Homeward Bound!!! {Wednesday}

Our goal was to leave for 6:00 Wednesday morning…We didn’t make it…At 6:40 we finally had everything in the car and were saying our last goodbyes. It was a little sad to see our vacation come to an end, but I think we were all ready to head home!

The beginning of our trip was rather quiet, everyone catching up on sleep, reading their Bibles, etc.

For lunch we decided on one more special stop – Olive Garden!

After a delicious meal and a much needed break off of the road, we all climbed back into the car for the remainder of our trip. However, this time, we decided to have some fun to help the hours pass more quickly… So we pulled Buzz Word and Mad Gab out of the trunk and spent the next four hours giggling and having a crazy, but fun, time!

Our family was more than ready for us to be home, and we had quite a welcome committee waiting for us at the door. Our little sisters had decorated the house with paper chains and a huge ‘Welcome Home’ banner!

Over all we had an amazing time and I am so glad that we were able to make this trip and spend these 12 days together!

Day Ten {Tuesday}

Tuesday morning found me and Melody off to explore St. Louis’s Union Station. Once the largest and busiest passenger rail terminal in the world, it has now been restored and remodeled into a hotel and marketplace with numerous shops and restaurants. 

We spent our time admiring the magnificent building, browsing through the shops, and, of course, stopping for some iced coffees! Mmmm!!!

  

As most of the rest of our trip had been spent staying busy with everyone else, I was grateful for the opportunity to spend a little time alone with my precious friend. How truly blessed I am to have this amazing, beautiful, fun (and, yes, sometimes even crazy) person in my life!!!

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Tuesday afternoon Uncle Mark decided to treat us to one last St. Louis tradition – Ted Drewes Frozen Custard! There were so many flavors to choose from, but we finally all made our decisions… Strawberry Shortcake, Chocolate Mint, Banana & Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, and Raspberry Fudge were some of the yummy frozen custards we ended up with!!!

While we waited for our order, Hannah and Melody ended up having a huge water fight! I think everyone standing anywhere near got splashed as a result! It was quite hot though, so no one seemed to mind too much!

After we got home, we spent the rest of the evening packing, watched one more movie together, and then headed to bed early so that we could leave first thing Wednesday morning. 

Home Again!

From Amanda


Last night, we pulled into our driveway and were eagerly greeted by our family.

We still have a few pictures to catch up on so when we get things a little together over here, we'll post them. Hope you enjoyed following our adventures!

Day Nine {Monday}

This morning we headed off to the Botanical Gardens of St. Louis. There were, of course, many beautiful flowers in the gardens as well as fountains, lakes, and so forth.

I found the floating glass interesting.

We hiked the gardens . . .

. . . and, as tradition has it . . . we took more pictures.

It seems like two people with cameras just need to take a picture of their opponent - er, fellow-partner in the crime of photography. Why all the pictures of Melody? Well, we both clicked away and that's what we came up with. :)

For lunch, we stopped under a very interesting pavilion at Tower Grove Park, thankful for the break from the heat.

Back at Uncle Mark and Aunt Amy's, we played game after game and had fun with our cousins.

We have only one full day left with our relatives up here; it is kind of sad to see our trip coming to a close but at the same time, we're all missing home as well. Tomorrow, we'll have to pack up our bags and get ready for early-morning departure again.

Day Seven {Saturday}

This morning Uncle Mark, Aunt Amy, Rebecca and Amanda went to watch Hannah and James play soccer. True soccer fan and supportive friend that I am, I had every intention of tagging along to cheer them on. However, all my good intentions found me sound asleep on the basement floor, waking up just before they got home. Oh well...I hear James made three goals. GO JAMES!

After lunch, Uncle Mark took all of us girls to Grant's Farm.  Once we arrived, the tram took us on a tour around the park where we saw many different kinds of animals from all over the world.

We stopped by the "Animal Encounters" and watched as the trainers and animals reenacted popular TV shows. It was quite entertaining.

We took a break from the heat with snow cones and cold drinks, then hung out under the misters.

Hannah wanted to try out my sunglasses, even though I assured her they would swallow her face...

Later, we stopped by to check out one of the animals and Hannah told me and Amanda, "Aww! It's so cute and huggable...Like you!"

 We had a great day exploring more of St. Louis' interesting sites and tomorrow, Lord willing, we will be joining Uncle Mark and Aunt Amy again at their church.

Day Six {Friday}

{Warning: beware of a lot of pictures! And as usual, click any picture to enlarge}

Today was a very full day. We began by going out to what Hannah and James call "The Ruins" for a photo-shoot. Those two children are packed with fun and just cannot keep something serious like a photo-shoot . . . serious. :) They spiced it up just a little. We did manage to get some good shots, though.

From there, Jessica, Rebecca, Melody and I headed to the place which I most looked forward to: the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, most commonly known as the St. Louis Arch. It is a very impressive architectural structure.

But, "duty before pleasure," so we ate lunch first.

Before entering the arch, we had to take a few pictures with it. As James once put it, "You've gotta touch the arch." So we all "touched the arch" just for him. It was extremely windy!

 Once in the arch, we split parties. Jessica and Rebecca stayed down and Melody and I took the nice ride up and up and up. This being my first experience at the arch, it was pretty amazing. The worst part is looking down and realizing that yes, you are indeed 630 feet above ground! But we managed.

When our arch tour was completed, we walked back out in the heat to take even more group pictures.

The Mississippi river is extremely high. What used to be walk-ways are now flooded with muddy water.

As we learned about the arch, we got the impression that the real memorial is actually the bridge: the gateway to the west.

We briefly visited City Gardens in front of the old state capitol. It was really neat to see how the arch hovered over the capitol.

We were kind of shocked to see pink water in front of the capitol! It was not something you'd like to fall into . . . at all.

There was also a neat "waterfall" that flooded the steps: another great place to take pictures.

 Topped with blended floats and Sprite, our outing was complete.

Day Five {Thursday}

Today we visited Forest Park, the site of 1904 state fair. It contains many features including the art museum, history museum, science center, ice-skating rink (winter only, of course), memorials, and the St. Louis Zoo.

It is a huge place and very easy to get turned around in – especially if you are a few girls. :)

Like we did at St. Charles, we dedicated the beginning of our trip to more pictures. Our location was around the Grand Basin below Art Hill.

{Click to enlarge}

Melody found a very tempting dandelion and just couldn’t resist.

Aunt Amy, Hannah, and James met us around noon for lunch. In such a large park as Forest Park, it is ridiculous to think that it was a challenge to find someplace to eat lunch. But, due to construction, gnats, and little parking space, we drove around for a while before settling on the benches at the skating rink.

Meanwhile, I snapped a couple of pictures of my cousins. Tomorrow, if the Lord permits, we will have a little photo-shoot with Hannah and James.

From there, we searched for parking once more and hiked a little distance to the St. Louis Zoo.

We had a lot of fun looking at the different animals. James took the job of navigating us through the zoo with his trusty map. For the most part, he was really good about keeping us on track.

I think we all agree that our favorite section in the zoo was the Sea-Lion show (Note: we were drilled that they are not seals, but sea-lions). The sea-lions were really cute and entertained us with their various tricks. You ought to look at the picture full-sized to fully appreciate the sea-lions.

Our long trek in hot weather left us dreaming of a swimming pool (or Johnson’s Shut-ins), but since that was not available, we satisfied ourselves with slushes.

Tomorrow, we plan on taking a break from the heat and visiting a place that is air-conditioned. Check in tomorrow (or, if we’re negligent again, day-after-tomorrow) to see our thoughts of a break from the heat. :)