happy birthday Holly!

...Holly is a big birthday celebrator, even more so than I am. I think Justin, her husband, has a birthday close to hers as well, so they pretty much spend the entire month of June celebrating!

So, my friend, I hope you have a wonderful celebration and a fantastic year ahead of you! Many birthday wishes to you and Justin and many more to come!

in a new place

...After a week in El Paso, I am now in Friona, TX with my entire family, sans Seth. 7 grandkids and 7 adults makes for a crowded house but the kids are having fun so isn't that the point.

Today is my bro-in-law's birthday so Happy Birthday Chris!!! Hope you have a great day!

I am a little worn out, so my brain isn't working too well, so I will leave this post now. More later, hopefully...

howdy

...from El Paso, Texas!! I am here with my kids, my mom and my sister's kids and we are going to have a fun-filled week of trying to keep everyone happy and busy while my sister is away on business. Wish us luck! :)

Yesterday was Father's Day and we weren't with Seth, so I promised him a celebration later next month. But I do hope he knows how much we love him, appreciate everything he does for us and how much he means to us. We love you!

to the train, to the bus, to the train

...Ok, yesterday I said I was done talking about St. Louis, but then Abbey reminded me I hadn't talked about everything. So if you can stand one more post on it, then I'll tell you about the joys of public transportation and the zoo.

I have to say--when Seth told me he wasn't renting a car because St. Louis has a MetroLine (a train system), I was a little wary. Even though he said that I would like it because I am all for being environmentally-friendly lately. And because of that, I never said anything to him about my reservations.

And I have to admit, it wasn't bad. The train takes you about anywhere you want to go and although there were a few strange characters, if you just don't notice them, then they aren't that strange. Example: One time we were riding to the zoo and I heard a woman's voice behind me just talking away. I didn't think too much about it--cell phone probably. Later, Seth said she was just talking. No phone, no one beside her, just talking. But because I didn't actually look at her, I wasn't nervous about it. See? :)

St. Louis has a lot of friendly people as well. They were more than willing to help us out when we needed directions or needed to know exactly how to get to the zoo.

For that, we needed to take the train and then the bus. So we were immersed in public transportation this weekend. I think every city needs a train service like St. Louis. Really.

***

The zoo was amazing. It is really beautiful there too. The snakes were housed in this beautiful building and there were beautiful buildings all around. They had this very neat penguin exhibit but inside was so cold, I could not stay. I am sure that is a hit in the hot summertime!

The funniest animal was the naked chimpanzee. I did take a picture of her but can't find it, so you'll just have to take my word for it. She had no hair but was tan so you really had to look for her. I was disappointed that they didn't have a sign explaining why she was naked, but maybe it was just how she was born. I don't know.

It rained on us at the zoo and the boys and I got a little chilled. So we left to go to Union Station. But it was pretty awesome.

***
Speaking of rain, it is raining here again! I can't believe how much it has rained here this past spring. They said we could get at least 3 more inches by Saturday. Wow.

Have a good day!

the rest of the story

...The top riverboat is the Tom Sawyer. We rode this riverboat, seeing the sights of the Mighty Mississip. (You should hear Rhett say that, it is funny!) The river is browner than brown and although the tour guides kept saying that the water level was pretty high and the deepest point was near New Orleans (over 200 feet deep), it just seemed like it wasn't that deep to me since it looked like muddy water. I vaguely remember when Dad went on a Mississippi River trip and maybe his views stuck with me, I don't know. Although it was neat to see the sights and hear the history, I wasn't too impressed with the beauty of it. Noah wanted popcorn the whole time, but Rhett was interested, so one out of two is not bad. I think Seth really enjoyed it.

This is the Eads Bridge (and forgive me if I misspell that). This is the view from our hotel, but we also went underneath it during our riverboat ride. When it was built, no one thought it would last because it was one of the first of its kind. It is still here, in working condition and the MetroLine even goes underneath the highway.

And this is Busch Stadium, the new stadium. It overlaps where the old one stood. It is very impressive. This is the view from the arch, but we also went in it for the game. St. Louis loves their Cardinals, let me tell you. 9 out of 10 people wore Cardinal attire. I am not kidding about that. I felt like getting a shirt that read "Pujols-#5" even though I really did not know who he was. The fever is catching I guess!

The game was interesting. I felt bad for Seth. This is probably the one thing he really wanted to do and he really didn't get to see all that much of the game. It was Saturday and by the time we went, we were all tired after a long day of "doing" and kind of cranky. Noah ended up falling asleep, but only after complaining half the time, I kept telling Seth that we could leave and let him stay (but I am glad we didn't do that--strange characters come out in the evening!), so, alas, Seth had to watch the rest of the game in the hotel room. The stadium was a neat experience though and we actually got to see the World Series trophy, so that was cool.

Anyway, that is some of what we did in St. Louis. I recommend going. I just never realized how historical it was (the Dred Scott case was at the Courthouse, Mark Twain got his start writing there, it is the Gateway to the West!). A good trip.

St. Louis: views of the arch

...this weekend we went to St. Louis and we had a blast! It was so not like Seth and me to do this--plan a whirlwind trip like this--and maybe that was why we had such a great time. We were tired when we got back home but it was a good tired. We did so much there that we have never done before: ride on a train (Seth, Rhett and Noah), ride on a riverboat (all of us), go up 630 feet to the top of the Gateway to the West or the Arch (all of us!!), see a naked chimpanzee (more on that later), see the World Series Trophy (more on that tomorrow), so it was a successful vacation. Here are some photos of the arch:

Ok, I did not realize that it was this...BIG! When Seth first mentioned going up to the top, Rhett, Noah and I looked at him like he was crazy. I think the reason I was so scared is because I had no idea how you got up there. You can't see an elevator or anything. It looks too skinny and too steep.

