I see elephants!

One of the greatest things that we discovered about Missouri when we moved here is that it's a fabulous place for hiking and rock climbing.  The Ozark mountains which extend up to near St. Louis and where we live have lots of interesting nooks and crannies that we can't wait to explore.  So, on a crisp beautiful fall day, we drove a couple hours southwest to check out a place called Elephant Rocks.

Elephant Rocks is a cluster of huge, ancient boulders surrounded by trails.  There's a fairly easy walking trail that surrounds most of the rocks, or you can just head on up and climb and monkey over the rocks themselves, which is of course what we did.  We brought the Ripster because he loves family hikes so much, but he did have a little trouble skittering over those rocks.  I found myself at times  holding a poodle in one hand and pulling myself up a rock after my boys (both big and little).

It was so much fun.  There were towering rocks that we had trouble reaching the tops of, crevices to hop over, and little tunnels under and between the rocks to squeeze through.  We also followed the trail to a scenic abandoned building that we of course climbed on.  We finished out our time at Elephant Rocks with a picnic lunch perched up on top of some rocks.

We can't wait for more rock climbing and hiking spots to explore!

(a view of the rocks)

(Ian poses as he chases the munchkins.)

(The boys take a rest after some energetic climbing.)

(handsome boys...)

(...times 2!)

(three monkeys climbing)

(This is pretty great mom!)

(Don't look down!)

North Carolina Visits Missouri

The end of August rolled around and we were lucky enough to have Gram and Gramps head on up for their first visit to St. Louis and our new home.  It was also time to celebrate Ian's birthday!  Even though they were only able to stay for a weekend we had a great time and got to show them a little of the town.

First, we drove them on a little tour of neighborhood showing them the boys' school and all the other scenic sights that Wildwood has to offer.  Then, we headed on in to town for a little adventuring.  We started at Soulard Market.  I always like that place because it reminds me of a smaller Pike's Place.  The last time we went it was raining and fairly empty.  This time, it was a sunny weekend day and the market was packed.  We wandered around taking in the sights and sampling this market's version of hot fresh, cinnamon sugar mini-donuts, one of our favorites at the market in Seattle.  The St. Louis versions were pretty yummy too!  We finished out their tour with a drive by of Cardinal Stadium and the famous St. Louis arch but it was a little too warm to get out of the car and tour.

The next day we headed down to the St. Louis Science Center which we had never checked out before.  The great thing about this museum, like so many of the family-friendly sights in St. Louis is that it is free.  It was such a great museum!  We saw exhibits about dinosaurs, fantastic science shows, built and tested our own boats, and had a great meal.  It was an awesome day!

One of the highlights of the visit was a trip to one of our favorite local restaurants, Pastaria.  We were excited to share the yumminess with Gram and Gramps.  The pasta and pizza were delicious, and their gelato for dessert was just as good.  Looking at these pictures, it looked like everyone had a great, and somewhat silly time!

Unfortunately, Gramps had to go home after the weekend to head back to work, but Gram was able to stick around for a few days to spend some more quality time with us and to help me with some things around the house.  We had a great time and were able to put a plan in place for fixing up our laundry room, which was not in very good shape.

We had a fantastic time visiting with Gram and Gramps and we are so lucky that they still come and visit even though we moved a little further away.  It's so wonderful to have some family time and get to explore a new place at the same time!  We can't wait for your next visit Gram and Gramps!

The Newest Tiger Scout

One of the best parts of starting first grade for Evan was that he got to start Boy Scouts!  We knew that it would be perfect for him with all of the exploring out in nature, building things, etc.  And it has not disappointed, he has really enjoyed it.

We started by going to an introductory meeting and getting to know the rest of Pack 304, especially the newest other Tiger Scouts.  It looked like it would be a great group.  We then went to get his uniform and he was really excited to get all the parts of his uniform, especially his hat.

