Summer 2019: Missouri Weeks

Since Missouri is our second home, and our trip was going to be spanning over two different weeks, we went all out and had two weeks full of Missouri love. We read some books with facts about Missouri and the Arch, but mainly it was a fully immersive celebration.


Since Zane had heart surgery last summer we missed our yearly St. Louis summer vacation last year. So it had been two years since we were in the Lou. That's just too long. It's always a strange feeling driving through St. Louis. So many memories flood back that feel like a lifetime ago and yesterday all at the same time. For some reason this trip everything reminded me of dad. We drove past the grocery store where I spoke to him the last time. We ate at his favorite St. Louis restaurant. I found myself sitting at the same stop light where I had been when I looked down at my phone, after a terribly long day at work, saw that I had missed a call from him, and made the decision to not call him back that night. We went to Busch Stadium where I have some of my fondest memories of dad. I took him to a game and he loved every minute of it. He loved the statues of the players that he'd watched growing up and the statue of the radio announcer that he had listened to. It's all very bitter sweet and I remember how rarely I saw him those last few years of his life.


When we go to St. Louis now we usually stay with our friends the Wamsers. They live in Illinois which means the kids get to go to two states on their trip which is always more fun. Of course our St. Louis adventures always begin at the St. Louis Zoo. I am pretty confident that if I offered to take Zane to Disney World or the St. Louis Zoo he'd probably chose the zoo. It is his absolute favorite place. I would like to think it is because he and I spent so much time there when he was little. Sadly he probably doesn't remember much about our weekly trips to that gorgeous zoo, but maybe it seeped into his subconscious somehow.

Here's the whole crew. Michelle and I were always pregnant at the same time so are kids are all within a few months of each other in age, which is tons of fun. 

 Penguin time! It was ungodly hot this particular day with the St. Louis humidity making it almost unbearable, so the penguin exhibit was a nice way to cool off. Also it's Zane's favorite thing. Look at that face.

Thatcher was pretty excited about his first penguin encounter. He also found this spiderman hat at Michelle's house and it is his new favorite thing.

I don't think this anaconda has moved at all in the past nine years. I have multiple pictures of Zane, at various ages, sitting right here, with this anaconda in the exact same spot. Maybe he's not real??

 Our friend Becky and her husband joined us about halfway through our zoo adventure. You can see how excited the children are about the zebras.

 These ladies are some of the best people I know. They were family to me when I lived in St. Louis and even though I don't see them very often anymore I love them dearly. We are also obviously soul mates because we showed up in matching outfits. When we met I think I was the only one that was married and now look at all these humans we've created. It's craziness.



The plan had been to go to the top of the arch after the zoo, without the babies. With it being my life that plan didn't work out since we hadn't bought tickets early enough. So we went to the museum with the big kids and then had to go back Sunday afternoon. There is a new museum that is wonderful and would probably be very interesting if you had children with attention spans longer than two minutes.

 Sunday morning we started our day off with a tour of Busch Stadium. None of us had every taken the tour. As I expected two year olds aren't really the target audience for this type of event. I spent most of the tour feeling mortified that my child was screaming and hoping I wasn't ruining the tour for the large group of Cardinals fans we were with. The big boys loved it. Zach and I left feeling like it was more of an advertisement for Cardinals box seat options, but we did get to stand on the field at the end, which was just a dream come true for Zane and Rowan who watch Cardinals games religiously at home.

 The boys with Stan the Man.

 The boys loved looking at all the hall of fame statues outside the stadium. They were all the famous players that they had learned about during baseball week last month.

 We got to see all the World Series trophies. Did you know that there are only four trophies even though they have won 11 World Series (second only to the Yankees)? They didn't start making trophies for the worlds series until 1967? Fun facts!

 The boys also really enjoyed seeing the broadcast booth. I have no idea what kind of fun facts they learned there because Thatcher was down the hall screaming bloody murder while the tour guide lady was really concerned that I was going to go snooping around Busch Stadium with a screaming toddler.

 At the end we got to go on the field and there were even a couple players who are currently on the injured list, running the bases.

 I know what you're thinking, did Thatcher break free and run around on the field after the tour guide specifically told us not to touch the grass? Surprisingly no!

