Meet Me In St. Louis - Day Four

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Today we went to Operation Homefront to volunteer. We helped load up vans with items that needed to be delivered and helped them update their inventory. The kids had fun and it was a great experience for us all.

After leaving Operation Homefront, we went to the cemetery to visit Steve's Mom's grave.

I have always loved cemeteries and this is one of my favorites. We drove around and looked at different headstones. This is a cool one that dates back to the civil war. When we were driving through the civil war section we would see rows and rows of headstones of people who all died on the same day. We also found huge sections of Unknown Soldiers.

We ended up at Ed and Lisa's house. In fact, we are still at Ed and Lisa's house right now. So far tonight we've had a little squirrel action.

The girls had a little spa experience

And the boys of course are in the middle of a full fledged war. It has been going on for hours and there is no hope of it stopping any time soon. Heather and I made a new rule that if they are going to play this game, they must start it before noon. Unfortunately we just made the rule about 20 minutes ago. Too late to save us tonight. There is popcorn popping right now and I think I will be sick, I am remembering the popcorn overload from the Blues game the other night. It's vacation and we have had to wake up extra early every day. I need sleep. I am considering removing this laptop from the table and giving the tablecloth a good hard tug. Whoops! Sorry boys. Game. Over.

Meet Me In St. Louis - Day Three

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Yesterday was the day my boys have been looking forward to and planning for for weeks. The Super Ginormo Family Airsoft Battle. This group was not playin' around. They took to the freezing Missouri woods and spent hours running around shooting each other up. The orange brigade and I went as official field reporters to document the war. It was a fun day.

Z getting his battle paint on

Steve


Allyson


Sierra, Aubrey, Meagan

Ed

Emily and Aubrey

Samantha

Cody and Steve H. getting the testosterone flowing before going into battle

Brayden

After the battle we went to Heather's house and Cody and Sam made fresh apple crisp.

Addy and her new best friend Mr. Sparkle Pants. She has already made plans to take him home with us and let him live in our play room.

Steve and Tyler playing wii

Heather made 3 deer roasts that were so delicious. It was the first time my kids and I have had deer. We are sold! Emily says it is the best meat she had tried.

Dogpile

Meet Me In St. Louis - Day Two

On Monday we went to the Science Center. It is one of our usual stops in St. Louis. You see those stools below? I've decided I am going to buy like 20 of them and put them in my empty living room. They are so awesome!

In the DNA lab

We came all the way to Missouri for this???

Has anyone seen Zac lately?

Emily, David, Aubrey, Austin, Sierra, Addy, Tyler, Zac

We've crossed the Missouri River several times now. Every time we hold our breath, pick up our feet, cross our fingers and touch them to the ceiling. That is a wide dang river to cross. I'm just sayin'. That afternoon Steve crossed another to do off his list when we ate at Imo's Pizza.

That night we were able to get free tickets to the Blues Hockey Game thanks to Operation Homefront and Ed's continued service to our country. We took up an entire row of 21 seats. Let me just say, we got our money's worth on those 2 bottomless popcorn buckets we bought. We had a little system. Pass them down, the person on the end refills. Pass them back, the person on the other end refills. Repeat 20-30 times. Mmm...popcorn for dinner.

Allyson and Steve

Steve and Heather

Aubrey, Emily, Meagan, Sierra

Josh, Zac, Tyler, Austin

Roy and Steve

Cody, Samantha, Lisa, Amanda, Ed

Addy and Uncle David

Zac getting in on the girls jumping photo session while waiting for the train home.

Meet Me In St. Louis - Day One

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Aubrey, Meagan, Emily

Here I sit in 1/2 way across the country from home. Right now there is a battle brewing on the table in front of me. Talk of Allies and Axis and a bunch of other stuff that sounds like blah, blah, blah to me. These candy cane fake oreos are even better than I thought they would be when I picked them up from the store today. The store that charges 25 cents for a shopping cart. What the? It is bone chilling stinkin' cold outside and I dread the moment I have to go back out there. It's Christmas and we are spending it in St. Louis with Steve's family. And we are having a blast.





We got in on Saturday night. Sunday we woke up and went to church with the fam. Then to Ed and Lisa's house for dinner. That night the kids went back to the church to hear Bran Kehl (a player for the Rams and also a Mormon) speak at a fireside.

Addy, Aubrey, Sierra, Heather

Cody and Samantha

Steve and Ed

Addy loves Ilsa. We pulled up the other day and Ilsa was out front. Addy said, "Look at that cute little puppy!" That ain't no little puppy Addy.

On the way to the hotel that night Steve was able to fulfill a lifelong desire. Sharing the "joy" of White Castle with his family. 17 years with this man, countless trips to the STL, and I have managed to avoid White Castle. Until this time. My defenses were down. It was midnight and I was tired and hungry. It wasn't so bad until I finished my 2nd one. That was a mistake. The second one. Can't say that I'll be having another White Castle anytime in the next 17 years or so.