St. Louis: Z-to-A

We got home from our annual trip to St. Louis last night.  I uploaded all of the pictures today (click here) and realized that we started our trip at the zoo and ended it at the arch, hence the title of this post.  Clever, right? 

We covered a lot of ground on our trip and we were so blessed to see a lot of our local friends while we were there.  Here's the rundown...and though you can't tell it by the length of the post, it really is on an abbreviated scale:

Tuesday, 6/29
We left home Tuesday morning with more stuff in my car than I ever thought possible.  Just over halfway there, I had a thought that I ended up posting as my facebook status:  "Being the mom on a 6 hour car trip is like being Julie (the social director), Doc (the ship's physician) & Isaac (the bartender) all at once. My car is officially The Love Boat without the fancy guest stars and romantic interludes." 

Our first stop - Eureka.  We spent a few hours with my dear friend, Monica, and her family.  We basically sat in their living room and kitchen talking nonstop the whole time.  Caleb adores Monica's kids, Katherine and Daniel.  Nola took a nap on Aunt Mon's bed and then we had to get back in the car. 

Nola, Monica, Katherine, Caleb & Me:

When we left Eureka, we headed on up to Florissant to see Jerry & Sherry and unload the mountain of stuff from our car.  Being at their house is like being at our home-away-from-home.  We got everything settled and had a great supper with them.  The kids did great going to bed in their unfamiliar surroundings and Rudy and I enjoyed catching up with J & S before putting our road-weary selves to bed too. 

Wednesday, June 30

We met our former neighbors, Jenn & Broc Brown and their kids at the zoo on Wednesday morning.  We loved living across the street from them and now we see them once a year if we are lucky.  They have Kynan (6), Gabe (4) and Brayden (7 mos).  Caleb was ecstatic to have kids his age to play with and we were ecstatic to meet Brayden and see our friends. 

The boys had a great time at the zoo.  Rudy and I decided to relax our usual game plan at the zoo where we get to see as many animals and do as many things as possible while we're there.  We really just wanted to enjoy the day and let the kids choose our next move as we made it.  As a result, we didn't see many animals, but we did go to the children's zoo, the insect house (eww), the penguin/puffin house, pet stingrays and eat lunch.  When the Browns had to leave, we made a mad dash through the most of the rest of the zoo and rode the train. 

Caleb petting a snake at the Children's zoo:

Here are Caleb and Rudy getting up close and personal with a "hippomuspotamus" (Caleb's word):

Rudy took Nola with him to get the car and Caleb and I jumped on the last carousel ride of the day before the zoo closed.  We had a great day and we were ready to get into some clean clothes for dinner!  Here's a little something I put together for perspective on how much Caleb has grown and changed:

After our day at the zoo, we went over to our friends' Michael and Rich's house to change clothes and freshen up for dinner.  They joined us as we met Jerry, Sherry, Rebecca and jared for dinner at our all-time favorite restaurant - Cunetto's House of Pasta.  As usual, there was a long wait, but it was well worth it.  Unfortunately, the kids didn't quite agree.  They were both exhausted and not on their best behavior.  Nola cried, so Rudy took her out to walk with her.  Caleb ate some of his spaghetti and then he was ready to go.  We managed to keep it together long enough for everyone to enjoy their meals and get out the door.  No time for dessert at Ted Drewe's this year - those kids were done!  It was good to see Michael and Rich and I enjoyed catching up with them just as much as I enjoyed the delicious meal.

Thursday, July 1

We decided that Caleb was old enough to go to the City Museum this year and we were excited to be able to take him.  We haven't been since before he was born and it has changed a lot.  I had Nola strapped to me in the carrier, so I couldn't do a lot of climbing and tunneling, but the boys had a blast!  They climbed and did all of the big slides.  Both of them had sore legs afterward from all of the climbing they did!  I was so proud of Caleb for being so brave.  He went down a 3 story slide without any hesitation and climbed stuff on the roof of the 11 story building like it was on the ground.  He did balk at the 11 story spiral slide, but we were glad about that.  Rudy didn't want to do it either!  His favorite parts were the slides and the ball pit for young kids.  He also loved the room where he could climb up skate ramps and slide down them.  Nola was a trooper through the whole day.  She just hung out in the carrier and watched the action. 

