Two weeks ago the contractors finished at our house. All of our floors are done, we've just got a lot of work to go. The kitchen needs one more coat of paint on the walls, two more on the cabinets, and installation of cabinet doors. Adam needs to stretch and tack down the carpet in each bedroom doorway and then all construction will be complete until something else breaks.
Last week we escaped the stress and headed out of town. Our first stop was in Wichita, Kansas, where we stayed at Chris and Ashley Borniger's house and played with their new baby. She is the perfect baby; fat and happy. I enjoyed holding, feeding, and rocking her while we were there. We've known Chris since just before we got married and he is Claire's godfather. Here's a picture of the kids with beautiful Miss Elena.
Our next stop was St. Louis, Missouri. We were able to stay at a nice hotel for a mere $65/night thanks to Priceline.com. I didn't take any photos of the hotel's exterior, so here's one I stole off their website. It's the Double Tree at St. Louis Union Station.
Our first day in St. Louis was cold and rainy. Instead of souvenir t-shirts, we each picked out a St. Louis souvenir hoodie. We headed to the zoo because in Fort Worth the best days to go are the rainy days. No crowd and the animals are excited about the rain. Because it wasn't crowded or possibly because she is so cute, Claire was selected to help in the sea lion show. She threw raw fish at a sea lion named Nikki and even gave her a special treat of raw squid. We've been teasing Claire that she ate the squid instead of feeding it to the sea lion.
The next day we went to the City Museum. Anyone that visits St. Louis must go there because it is uncommon and unparalleled. I'm not really sure why they call it a museum because it should be called the City Playground. Tennis shoes should be a requirement for entrance here because you will be working out all day (or watching others). The museum is full of tunnels, caves, slides, and countless places to climb. The kids and Adam enjoyed sliding down the 10-story slide. I enjoyed taking pictures of it. More than once I looked at the roof to see the kids or Adam in the air. I get motion sickness and slides aren't that appealing to me, so I mostly watched. I tried to climb one of the wire tunnels but my knees let me know that was not an activity I would enjoy. Adam and the kids were unstoppable, though, and I quickly got over my worrying about their safety. They climbed to the top of a structure on top of the building; the 11 story building.
I included this last photo to give some perspective on some of the climbing. This is on the very top of the 11 story building. It's a giant dome and the kids and Adam climbed to the top of it. I don't even want to know how many hundreds of feet they were in the air, but they loved it. The museum was designed by an artist and it's really indescribable. Every inch of the place is a work of art, from the mosaic tile floor to the interior caverns to the organ that plays itself.
Admission is surprisingly only $12 a person. I don't mean to be an advertisement for this place, but it is worth it. There are even parkour-type ramps for kids and adults to run on. Paul was a blur most of the day.
The next day was July 4 and we celebrated by visiting the Arch. We road a boat down the Mississippi River and and elevator up to the top of the arch. We stayed for fireworks, along with Adam estimates 200,000 other people. It was crazy crowded and reminded me of that summer concert we went to all those years ago at Texas Motor Speedway.
The next day we headed back to Texas and stopped in Texarkana to see Adam's godparents. We spent the night there and then travelled to Tyler to see Adam's side of the family and celebrate July 4th with them. Adam and his cousin always put on a fireworks display for us there. Here's Claire shooting a bottle rocket.
We got home at 1 a.m. Sunday morning and yesterday was a blur or exhaustion and unpacking. Today we are getting back in the routines. First stop is the vet to pick up the dogs.
We love the City Museum! It is the most bizarre place to play. It is a surrealist artist dream and a type a personality person's nightmare. It is worth the money and Siam had a blast there. Did you slide down that pencil thing?
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