Thursday, January 3, 2008

St. Louis Trip December 19th 2007 - January 3rd 2008

Wednesday 12/19/07

We're on our way.......
Passing time in the airport....
Ben picked us up from the airport - and let us stop at Steak and Shake along the way.

Ben and Jenn's
The strange white stuff
Thursday 12/20/07
I was surprised by Krispy Kremes this morning!

B and the boys

City Museum

Aquarium in the City Museum

Tunnel we crawled through that went through the water. Fish and sharks swam by as we crawled through.
Me - being silly - nothing new
Sea urchin - An example of what B stepped on when we were in Cabo, spike stuck in his foot.

L - reflection and puffer fish Shells on top of a light - looks cool!

This slide started on the 4th floor and ended on the 1st.
B going down the slide
Lunch break
Looks like a pile of metal, but it's a giant jungle gym called Monstrocity. It was really cold, but we had a blast climbing around on it like big kids.
B - all smiles!
L climbing through a tree trunk.
There were also, tunnels and caves all throughout the building that we explored.


Afterwards, we drove through down town looking at the Christmas lights. As we drove past "The St. Louis Arch", I snapped this picture. It was dark and foggy, but in all the trips we've made to St. Louis, this is actually the closest I've been to seeing the Arch.


Friday 12/21/07
Shopping and dinner with Ben and Jenn. Then they dropped us off at B's grandparents for the night.


Saturday 12/22/07
Christmas #2 - Went with B's grandparents to his parents house (2 hour drive) for our second Christmas - his parents, Grandparents, Nana, Jeremy, and Mandy
Don't worry, he's not working while we open presents. I think he was pulling up pictures or something.

The boys playing video games - very intense - hehehe.
B's parent's house.


Sunday 12/23/07
Christmas #3 - Went to B's great-aunt's house (2 hour drive). Visited with lots more of his family (his mom's side). I forgot my camera, so no pictures - boooo. Then back to his parent's house (2 more hours, hehe).




Monday 12/24/07
Spent the day hanging out at B's parent's house.


Tuesday 12/25/07 - Christmas Day!
Christmas #4 - Went to B's grandparents house (2 hours). (By the way, everyone around here seems to live like 2 hours away from each other, so we have been doing a lot of traveling back and forth.)

One of the kids knocked some of the pies over, B saved this one - see the big hand print from catching it, hehehe. Still edible! Grandma and Grandpa


A long time ago this old log cabin was going to be torn down, so B's grandpa saved it as a gift for his grandma. He took it apart and reassembled it piece by piece in their back yard.
Oh, on another side note - you may note from these pictures that apparently everyone we know in Missouri, only conceives boys.....
wednesday 12/26/07
Penguin feeding - it was so cute. (Wouldn't it be funny if the one on the rock behind the guy jumped on him to get the food? hehehe)

Today I received my surprise Christmas gift from B. We went to the zoo, and he had pre-arranged for us to go on a private tour behind the scenes at the reptile house to feed the big tortoises. As most of you know, I am a huge fan of turtles and tortoises, so I was thrilled! It was a good surprise!



And then I hugged a bronze gorilla.....
And we rode the carousel with B's aunt and cousin.




B's aunt was interviewed when we left the zoo (I stepped away to snap some pictures) and it ended up being on the news that evening. We dropped them off and headed to our next stop - Travis and Sheri's. Went to P.F. Chang's for dinnerwith them and their 3 boys.
B and the boys.


Thursday 12/27/07
Woke up feeling bad. I went back to B's grandparent's house while B went to visit with some friends. I slept most of the day.


Friday 12/28/07
Woke up at 5:30 am really sick! Threw up and slept all day - ugh - no fun! Still at his grandparent's house.


saturday 12/29/07
Still sick - slept most the day - suck! B left me at his grandparents and he went with his parents to his brother, Matt's, house (2 hours). Then he went back to his parent's house (4 hours).



Sunday 12/30/07
Jeremy and Mandy picked me up from grandparent's house and we headed over to B's parent's house (2 hour drive). Holly is back from India and she came over to visit with us. We got to catch up on what she's been up to!
Then we went back into the city (oh, yes, you guessed it, 2 hours!, hehehe) to Mike and Beth's to visit with our friends who were in the process of attending the annual "Multi-Day New Year's Extravaganza". Slept at Scott and Tanya's.






Monday 12/31/07 - New Year's Eve!
Lunch with the gang...


Then Ben and Jenn picked us up and we headed to Trader Joe's to get some munchies for the evening and then back to their house.

G in the basket with the groceries, hehehe.


The stroke of midnight - it was some kind of cold outside!!!


Tuesday 1/1/08 - New Year's Day!

Slept late, did some running around town, then ......
.......B and E go to White Castle!

B's not so sure about this idea. hehehe
Then we headed back to Ben and Jenn's with a big sack of burgers.


Wednesday 12/2/08
I didn't get to go to Body Worlds when it was in Houston, so I was happy to find that it was at the St. Louis Museum while we were here. So, we went with Ben, Jenn, L, and G to check it out.
And then walked aroungd the rest of the museum.



History of Flight

B and L - I took this pic, cause I have one just like it from a few years ago during our Memphis trip with Ben and Jenn. I'll have to dig it up to compare how much L has grown.
We're so glad we got to spend several days with Ben and Jenn. Especially since we didn't get our yearly visit from them this fall (yeah, I had to mention it again, hehehe).
They introduced us to a new place for ice cream. Yes, it was the coldest day since we've been here (16 degrees this evening!), but we didn't care! It was good!

So, the trick with G is to take a preliminary picture, making the flash go off, which as a result makes him smile, then you can take the real picture. I figured out your game mister!


Thursday 1/3/08
Well, as much as we hated to leave, I was worn out and really wanted to finish recouping from being sick. So, we cut our trip short by three days, and headed back home. Sorry B!


G quarding our suitcases

I hate saying goodbye! Boo!


We're so glad we got to visit with everyone, family and friends. It stinks that we don't get to come up more often. Thanks to all for hanging with us and letting us crash at your homes!

2 comments:

Kelsey said...

Sounds like quite the trip! Chris or I (or both) always get sick when we travel at Christmas. Always. And it's no fun being sick at someone else's house. So sorry you had to deal with that and cut your trip short.

I bet you were glad to get home and spend some quality time with Harley though. Hope he's forgiven you for leaving him.

Jenn said...

The best picture, by far, is the one of Brandon at White Castle. Ben and I cracked up when we saw that one. Was that staged?? LOL!!