It had been two years since we've been back to St. Louis so this trip was long over do. It's weird to go back to a place that feels like home, but that you haven't lived in nearly a decade. Every street, building, store, and neighborhood holds memories that feel like they happened yesterday and an actual lifetime ago, all at the same time. My kids feel like it's home too, even though they barely lived there, and Thatcher never lived there. All this to say it was great to be back.
We got there just in time to buy Zane a new Cardinal's jersey, change into our Cardinals gear and head to the stadium. Rowan and Zane had been to a game before, but I don't think Rowan remembers it. This was mid July so at this point we had been watching the Cardinals play everyday for weeks. They could not have been more excited to be in the actual stadium. Zach had the idea of riding the Metro Link to and from the game, which was definitely a new experience for the boys, though I regretted it on the way back. There was a moment I thought I might need to use our nacho helmet to throw up in.
The highlight of the game was getting to watch the historic battery of Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright. These are two of the boy's favorite players and even though the Cardinals ended up stranding eleven runners and losing, it was so fun to get to watch them play.
Helmet of Nachos, per Zane's request.
The night's giveaway was a Willy McGee bobble head, which means we now have four of these at our house.
The Cardinals stranded the bases loaded twice.
My good friend Michelle and her family came with us, even her new little baby Lucille was there and did amazingly well through it all.
Zach and I have taken quite a few selfies at Busch Stadium of the past almost twenty years.
The next day we headed to the new St. Louis Aquarium, which we've been dying to go see. It is in the old train station and was loads of fun.
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| Thatcher and the otters. One of the otter's names is Thatcher, I'm sure it was the one we saw, right? |
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| Petting sting rays and baby sharks. |
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| Found Nemo and Dory |
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| The Korenak School for boys, hammer head shark gang, was excited to see the sharks. |
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| The octopus and the jelly fish were by far my favorites, even though they were difficult to photograph. |
After the aquarium we road the new, big Ferris Wheel, or as Thatcher called it the Finish Wheel at the Quarantine. Don't ask me how he came up with these things, but no one ever correct him.
Then it was on to lunch in the park with Michelle's crew. It was loads of the fun. The kids got to run around and play, Thatcher got soaking wet, we ate delicious Italian food from The Hill, and Zach and I got to catch up with Ryan and Michelle.
Michelle was my family when I worked at St. Louis Children's. We have been through so much together, including having babies at the same time. I miss her and her sweet family so much. So glad we got to spend the afternoon with them.
That evening we went to have dinner with my friend Becky and her three little girls. They are still in the early years of parenting where everything is hard and there feels like there is no end in sight. Somehow I think we've made it past those years, and our self sufficient, kind, helpful children were a light at the end of the tunnel for them. I was so glad to get to see them and catch up. Their children are darling and wish we could see each other more often.
Sunday morning we fit in a quick zoo trip before heading down to Zach's parent's house. There is no better way to spend a morning than at the St. Louis zoo. There were dinosaurs there this time, which was a fun surprise.
Of course the main event were the penguins. I should really do a montage of all the pictures of Zane hugging this penguin statue. I have pictures of him at every age with this statue and in with the penguins. They hold such a special place in his heart and the did not disappoint this time around.
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| Thatcher has a less storied history with the penguins, but he is quickly becoming a huge fan. |
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| A carousel ride was Thatcher's request for the zoo day. |
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| I also have pictures of Zane at every age in front of this Anaconda. It is always in this corner, I'm beginning think it's not real. |
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While the boys were climbing through the new lemur exhibit I ran into a on old friend of mine from work. She was one of my absolute favorite people to work with and taught me so much about how to be a nurse when I was a young nurse tryin to figure it all out. I am so glad I got to chat with her and give her a hug.
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Then we headed down to SEMO to visit Zach's parents for a day. We only had a day to spend there and we got the most beautiful day imaginable. It was gorgeous outside, with a nice cool breeze. We could not have asked for a better day to spend fishing, riding through the woods, and catching up with Grammie and Papa.
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| Sweet Shy Shy is still hang in there, somehow. We gave her lots of love before we headed home. |
I am so glad we fit this trip in when we did. On the way home news of the Delta variant spikes of COVID starting filling my feeds and I think if we'd waited any later in the summer we probably wouldn't have gone. The past two weeks I feel the stress level of checking covid numbers, cases, and spikes is returning to our daily life. There is stress around school and how to best keep our unvaccinated kiddos safe as they go back. I hate all of it and am very nervous about what the school year will bring and worry about when we'll be able to go back to Missouri, so I'm so glad we got this visit in when we did.
