Child Advocacy and A Little Road Trip

Today is Missouri's annual Child Advocacy Day. A day for parents, child care professionals, health care providers and community members to speak up and ask lawmakers to make the health, safety and education of Missouri’s children a top priority for the state.

STATS on MISSOURI’S CHILDREN:

• 1.4 million children live in Missouri
• 306 thousand live in poverty
• 310 thousand under 6 need child care
• 268 thousand living in food insecure houses
• 141 thousand do not have health insurance
• 45 thousand are abused or neglected
• 10 thousand drop out of school each year

Last week the boys were happy to help Aunt Een (aka Erin Brower, Director of Advocacy/Public Policy for Partnership for Children) promote Child Advocacy to legislators at the Capitol. They handed out buttons and got to meet some important people.  I'm relieved they didn't do anything too embarrassing.  Only one minor meltdown from Sullivan.  And Max chirped like a bird in response to questions in a couple of the offices he visited.  Other than that I don't think we caused too much damage :)

Een putting on his Child Advocacy button.

I think the boys did their small part to make a difference for fellow Missouri children.  Max was pretty proud of himself at the end of the day :)

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Here's our behind the scenes trip to Jefferson City....

The trip was initiated because Billy had to be there for business and I was itching for a little road trip.  We joked how we used to plan elaborate, two week, vacations to Europe and now we're just pumped to be driving down the road two hours.  The old me would have felt very bad for this new me :) Doing something out of the ordinary still gave our family that little buzz of excitement that recharges your batteries though.  Even if the destination wasn't so glamorous.

The drive there wasn't bad.  We made stops along the way and Billy gave the boys a little money to spend when we stopped.  We ended up with a fishing pole, a stuffed bunny, a rubber ball and finger puppets.  They were thrilled :)

Holding hands and playing games.

We stopped in Columbia to visit some friends.  We had lunch and let the kids get some energy out.

Lunch for the kids.  Stella hoping for some scraps.

Sullivan hand feeding Stella her lunch.

 The boys got a quick cat nap on the car ride from Columbia to Jeff City.  

The moment we got to the hotel Max was begging to go swimming.  So we dropped off our bags in the room and loaded them up on the luggage carrier...

 That evening we had a nice dinner out with Erin and Matt followed by dessert and a jacuzzi bubble bath back at the hotel.

The boys had their first slumber party in their own room (attached to ours).  The slept side-by-side in two Pack N Plays and didn't make a peep all night.   The next morning room service arrived and the boys were living it up. Breakfast in bed and PBS Kids on TV.  Ah...vacation ;)

We scurried to get vests and ties on and hair brushed to get to the Capitol by 9:00am.

Once inside, the boys made themselves at home.  Running up and down the marble halls.

As payment for their hard work Aunt Een bought them each a bird from the souvenir shop.

A quick last minute, yet productive, trip!