(Evan the proud new scout)

The first boy scout activity for Evan was the Wildwood anniversary parade.  The scouts were walking, and Evan wanted to be a part of it.  So, we met other scouts behind the grocery store and started our parade.  Evan had a ball. He got to hold the Pack 304 sign, hand out flags to the parade spectators, and hang out with his troop.  

(parading)

After the parade, he continued to go to the meetings to earn his badges and get to know everyone else.  They had some pretty fun meetings where they got patches, built boats and had a competition to float them, recognized local veterans, participated in flag retiring ceremonies, and even bowled with turkeys!

(Evan gets his Tiger badge.)

(The Tigers show off their completed boat.)

(It's a little blurry, but he's bowling with a turkey!)

(saluting the Veterans on Veterans' Day.)

One of Evan's favorite scout activities happened outside of the regularly scheduled meetings.  Every year, the scouts in St. Louis host a Day One celebration.  They hold this at the regional boy scout campgrounds.  This time the whole family came to join in on the fun.  That day, the boys got to ride on horses, have a sling shot war, go through a maze, and even shoot BB guns.  Everyone had a fabulous time!

(Evan rides a horse.)

(Benny enjoys ride.)

(aiming the slingshot)

(trying the bb gun)

(Boy Scouts is fun!!

It was a great start to our scouting adventure...just wait till you hear about Pinewood Derby!

One More Visit to Jackson, Tennessee

Over the summer while we were busy moving to St. Louis, my Uncle Roy had gotten a new job as editor of the local paper in Wichita, KS.  This meant that he would be moving from his current home in Jackson, TN.  This also meant that my Grandma Rose would be leaving the town that she had called home for more than 30 years and joining him in Wichita.  While she had already moved out of the home where we had always visited her and moved into an assisted living place, now we would no longer be going to Jackson, TN to visit her.

The funny thing is that since we moved to St. Louis, Jackson was only 4 hours away.  So, we decided that before Grandma went ahead and moved to Wichita we would head down for one more visit.  One Friday afternoon after school got out, we all hopped in the car (except for the dog who went to the kennel) and headed south.  We didn’t get in until after midnight that night which was okay because we were staying in a hotel anyway.

The next morning we all woke up ready to visit Great-Grandma Rose.  We headed on over to her place and it was really nice to see her.  We brought her breakfast from McDonalds and spent the next few hours chatting with her and relaxing.  

Then, we decided to head out for a little adventure.  There was an approaching storm, but we didn’t let that stop us and we headed up to the Tennessee Safari Park.  The safari park is a great place that Grandma had found a few months before with my cousins.  You could buy some feed and drive around feeding wild animals from the comfort of your own car.  

We arrived, got our buckets of feed, and headed into the park.  Of course, there were a bunch of animals just hovering by the entrance waiting for unsuspecting victims.  We were a bit overwhelmed.  I rolled the windows down and immediately we had a huge buffalo head in the car right next to Grandma trying to sniff out some food!  She was very cool about it, but I was immediately trying to roll up the windows and move on.  After that I was a bit more careful about when I rolled my window down.  Regardless, by the end of the trip around the park I think we had more animal food on the floor of my car than we actually got in the animals.  It was a great time, and I think all of us laughed more on that tour than we had in a long time.  Plus, we got to see some really neat animals like ostriches, emus, buffaloes, pigs, camels, and more.

After that we were all getting a bit hungry, so we headed back to Jackson to stop at Steak and Shake.  Everyone ordered a milkshake, and Grandma kept saying that she wouldn’t be able to get around that whole shake, but sure enough, but the end of the meal we had all polished everything off.  We stopped back by Grandma’s place again after lunch to hang out a little during the afternoon.  We had a great time chatting while the boys played with some of her magnets.  That evening, we really didn’t need to eat anymore, but we headed back out to a great little Italian place for dinner.  