 Our tour tickets also got us free admission to the Cardinals hall of fame in the new Ballpark Village. I sat outside with the before mentioned screaming toddler while Zach went to get the stroller and a tablet for him to watch a movie on, because what are we really trying to prove at this point. I personally could have spent all day in the hall of fame. So many cool things from players I've watched for years. This was also one of those moments where I so wish my dad could be here. He would have absolutely loved it.

Zane trying on Molina's glove.

 The favorite thing for the boys was probably getting to hold bats that their favorite players had used. Here is Zane with Molina's.

 Rowan with Matt Carpenter's bat.

 After lunch and spending way too much money at the Cardinals gift shop we headed to the arch for another attempt at making it to the top. The big boys went up when Rowan was maybe six months old, but haven't been since they remember it.

 If I had to pick one picture to sum up why social media is a huge lie and detrimental to society this might be it. In this picture it appears that Thatcher is having the time of his life, riding up to the top of the arch, without complaint. This is what parents document, the smiling moment caught between the screams. What this picture doesn't show is the screaming, the throwing his body on the floor, or the falling down a few concrete stairs while we waited for our little egg to arrive. All of that happened, it was not fun, but he did enjoy his ride in the egg and enjoyed looked out the windows top.

 

 The best view.

After this marathon of a morning we said our sad good byes to the Wamser, put our sweaty kids into the car, and headed South to see Grammie and Papa.

T had to have his hat before he went to sleep, because two year olds make all the sense.

 The Prance family was at Grammie and Papa's when we got there and the cousins had a fun whiffle ball game in the backyard. T even ran around with them. I can't believe how grown up my niece and nephews are, they are such fun people.

 In another two year old stand off moment Thatcher randomly decided he was terrified of the ranger and could not, under any circumstances ride it. Even though he desperately wanted to see the moo moos. These are the toddler battles that try my soul.

 We spent Monday at Trina's house doing all the fun outdoor things in the unseasonably cool temperatures.

 Big cousin Adeline helped T with all his adventures.

 Lots and lots of baseball with this crew which is so fun.

 My oldest nephew Clay turned sixteen this summer. He has a job, he's driving, and all grown up. He is also kind, personable, and just the sweetest kid. He even gave Zane some coaching lessons which Zane ate right up. Clay is the expert on all things Cardinals so these two got along very well.

 Before we left Grammie's to head to the lake on Tuesday Zane asked Grammie if she could mend his beloved blanket. A few days before we left I noticed it had a huge hole in the middle of it. I suggested possibly we should retire it, maybe put it in the cedar chest. My sweet, tender hearted, Zane burst into full blown tears and proceeded to rehash all the things that he had been through with this blanket. Hospital stays, ER visits, doctor's visits, MRIs, moving, and on and on with his sob story. It became very clear that trying to mend the hole was a better option and Grammie was just the person to do it. She stitched up the big hole and multiple little holes that they found as well. Zane wanted to help and over saw the whole process. God bless his sweet, tender little heart.

 Tuesday morning we headed off to Papa's lake cabin in the woods, but not before saying good bye to Shy shy the dog. Shy has been around I think since we were collage. She use to live with the cows most of the time, but I don't think she can walk well enough to make it up the hill anymore. Every time we go to Missouri I feel confident it will be the last time we will see Shy. The boys have grown to love her.

 Tuesday was the most gorgeous July day possibly ever. The highs were in the seventies with a nice cool breeze. It was the perfect day to sit on the porch of a cabin in the woods and enjoy the view. Zach's dad built this cabin and has made all sorts of improvements on it over the years.



Fishing with Papa.

We went on a little adventure to explore the natural spring/cave that Papa use to play in when he was growing up. The water was freezing cold and clear as can be.

 Thatcher nearly fell to his death a few times, but he managed to make it out alive with possibly just a little poison ivy.

 In the evening we had a good old fashioned Winnie roast complete with smores and Levi slightly burning his hand. I think we might roast hot dogs and make smores more frequently than most people.

 Levi is exactly a year older than Zane and yet somehow Zane has like six inches and probably fifty pounds on him.

We headed home Wednesday morning, back to the real world, the Sooner State, and her blazing hot July days. Everyone came back exhausted and full of fun memories.