Priceless

It was wonderful.
Left the kiddos with their grandparents Saturday morning and headed to Cedar Rapids. We flew, without problem (even though we went through O'Harre), to Kansas City where we were picked up in a town car (some call it a Limo) and taken to the downtown Westin. Our room was average but the bed was beautiful! One problem, no fridge/freezer.

Wait, that reminds me, we did have two minor problems at the airport.
1. They took my toothpaste - it was 1 oz. too big for their allowance.
2. Breastmilk can be allowed in larger quantities IF you have the child with you. Now, let's think about this for just a minute... the reason I'll have so much breastmilk is that I don't have my child with me to drink it. Duh. The kind TSA woman explained their rules to me and although I could understand their rules, my reasoning was far more comprehendable.
3. BTW, I think I made such a big deal about the other little things that they didn't notice my 10 oz bottle of Bathnbody lotion that is brand new! Whew!

Anyway, back to my story, we had an hour before meeting in the lobby for supper. So, while I pumped, I had Ryan call the front desk and deal with needing to freeze breast milk. And because I was so hungry I was shaking, Ryan also ordered me room service. Yes, we were meeting in an hour for supper and it would take 30 minutes to get our room service but I was HUNGRY! Fortunately, it took a little longer for the food because I needed that time to press shirts and slacks for dinner. Yes, I was afraid the place would have a dress code so I packed my husband some slacks that he didn't plan on wearing and an undershirt since he grabbed one of my tshirts and not an undershirt. Sure is a good thing that I'm anal and double checked what he packed. I scarfed a few nachos before heading down for supper. Us and one other veterinarian plus her guest were the only one invited for the weekend. We felt truly greatful.

Benton's was located on the 20th floor of our hotel. It was fantastic, but not perfect. The music was a little loud and I was so cold that I'm sure I looked grumpy as I had my arms crossed in front of me. I had filet minon with salmon with a side of fresh asparagus for supper. Before I was freezing, I ordered a virgin daquiri to drink. After the meal, I topped it off with a Twix Turtle cheesecake that was wonderful. I tried to figure out the price of my meal and we guessed it to be $53. Yup, I've never spent that much money on one meal. Well, I didn't on this one either; thanks Bayer!

Sunday morning we had room service. It was your average foods but had a fancy appearance. Our room service bill was $65 for breakfast. I about died. The fees and taxes they add on for room service is crazy! But, it was a good omelet, decent fresh berries and a great muffin that I ate.

After breakfast we met for the game. And, I was a little weary of going. We received a nice travel back pack filled with goodies the night before. One of the items inside was a football jersery. And to our complete surprise, it was a Vikings jersey. Because our sales rep lives in MN, and we live close to the border, it was assumed that we're Vikings fans, hence the jersey. I didn't wear mine to the game. I could really care less about either team but am more likely to wear red than purple (thanks to vanity in my life). The game was a blast. We sat in the end zone, inside an air conditioned suite filled with food and drinks. It was cold inside so I enjoyed a majority of the game in the shade, outside.

After the game, we had another short time before we met up for supper. We did some quick shopping and bought Scott a new pop-up dinosaur book which he absolutely adores. Went to the milk parlor and dealt with that before taking a nice nap. For supper we went to a local BBQ place. The ribs were the favorite. I was the only one who didn't order ribs and thank goodness I didn't because my shrimp was great and Ryan said the ribs were less than desirable. After supper, we made a quick stop at the gift shop for a drink and an ice-cream and put it on our room bill again.

Monday morning we rushed around to get out of the hotel on time, have the home-brewed milk frozen, wrapped and bagged properly so we could get a quick bite to eat. Our quick turned into real quick and we stopped at the dinky little coffee shop that brags about serving St*rbucks coffee. They served me a horrible hot chocolate and I think the bran muffin was banana nut and not bran like I asked for. But we had no time to spare and headed back to the airport.

We arrived in Cedar Rapids, excited to be home and eager to see our kids. I ran outside to get the car while Ryan waited inside for the luggage. I got to the car only to find a completely flat tire. Why does this happen every other time I go to the airport? So, I got out a little air compressor from my trunk (don't know how it got there) and started airing up the tire. Fortunately it held air. I called Ryan and let him know what was taking me so long. My car is getting new tires today (~$200).

We stopped at a few places in town only to be dissapointed. Old N*vy had a horrible supply of children's clothes. I much prefer the one I usually go to. Targ*t only had thin little jackets for boys (and the sign was labeled as a girls coat in the girls section but they were obviously boy coats). It's tradition for us to get a caramel frapp with extra caramel when we leave Targ*t. I had thee worst caramel frapp ever yesterday. It was full of chunky ice that, the rest was watery and it royally sucked. I was so dissapointed.

Anyway, we headed home. I made the quick detour to get my mom a cat (see post from earlier today) and eventually made it to mom's to pick up the kids. Scott didn't care too much that I was there and rather read his farm book. A few minutes later when his dad walked in the door, he crawled off the couch and ran like a crazy thing over to his dad. It was priceless.

A financial recap of our weekend and why we're thankful to Bayer Animal Health:
2 airline tickets $610
VIP ride to the Westin $40
Supper at Benton's $106
2 nights at the Westin $???
Room Service for breakfast $65
2 tickets to the Chiefs game $192
Gate's BBQ supper & Taxi $34
Misc charges to the room $32
Parking at the airport $12.50
2 crappy caramel frapp's $10
2 new Tires on the car $200
Being back home with our kids: PRICELESS