In the morning, we headed back over to Grandma Rose’s house to pick her up for breakfast.  Before we left, she realized that she couldn’t find her house key that she keeps on her wrist on a little wristband.  We tore up her apartment looking for it, but it was nowhere to be found.  Finally, we just decided to leave her place unlocked for the time being and head to IHOP.  There again, we ate delicious food and had a great time just hanging out and talking.  Once we got back to her place, we were about ready to start on the journey home, but we had to do something about Grandma’s missing key.  So, Ian walked down to the front office and tracked down someone who could give her a replacement.  He headed back, key in hand.  Then, right before he got back, Grandma realized that her sleeve was a bit uncomfortable, so she reached up her sleeve, and guess what had been up there the whole time...that’s right, her key on the little elastic band.  We all had a good laugh.

We took some group pictures and then we sadly had to get back in the car to head home.  We all had fun, and Grandma said that it was the first time she has truly been happy and well enough to enjoy the boys.  We were so glad to have the chance to visit, and we can’t wait to visit her in Wichita!

(Grandma Rose-making friends again!)

(Benny feeds some of his new friends.)

(The boys cuddle with their Great-Grandma!)

(My sweet Grandma Rose and I)

(The boys pick a few marbles from Old Country Store, a tradition Audra and I always loved.)

(Benny poses at Old Country Store...)

(Is there a little family resemblance between Ben and his Gramps??)

Soccer Star

About the time that school started it was also time for Ben’s first soccer season ever to begin.  He had played soccer in Durham but just practices and never on a team with games.  Turns out most of the soccer teams in St. Louis are formed through the local Catholic schools.  I’m glad I had my neighbor Amy tell me that because I never would have figured out that on my own.

So, in mid-August when the weather was still scorchingly hot, Benny went to his first practice with the Holy Infant Green Monsters.  About half of the team was from neighboring elementary school Ridge Meadows and half was from Fairway.  So, he got the chance to meet lots of nice new boys his age including some that went to his school.  

At first, Ben had a little trouble participating in the practices.  He was fine with the drills and even the scrimmages but when it came time to play a fun little game to learn the skills, one with a winner and loser where you could actually get “out”, Ben refused to play.  It took until about halfway through the season and many, many bribes with Skittles, but eventually he realized that nothing terrible would happen if you actually lost or got out in a game.  Hey, it’s progress.

A couple of weeks into their practices it was time for their first actual game.  In fact, in one weekend they had three games to start off the season.  It was a tournament against the other Holy Infant teams their age.  

Turns out Ben prefers to be a defender in soccer.  He likes to stand back and wait for the ball to come to him and then kick it away.  And when I say he likes to wait for the ball to come to him, I mean, the ball had to come RIGHT to him.  If it was just a few feet away he would dutifully remember his coaches’ advice that he was supposed to stay in his position, and he would let the ball go by.  Then, occasionally, he would be chatting with the other defender or just watching the grass and lose his focus a little.

Even though he had a bit of trouble getting to the ball early in the season, he got the hang of it about midway through the season.  Earlier he had been commenting to me that he wanted to be goalie, and every kid was supposed to have the opportunity to play goalie at some point in the season.  This made me really nervous because I saw how distracted he could be when he was just defending.  However, the day came when his coach put him in at goalie.  I was nervous for him the whole time, but turns out being in goalie kept him really focused.  He actually stopped the ball well several times and really enjoyed himself.  The rest of the season he seemed to have a little more of a fire lit under him.  He would actually pay attention and run after the ball.  I think he also needed a few games to just figure out what he was supposed to be doing out there, and by the end of the year he had really caught on. 

Ben really enjoyed playing soccer with the Green Monsters, and was equally excited to start on basketball season later in the fall.  Yay, Benny!

(Benny takes a big kick.)

(getting in there)

(Benny relaxing and taking a little break during the game.)

(The Holy Infant Green Monsters, yay!

Back to School

August had rolled around in St. Louis, and their school year starts much earlier than in Durham.  So, after a relatively short summer break, it was time to go back.  In early August we headed in to Fairway Elementary to visit and meet the boys’ teachers.  

