off and run a few errands. Keely practically kicked us out the door. She was able to spend time with her Uncle Darrin. We learned last night that we are correct, she is VERY much like him. 

Today, Keely got to Bible School. She was very excited to make new friends and learn a little more about a faith she has began to love and understand. Afterwards, she went with Grandma for a manicure.  

We have just returned from Keely having a personal fire station tour. As girly as she is, she loves big trucks! She loves fire trucks, dump trucks, farm equipment, you name it! She listened VERY intently as Amanda described many of the things the trucks have on them. Her day was made! 

The next couple of days lead us to another pageant.  She is so excited to have family come watch her! 

We explored downtown Mobile a bit. It has old southern architecture, which I love. There were some nice parks, a cute community garden, and even a little free library.

I love the history of older towns and found this interesting.

The pageant has been going well. The Friday night party was fun.  The director gave out t-shirts and sharpies so the kids could get autographs from friends. It was a really cute idea and the girls seemed to really like it. K had a blast with it. Although we had to convince her that she, in fact, only needed to write her first name.

After her hard work, we took her to Dauphine Island for a little beach time. She hates the salt water but LOVES the sand.

Road trip funsies
1) K: I had a big one!
W: Thanks for sharing!
K: Thanks for knowing!

2) K loves Mr. Tim (for non pageant peeps, he’s a very popular announcer in the pageant world) she got his autograph on her shirt first.

3) K loves Mr. Tim (I feel like I’ve said this). She has been talking for three weeks about how if he sang to her, she was going to kiss him. Well, in lineup it happened! She was so excited when he started singing, she kept staring at him and rarely looking at the judges. When he knelt down beside her, she had the biggest grin. She went for it. Planted one on his cheek, then giggled. Oh, she was so proud of herself!

4) My favorite of the weekend; a nice lady working the door at the pageant looks at Keely, looks at me and says, “Well, this one sure ain’t short on personality.” No ma’am, she isn’t!

5) At the beach, Keely makes me a pretend birthday cake, makes Wade sing to me, points out the pretend decorations, then starts giving me pretend presents (it’s my unbirthday party). She hands me one and says, “What is it?” Going with the pretend theme I say, “A unicorn.” She looks at me with a stone cold face and says, “No. Its sand.”

We’re half way through day 4. Pageant craziness has commenced. Yesterday, we made it out of Texas, hit the Rural Life Museum in Baton Rouge, and made it to our hotel in Mobile. While we were at the Museum, we had limited access. There was a film crew making a Docu-drama about the Underground Railroad.

Road Trip funsies;
1) Wade: Before you doze off…
K: Haha! Daddy’s going to eat you toes off.

2) I’m pretty sure I saw a gator when we were crossing the swamp. I think. It may have been a log. Eh, we’ll go with gator.

3) K: Does my breath smell like peppermint?
Wade: Does her butt smell like peppermint?  (My family doesn’t listen well.)

4) K: (To the tune of going on a bear hunt) We’re from Alabama and gonna catch a crocodile.
Me: Where did you learn that?
K: From myself

5) K’s new word of the day “Shabango”

Newsflash: Texas is really flipping big! You see it on a map, you see the simulation where they move Texas around to show you how big it is and you think, “Dang, Texas is big.” Then you drive through it…….at its widest point. 14 hours! Granted we stopped at The Alamo and had dinner at Riverwalk but still; Texas is big.

Anyway, as I said we stopped at The Alamo. K enjoyed running around the grounds. “Lets go see something else!” was her phrase. She loves museums and things like that. She loves to see everything. She does NOT love us reading everything.

Road trip funsies;
1) K loves the “envelope” activities and would rather do those than watch a movie…..success!
2) One of her letter games she turned into a counting game, go beeps!
3) K did NOT like Lion King…..she’s not my child.
4) Wade and I are playing the license plate game. Shortly after leaving El Paso I jokingly said, “Man, there are a lot of Texas plates.” His response, “Well, we’re so close to the border….oh, wait.” He claims he thought I said New Mexico.
5) K came up with a tongue twister for you.       “Fast fish, slow fish, fast fish”       Yeah, say that five times fast.

Now to get out of Texas! On to Mobile!

We left Phoenix around 3pm with Keely in rare form. If you haven’t met Keely in person, you are likely missing out on the facial expressions and vocal expression this kid has. She’s ridiculous! Anyway, after playing with Silly Putty for awhile, she was excited to watch a movie. In went Madagascar. You know those times when you say a word, it rolls around in your head and you keep saying it until it’s odd? Yep. K was stuck on the word Madagascar. She then decided the best way to say it was with her expression. “Mad” (she made a mad face) “uh” (she looked confused) “gas”(she made a farting noise) “car” (pointed to the car) Well, that’s one way to remember it.

New Mexico greeted us with the.most amazing rainbow I’ve ever seen. It was a complete double rainbow. The pictures do not do it justice.

We were lucky enough to have a friend whose parents live in El Paso, our stopping point for the night. Jen’s mom was amazing! We had a warm home cooked meal for dinner, a comfy bed to sleep in and an awesome breakfast complete with homemade tortillas. Add in some great conversation and amazing artwork to admire; the hospitality was wonderful.

Now we tackle the state of Texas.

The preparation for this trip has been harrowing. Organizing and packing for three pageants, organizing and packing for three people for three weeks away from home, and organizing and packing to entertain a four year old in the car for over 5,000 miles. Add on top of that trying to make the house presentable and livable for our friend who is house sitting. As a quick break we took K to the botanical gardens for the flashlight tours. She had a great time! She made a tortoise friend, pet a snake, and made a few crafts. (Hopefully she learned something as well)!