The boys at the bottom of the 3-story slide and at the top of the tower on the roof:

 

We went from the City Museum to St. Louis Mills mall to get a snack and to get geared up for our Cardinals game on Saturday.  Rudy and Caleb both got new hats and Caleb got a new t-shirt.  Then it was time to head for the house to eat supper.  We enjoyed our supper with Jerry and Sherry and then Rudy and I got ready to go out on our date night.  One slight problem - we were worn out!  We only stayed out for about 2 hours and then we were ready to call it a night.  We laughed at ourselves for being old and not being able to hang like we used to, but we really didn't care.  We just wanted to sleep!

Friday, July 2

Hallelujah for Friday!  We had NO plans!  We spent the day just relaxing and resting up.  Late that afternoon, Rudy's cousin Larry and his family made it to Jerry and Sherry's house.  Larry and Ana have a 9 year old daughter, Mary, and 6 year old twins, Anthony and Alexander.  Yes...11 people stayed in the house.  This tradition started back when it was just Larry, Ana, Rudy and me - no kids.  It has continued and our families have grown and Jerry and Sherry are brave enough to continue hosting it every year.  I swear we owe them a vacation after we leave!  Shortly after they got there, Jerry and Larry set up a slip and slide in the back yard and the kids had a blast.  Caleb was his typical reticent self and didn't want to get wet, but he had fun anyway.  Rudy had a couple of talks with him about how we all know he's the youngest and it's hard to keep up and he seemed to actually get that. 

And this girl, here - she had it made in the shade...

After everyone ate supper, we took the kids back outside to light some sparklers and play with "fake" firecrackers (the kind you throw on the ground and they pop without any actual fire).

Saturday, July 3

We didn't have any big plans on Saturday until we went to the Cardinals game.  The other kids went to the zoo, but we had already been, so we passed on a repeat visit.  Nola and I stayed at the house with Sherry while rudy took Caleb to the mall to get some new shoes.  He ended up with his first pair of shoes with laces, which I thought would be a big deal, but he has done pretty good keeping them tied so far.  I'm sure his daycare teacher will want to string us up, but they are good shoes and he doesn't complain about his legs hurting when he wears them. 

We promised Caleb that we would ride the train while we were in St. Louis, so we decided to take the Metro down to the stadium.  He loved it and we loved not having to park downtown for the game.  When we finally got to our seats in the stadium, it was scorching hot and we were in the direct sun.  We lasted one whole inning and then we went looking for seats in the shade.  We found some and ended up talking with the family behind us for the whole game.  They were from Oklahoma City and had 2 kids that Caleb played with. 

It turned out to be a great night even though the Cards got stomped by the Brewers.  We rode the train back to the station where we were parked and then made it on home.  We had left Nola with Jerry and Sherry, and they had a good time playing with her while we were gone. 

I can't even tell you how much I love this picture of Caleb being silly and wearing his hat and his Daddy's.  So stinking cute!

