Go here. {St. Louis City Museum}

We looked this place (The City Museum in St. Louis, MO) up online before we came to St. Louis and thought it looked like a place the kids would love.  But when we turned the corner and saw this...

 

it was like Christmas morning for me--I mean, the kids!

The outside is a maze of slides, tunnels, bridges, airplanes, and contraptions to climb, play and explore.  So we did. 

 My sister and I climbed up to the airplane with our 3-year olds.

Staring down through the metal grid at the concrete hundreds of feet below,

we started thinking, 'what were we thinking?!'

For the thrill, right?

The 3-year olds were oblivious. 

We were thrilled to get everyone back down to a safer level.

Like the ball pit level.

Joe joined in on one of the biggest dodge ball games I've ever seen in an enclosed area.

He climbed all over that place and totally dominated the fire truck slide.

He did this.  On purpose.

If we had only gotten to play outside, it would have been worth the price of admission. 

But then we went inside.

Caves and statues, tunnels and slides,

tight places where little people squeeze through and big people get stuck. 

Everything built out of recycled materials.

A ten-story slide!

  A three-story slide.

 

The world's smallest underpants and

largest pencil. 

There was also an indoor skate park,

tons of arts and crafts,

a mini circus,

and I don't think we even saw it all.

 

Super fun.

I liked it.

Could you tell?

I think the kids had fun, too.

 

the last watermelon

When I bought this watermelon out of the back of Woody's truck, I asked him how much longer he thought the watermelon would grow.  He said, "This is it."

So, we savored what will probably be our last watermelon of the season.

 

 

Not only did we eat the sweet, red middle, but we scraped the rinds and drank the juice.

Grandaddy showed us how to carve a new set of chompers.

 

 

 

 

Grandmother had come outside to enjoy the watermelon with us.

The boys (and Charlie) had her cracking up with their goofy rind-teeth.

That laugh is something we will savor too because she passed away about one week later.

We are certain we will hear it again.

In a another season.

 

 

Until then we will just listen with our hearts.

 

Like the moth

		No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl.  Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you. LUKE 11:33-36

Crack 'em and eat 'em

Grandmother has two pecan trees in her backyard.

We are like a family of squirrels when we go outside.

Gather and crack 'em and eat 'em.

 

Trek wants to make a pecan pie.

me--Great idea!  But you'll have to quit eating them so we can collect enough to fill the pie.

Trek--We can have pie later.



Locked and Loaded

We have been in Bama for eight weeks.

This might have been the most eventful, stretching, two months of my life.

I don't want to just dump the facts out all in one post.  So, I'll go back a little and try to tell about it chronologically.

 

We all flew back together to Alabama.  We moved in with Grandmother who graciously opened her home to 6 more people!  I started teaching math at Northridge High School.  The big kids started at their new school.  We reunited with other family members.

 

Three weeks later, Jono flew back to Cali--the flight we were all originally going to take, before this became a one-way trip.  He loaded up the swagger wagon and the trailer to drag all our stuff back across the country.  Here it is locked and loaded.

 

Believe it or not, Jono had a good friend volunteer to drive back with him.  I'm thankful someone was willing because I'm afraid I was not very eager to make that trip myself.  I didn't make it the first time either.  Thankful on both counts.

They left on Monday night and rolled into the driveway Thursday evening.  Safe and sound.  With a trailer so stuffed we had to open the back door just a little bit at a time, grabbing things as they jumped out of the crevices they had been wedged into!