It’s been some time since my last post and more than I can type in one evening has transpired. I find myself engulfing cookies and milk this evening. For one I’m absolutely snack happy and secondly, I bought these for the kids on their visit and they didn’t eat any. These organic oatmeal and raisin cookies look so lonely on my shelf I can’t resist providing some company.
Yes, the family arrived last Thursday morning. Thank goodness I had talked with Tracey on Wednesday because she pointed out that the flight arrived at a quarter of 10 in the morning. I had them in my calendar for a quarter of 1pm. Disaster averted and I actually arrived at the airport in time to greet them as they made their way to the baggage claim.
It’s been a whirlwind week. We tried to do enough St. Louis things to get a feel for the city yet not so many things that we left nothing for the summer. The highlights:
The Anheiser Busch Brewery Tour
Not that the free beer at the end of the tour had anything to do with it, but this was absolutely cool. There are three national historic buildings on the complex one of which is the stables for the Clydesdales. Not all the horses are kept downtown but a few for exhibition are housed here along with the Dalmatians. The stable was immaculate. I think the dog even winked at us. Yes the Budweiser tastes better at the brewery.
(Note here in the picture that we all had our Cardinals garb on as we had tickets to the game on Sunday evening that was canceled because of the player who died same day. Not seeing the game was a big disappointment for the kids who still remember me taking them to see the Oriels last year.)
A vendor hosted a dinner at this restaurant many weeks ago and it instantly became a favorite of mine. I took the family for a special night out. The kids aren’t accustomed to eating at a restaurant where the courses are served over a couple of hours but they did ok. We had a nice bottle of a true Tuscan wine with our meal. I can’t remember what everyone ordered only at the end of the night we certainly enjoyed our homemade tiramisu and Italian cheesecake.
The zoo is awesome. We spent an entire day there seeing all the exhibits, both animal and human. The St. Louis Zoo is one of only a few in the country that is free. We bought a day pass though to do some of the extras like get into the children’s zoo, the train, etc. We learned real quick which restaurant in the zoo not to eat at and what time not to be hungry as it took me nearly 40 minutes in line to order our meal. After eating our subpar lunch we discovered another restaurant deeper into the zoo with burgers and brats on the grill. Aye-carumba! But still a great outing.
Checking Out the New Homestead
Of course the real highlight for me was taking Tracey and the kids through the new Lazy Acres North (another post forthcoming). It was the first time they had seen it in person. All gave a big thumbs up. Taylor started jockeying for space. She wants the whole lower level to herself and can’t understand why she has to share with Hale. Hale was pretty easy going on where she got placed just as long as the paint scheme was accurate. Tracey of course came up with a good honey-do list for remodeling (and is still adding to it). It was certainly a wonderful moment. So wonderful that we went through it again before they left to go home on Tuesday.
The rest of the week for me was spent playing catch-up with work, chores, and errands. Now that we’ve closed on the home and I have roughly six weeks until the girls get here, I have to switch into high gear to get some painting done. More to come on the new hacienda soon.
Buenas Noches