Sunday, July 4

Let me just start off here by saying that this was possibly one of the most stressful 4th of July's I've ever had.  That being said, it's highly likely that we'll do it all again next year.  (What do they say about the definition of insanity?  Something about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results...)  So, Rudy had promised one of his former co-workers that he would come by for a visit while we were there.  It worked out best for him to go by on Sunday.  He took Caleb with him and I stayed with Nola at the house.  Everyone was planning to take the kids swimming, but Rudy wasn't back yet when they left, so I didn't go.  (No big deal.  I didn't really care if I went anyway.)  By the time Rudy got back, Nola was sleeping.  He took Caleb to the pool and I stayed at the house.  When he got back, he told me that he had fallen in the water and hurt his ear. (He's supposed to wear ear plugs since he has tubes, but he never does because as long as he doesn't jump in, his ears are fine.  He didn't count on falling in.)  He ended up in excruciating pain and decided that he needed to get some medical attention.  We couldn't find an urgent care center open on the 4th of July, so he had to go to the ER.  In the meantime, I had taken the kids outside to do some more fake fireworks and got frustrated because they weren't listening and were complaining about the stuff that I had bought for them, so I said forget it and went back in feeling very irritated.  Once I realized how bad Rudy's ear pain was and compounded that with the stress I was already feeling, I was ready to just throw in the towel and not go to the fireworks.  But that was the plan and that was the activity that we always do no matter what, so Rudy took Jerry's car and went to the ER and I drove my car with 7 passengers down to the city for the fireworks.  Typically, we get there around 4:00, find a great spot with plenty of room for everyone, set up our stuff and let the kids play while we wait for the concert to start and then the fireworks.  People gradually start crowding in around us, but we have our space marked off, so we aren't worried about it.  Well...things were different this year.  The Cardinals game let out just before the air show started.  (It was the first year for the air show since 2001.)  By the time we got down there, there was hardly any space left at all - much less enough space for the 11 of us, plus Virginia, Rebecca, Jared and our friend Joy and her 2 kids.   The only spot we could find was about 20 yards from the giant bank of loud speakers and far away from the sidewalks, which are handy to be close to when you have kids with you who have to go to the bathroom quickly.  We set up camp and I immediately knew it was a bad idea for me to be down there with Nola.  It was incredibly loud by the speakers and it was incredibly hot.  I was sweating buckets and there were storm clouds rolling in.  I knew I had to keep her dry if the rain started, so I planned to put a poncho over both of us and ride out the rain that was coming.  What I didn't count on was that the heat plus the rain plus the poncho would create a stifling sauna for both of us which made it all even worse and Nola started screaming her head off - rightfully so - it's what I really wanted to do too.  When the rain was pouring down on us and she was inconsolable, I managed to hand Nola off to Rebecca, who was sitting under a tarp with Larry's family.  That at least got her out of the heat.  I got our backpack under the tarp to protect the camera and I sat in my poncho riding out the storm.  The only word I can think of to describe it is miserable.  As the rain begn to taper off, Rudy texted and said that he was parking the car and coming to find us.  He had gotten in and out of the ER in 30 minutes, gotten prescriptions and made it to downtown in record time.  Before the rain stopped, Joy and her kids found us, so when Rudy got there, he was glad to see them.  Caleb had thoroughly enjoyed the rain and was soaking wet.  We all enjoyed a few minutes of relative calm after the storm before the band started and it got too loud again.  We managed to get some great pictures of all of the kids and make a few trips to the port-a-potties without incident. 

When the B-52's started their concert, it was 8:00 and Nola had been through all she could stand.  Even with ear plugs in her ears, it was just too much.  She screamed and screamed and I couldn't calm her.  I threw my own tantrum - admittedly not helping the situation, but I was at my stress capacity - picked her up and snaked my way through the mass of people with Sherry hot on my heels to try to help me.  It seemed like no matter where we went, the music was just blaring and Nola just kept crying.  We finally found a spot on the far side of the cathedral from the Arch, where the building was blocking some of the sound.  We sat there for the rest of the concert and after a lot of swaying and rocking, I finally got Nola to sleep.  Knowing that if we didn't go back to our group, it would be nearly impossible to find them after the fireworks, we used a blanket to create earmuffs for Nola and pushed our way back through the crowd to find our seats.  We made it just in time for the fireworks to start and - miracle of miracles - Nola slept through them.  Once it was over and we packed up our stuff to head back to the car, I apologized to the whole family for my outburst and for my poor judgment in bringing Nola in the first place.  I never dreamed it would be so bad.  We took Caleb when he was 2 months old and he did fine - but we were much farther back from the speakers and it wasn't anywhere near that loud.  We headed back to the car in no hurry, knowing it would take a while to get through traffic.  We had no idea!  We had parked in Sherry's office parking deck because it was free and relatively convenient.  When we got to the car, the traffic was at a stand-still.  We loaded the kids in and got settled.  An hour later, we still hadn't moved.  By the time we got out of the deck and through the traffic, it was midnight before we got back to the house.  We were so keyed up, that all we could do was put the kids to bed and sit outside with Jerry, Sherry and Larry talking for hours.  Sherry and I ended up having a heart-to-heart about the stresses and pressures of being a mom and trying to do too much and she really helped me.  By the time we got to sleep, the sun was starting to come up.  I haven't seen that happen in a long time unless I was on my way to work in the winter!   

Monday, July 5

We got the car packed and loaded and we left Florissant about 1:00.  We had promised Caleb pizza for lunch and we were really wanting some St. Louis style gooey pizza too, so we stopped at Imo's in Eureka for pizza on our way out of town.  We pulled in our driveway at 8:00 last night and started unpacking and running the washing machine. 

Overall, it was a wonderful vacation.  We had a few mishaps and snafu's along the way, but we got to see people we love and do things we enjoy and that's what it's all about.