We met Benny’s teacher first at a Kindergarten curriculum night.  Ian and I headed in one afternoon leaving the kids at home.  Ben’s teacher Mrs. Molengraft (Mrs. M) told us all about what to expect in the coming year.  She seemed like the perfect Kindergarten teacher and it made me hopeful for a great year to come.  We also ended up knowing several people in the class with our new neighbor across the street, Allie, as well as two boys from Benny’s newly formed soccer team, Carson and Aiden, were all in the class.

A few days after our Curriculum night with Mrs. M, we headed back to Fairway with the boys to actually meet their new teachers.  First, we headed down to Mrs. M’s classroom.  It was amazing how crowded it was.  I think every student who ever had Mrs. M had to head back down to say hi.  It was hard to find a chance to actually talk to her, but eventually Ben got to meet her.  He liked his teacher and classroom and was excited for the school year to start.

Then, we headed to the complete other end of the school to meet Evan’s new teacher, Mrs. Voss.  By contrast, that room was fairly empty, I guess the more experienced first grade families spaced out their visits a little more.  That means Evan got lots of quality time to meet Mrs. Voss.  Turns out she was equally nice and experienced as Mrs. M, and I left feeling very confident in where the boys would be spending their time.  

(Ben and Mrs. Molengraft)

(Evan and Mrs. Voss)

We spent the rest of early August making sure we had all of the items on the school supply lists, making sure their first day of school outfits were ready, and any other needed preparations.  Then, finally, the first day of school arrived.  The boys were nervous, but I think I was definitely more nervous than either of them.  I had to send both of my boys off on the school bus to a completely new school!  I was hoping, praying, and keeping my fingers crossed that they would have a great day.

We got everyone dressed, took some pictures out in front of the house, and then the whole family headed two houses down to the bus stop.  The bus stop turns out to be a pretty crowded place.  There were 10-15 kids all there waiting to go to school.  So, all of the parents had to crowd around them and get as many pictures as possible.  Then, before I was ready, the big yellow school bus was driving up to get them.  I hugged them both as many times as I could and waved bye as they stepped up the big stairs, met the bus driver, and found a seat.  I waved at them from their little seats as they drove away hoping that I would see smiling faces when they got back off the bus at the end of the day.  

(The new first grader and the new kindergartener pose before school.)

(the first graders at the bus stop-Charlie, Evan, and Addie)

(the kindergarteners at the bus stop-Allie and Ben-love this picture!)

(getting on the bus)

(my love!)

Then, being the nerd that I am, I hopped in the car with my two neighbors Amy and Charissa and drove to school to meet the bus.  That way, I could walk them to the door of the school and make sure that they had a good bus trip.  So, we made it there in plenty of time to see the bus arrive.  We snapped pictures of them getting off the bus, saying hi to the principal, and even posing next to their school mascot, the eagle.  Then, the two brothers walked in to the school together, and I finally had to say goodbye.

(The boys pose with the Fairway Eagle.)

(the boys and their principal Mrs. Krey)

Now, of course, I wasn’t going to be able to focus on anything productive that day.  Fortunately, I didn’t have to.  First, I went on a run with my friend Amy who had taken the day off.  Then, we cleaned up and headed down to Big Chief Roadhouse, a local restaurant, for an annual tradition, Mimosas for Moms.  What a great idea!  The restaurant and patio was crowded with moms all either enjoying their first day of freedom in several months, nervous about their kids’ first day, or both.  There, I sat with a group of moms, chatted, had a bite to eat and a mimosa, and got my mind off my little munchkins at school.  After a great time there, we all headed over to the adult pool at the neighborhood clubhouse and spent some more time talking and hanging out before it was time for school to be out.

(My neighbor Amy celebrates with the moms while the kids are at school!)

Finally, the bus rounded the corner again on Windjammer Lane.  I anxiously waited as the kids got off the school bus.  Thankfully, I was met with smiles and they said they had a great day!  Wow!  What a relief!  It was a great start to the school year and hopefully indicative of a great year.  Welcome back to school, Evan and Ben!