I love this picture because of the group of people standing behind us. They look like they were posing for our picture, doesn't it? I think they were lining up for their own photo but I still think it is funny.

This is my favorite--the view of the Arch blocking the sun. We were standing so close to it and I had no nerve. Too scared to go to the top so I told Seth no. But he finally talked us all into going and really, it wasn't too bad. Well, I won't lie to you--the trip up and down was less desirable than I would have liked. They put 5 people into this tiny pod (think Spaceballs--the pods that they go into to escape from the exploding space shuttle? That is what I thought of) and it was hot and uncomfortable and I thought if this thing gets stuck, I would seriously freak out because of lack of air but it didn't and we made it to the top just fine.

And there they are at the top. Looking out the windows was pretty cool, seeing the stadium, the view of Illinois, where we stayed, ect.

I will share some more photos tomorrow. I need to do some laundry and stuff like that though right now! Back to reality for me.

disappointing children

...Tonight's conversation went something like this:

me: I am going to have at least 4 more blooms on my Magnolia tree.
seth: good.
noah: what?
me: 4 more blooms!
noah: 4!?!
me: yes.
noah: where?
me: on the tree.
noah: I want to see the balloons!
seth: no! flowers! not balloons. Blooms.
noah: oh.

Oh, the disappointment. I mean, balloon trees would be fascinating.

****

While the boys were getting baths, I checked on the fish and noticed RJ, our catfish, was no longer a part of the living. After Seth got him out, we debated on how we would tell the boys. So I went in there, told them and immediately, Rhett starts bawling his little eyes out. Turns out, RJ was his best friend. It says so on the picture he drew of the catfish later. Rhett breaks down at least 3 times before bed because of this fish. This fish that would hide from the light, never come out to eat...it is a wonder the little guy lasted this long.

Rhett just couldn't understand why it died this fast. Meaning, we only had him 3 weeks.

In fish time though, isn't that pretty good?

Noah, in the meantime, was just fine.

***

sharing the joy

...Even though you may already know, I still want to share the news: Holly's announcement .
Congrats to my friends!

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Summer vacation is in full swing here. Building forts in the living room, playing with friends, hanging out at the pool, staying up later but sleeping in as well, just the general taking it easy time for us. The boys are having a blast.

Hope you are having a great Wednesday!

read

...Rhett read an entire book to his dad last night. He also read it in the car earlier that day. It was Lilo and Stitch and it was a Level 2 book and he did an awesome job! I just can't believe he is reading. And what is great is that he even comprehended what was going on in the book.

And I love that Noah is so involved in this process too. He will repeat what Rhett reads and try to help him out when Rhett is stuck on a word. It is neat to watch.

My boy is reading!!!

hmm, cheese

...Yesterday, after yard work and house work, Seth said he would get us something to eat so I wouldn't have to cook. I chose Sonic because the Cherry Limeade sounded so good at that moment! The boys were excited too. For some reason, they love Sonic.

Anyway, Seth gave me a little treat besides the limeade. He ordered me Cheddar Bites, which is basically little bites that look like tator tots of a fried cheese stick. I gave the boys one to try. Noah bit into it and looked a little surprised about what was inside, but happily surprised. Then a few seconds later, Noah says, "Hey, where is the cheese inside these tator tots?" Seth and I looked and saw that he torn apart all of his tator tots, looking for the cheese inside. We started laughing and Seth said something about him just having regular tator tots and I am the one that had the cheddar bites. Noah asks why he didn't get those too.

Because:

"You know I love cheese!"

This boy will eat cheese every meal. Grilled cheese, string cheese, cheese sticks, tortilla with cheese, cheeseburgers (not hamburgers), ham and cheese, cheese pizza, shredded cheese, cubed cheese, cheese chips, anything with cheese is better than without.

He will pick apart his sandwich and just eat the cheese. He wishes everything in the whole world was made of cheese (actually, he has expressed this wish several times).

When I tell him that might not be a good idea, he looks at me like I am crazy. What could be wrong about that? I know he wonders. Cheese whenever he likes and in any form.

So now you know--Noah loves cheese.

Have a gouda day! ;)

first and last

...Happy First Day of June!! Happy Last Day of School (for Rhett)! Happy start of the lazy days of summer!!

I am excited for June. This will be a fun month because of all the things I have mentioned before (trips, cousins, sisters). Yesterday, I told the boys that tomorrow is June 1st and they were so happy. Noah said, "So we get to see Nicolas now!" Uh, no. Not yet, but soon!

May was the most rainy month I have seen in a long time. Oklahoma went from 2 year drought to flood zone in this month. Rhett has had at least 4 games rained out and Noah has had two. We bought umbrellas for the boys and they actually got to use them. Everywhere is greener than green. I don't know how long this will last but I am enjoying it.

So I hope everyone has a happy June 1st.

Woo-hoo!

Oh and one more thing: Rhett's bus driver has become one of my favorite people. Every morning he says hello to Noah and talks to him and really is interested in what Noah brings to show him. Well, the other day, he gave Noah a happy meal toy. A simple thing but it was sweet. Today, he gave him another one. He said, "You are the only little kid that comes every morning to say hi to me." Noah just beamed. Little things make all the difference.