Church Lady's Blog

My Baby is 18.

"C" turned 18 yesterday.  We took the kids to St Louis to celebrate his big day.  We figured being in the top of the Gateway Arch would be a memorable way to turn 18.

Of course, he had a nap in the truck on the way there...

  

 

Unless you've been there in person, you truly cannot imagine how enormous the Arch is.

 

Before the ride up to the top, we toured the museum which lies beneath the Arch.  YES, there is an entire museum, gift shop, mercantile and tram system under that bad boy !

 

 

Here's my voting-age-son posing next to one of the Lewis & Clark displays.  They were animatronic - scared the crap out of him when it started moving.  =)

 

With "S"'s obsession with Pocahontas, she was all too willing to stand next to this Indian for a photo op.

 

 

Did I mention that we almost plowed over one of these little guys on our canoe trip two  weekends ago ??  Well, we almost hit one driving into the little town where the canoe place was... but thanks to my CIA/FBI level automobile driving, he was spared.  =)

 

So, on the elevator ride up to the top of the Arch (and when I say elevator, please remove ANY AND ALL images of an elevator that you have conjured up = these little space pods are NOTHING like any elevator you can possibly imagine), my motion-sickness started to kick in a little bit.  So, I blocked my eyes from the EVER-SO-TINY WINDOW so I wouldn't see the floors of each "layer" of the arch as we went whisking past them.  Keep in mind, the pod we're in is so small, all of our knees are touching.  You can see by the above picture that I'm doing pretty well.  As you can see by the below picture, as we approached the top, my ability to "keep it all down" was waning....

 

But, I made it.  =)  And it was worth it.  The view is spectacular.

 

Here's my baby boy enjoying his big 18th birthday inside the Arch.

 

 

After the arch, we went to lunch at Imo's Pizza and then headed out to the St Louis Zoo.  

 

Don't ask.

 

The monkey below was licking that wire - I mean LICKING IT LIKE IT WAS COVERED IN HONEY.  GOING TO TOWN ON IT.  We laughed so hard - I have no clue what the heck she was doing !

 

 

 

Alex, the California Sea Lion was one of our favorites - so adorable.

 

And when we arrived home from Missouri, there was an angel food cake waiting for the birthday boy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART - WE LOVE YOU !

Amber Waves are Down

Isn't this field near our home beautiful ?  The wheat has just come down, the corn is just coming up.  I love Indiana.

BAD PUPPERS

Yes, yes, I know she's ADORABLE.....

But she's also BAD.  She has decided that it's ok to run off of the front porch whenever she feels like it.  It almost gives my Mom a heart attack each time she does it.  Granted, she's only a 3 month only pup, and she will probably learn NOT to do this, but right now, it has earned her the moniker - 'BAD PUPPERS'.   Here she is after my brother Brian (who's here visiting from Houston) captured her after a romp in the front yard.  Do you see the guilt on her face ?

Canoe Trip

Yesterday, "BIg D" and I decided not to waste such a GORGEOUS DAY by sitting around the house - so we took "S" and went on a canoe trip.  We opted for the half day trip which actually was about a two hour trip down the Blue River.  GLORIOUS PEACEFUL RELAXING QUIET FUN TIME.  We should've done this years ago.

  

It was in the low 80's all day and there was a nice breeze throughout our trip down the river.  Absolutely perfect.

  

Yes, the water looks green, but it really wasn't - not sure why this shots makes it look like we're canoing through a mossy area, but we weren't.

 

There were a couple little "rapids" areas on our seven mile journey - none were really rough at all, but they did give us a little reprieve from rowing and a bit of mist in the air, too.

 

We passed these two guys in the river = it looked to me like they had a metal detector of some kind, but apparently it was something "more scientific" than that... we asked them what they were hunting for and they told us they were in the river doing research for Purdue University !  Pretty cool job or class, don't you think ?

 

Isn't he adorable ?

 

Have you ever seen a picture of yourself and wondered, "Who is that old lady with the gray hair and expanding waistling ?" only to discover - IT'S YOU ??!!

 

 

I'm pretty sure we saw about a billion turtles.  Yep.  A billion. At least.  And then we came across these "wild beasts".....

 

Yep - some black angus cows cooling off in the stream.  Too cute.

 

 

...and some more turtles.....

 

I'm pretty sure "S" thought she should take a picture of EVERY SINGLE TURTLE we went past.  She loves them.  

  

 

 

"S" took over the rowing from me for a while.

 

About an hour into the trip - "S" and I found a better way to float along then rowing.... we let "Big D" row while we reclined and enjoyed the scenery !

 

 

 

 

When we went underneath this bridge, we yelled 'ROBO' and WOW what an echo it made !!  You can download the video below and hear it for yourself !

Download Robo

The Kids Are Gone

No, not gone forever, just gone visiting to their Aunt Letitia's in Indianapolis.  She sent me this picture of what they were doing yesterday morning... now keep in mind, they HAVE BEDS TO SLEEP IN.....

 

She also sent me a picture of the fruits of their labors....frog hunting.....

 

I'm so glad they're enjoying their time together in Indy - but I will be glad to see them on Thursday evening, though !