I am a week behind posting about my fun trip to St. Louis. I was in sort of an internet slump, for some reason. I'm back, though. And I'm sorry I haven't mastered the art of a short blog post yet. I'll work on it. My sister was having her second baby last Friday, and Tornado and I drove up there to take care of
my niece, Winnie, and dog-nephew, Puddy, while they were at the hospital. We left Thursday and stayed until Sunday.
As if it wasn't enough getting to spend time with my family and staying in a super cool loft in a fun city, Cary and Andy also gifted me with a Whole Foods gift card, a pretty scarf, and these cool silver-plated flowers (in their new home on my table). Not to mention - yummy, homemade strawberry muffins. Thank you so much, you guys.
I'm fairly sure I wasn't supposed to post a picture of Cary in her pajamas/Andy's boxers, but I'm overruling that because she looks super cute (cuter and skinnier than I've ever looked pregnant) - and it's the best picture to showcase her gargantuan stomach.
Tornado was - let's be honest - pretty psyched about having a little peace and quiet for a few days. Surprisingly, staying with a dog and a 15 month old was much quieter than a house with a 2 year old and 4 year old. They enjoyed lots of wagon rides and Winnie-type play, such as wheeling the shopping cart around and filling it with random objects.
It's hard to resist a 600,000 square foot museum/indoor-outdoor playground (with a bus hanging off the roof) that can be seen right outside your window. Tornado was hopping up and down, chanting, "Museum, here we come!" over and over all morning...until we finally got there (first delayed because I realized I hadn't brought my credit card, and we had to walk back to get it).
It was actually a little hard trying to keep up with Tornado. They have these metal cages and slides that span several stories, and I sort of panicked a few times, racing around with Winnie in her stroller, guessing where he may have exited. We stayed a couple of hours, then went home for lunch and a nap, then back later for another couple of hours. I left the stroller behind the second time, determined to hold onto Winnie and follow Tornado through whatever route he chose to go. (My knees got a little sore, but all in the name of fun.) As much as he loved crawling through all the mazes and enchanted tunnels, his favorite part was probably Art City. He stayed for a long time, helping the lady work on a magazine mosaic of the sun.
I wish my entire house looked like the inside of the
City Museum. You feel like you're in this bizarre Alice in Wonderland type world; it's fascinating. It's really amazing how everything is reclaimed/recycled - and honestly, potentially a little dangerous, which is kind of refreshing to experience, in this sign-a-release/lawsuit crazy world we live in.
Winnie was clearly delighted to eat at the vegan restaurant,
Vegadeli, in Chesterfield. :)
This is what we ordered to share...BBQ "Cheddar" veggie burger, sweet potatoes with apples and raisins, macaroni and "cheese", and nachos. We ended up going back the next day, too, (hee, hee) and ordered more macaroni (good stuff!), a "tuna" sandwich (made from seaweed and garbanzo beans - quite tasty), and lasagna (Winnie was a wild woman going after that one.).
We got up Saturday morning and headed to the hospital to meet Winnie's new brother! Unfortunately, I discovered that I left my camera memory card back at the loft so I didn't get to document my very first meeting with my nephew, sigh. We next headed to the Museum of Transportation. (I let Tornado choose our outing, and that's what he picked.) I bought a disposable camera in the gift shop. Tornado was very agreeable this trip, posing for pictures. Winifred, despite my many "Turn around, Winnie! Woo-hoo, look over here!" pleas, can often be seen in the pics, standing backwards or walking out of the shot.
The highlight of the museum trip was the ride on the train (and the ride on the tram that took us to the train). Very fun stuff for both of them. Here, they are just posing on the engineer's seat, and Winnie was not sure how she felt about that. We sat in the very back seat in front of the conductor, and the highlight for Tornado was calling out, "All aboard," into the microphone.
If you click on this picture, you can see the bird (sorry, I'm not up on my ornithology, not sure what kind of bird) guarding her eggs that were next to the tracks. It was so sweet. When the train started up, she'd pace excitedly until it was out of the way again.
Baby Rush, weighing in at 9.7 pounds. (See earlier photo of Cary's stomach.) That's how much Sissy weighed, but I didn't have to push her out. Go, Cary! We come from a big baby family. I weighed 9.12, and Cary weighed 10-something. After lunch, a nap at home, and a quick supper at Whole Foods plus little jaunt into Borders, we went back to the hospital for another visit.
lollipop buddies!
I love having nieces and nephews. I'm not just saying that. I won't be able to have the number of children I'd really love to have, which would be a houseful, so it does soften it to know I have so many special kids in my family altogether. Rush was #9 on my side of the family. (Just 1 other on Ryan's side; get to work, guys!)
glad to be back in Momma's arms
Sunday morning, we decided to sneak in a little trip to the Arch before "Mom and Dad" got home. Tornado had never been to the top before, and he obviously loves a good museum.
me and Winnie, in the Museum of Westward Expansion, which is located underneath the Arch
Winnie wasn't overly impressed with the museum. However, there WERE steps to go up and down, so she was happy as can be.
Again, Winnie is more interested in learning about "the builders" than my picture taking.
There was a slightly long-for-a-15-month-old wait (not to mention an eager 9 year old) to get into the elevator. (The wait really wasn't as long as I expected - maybe 30 minutes.) However, we eventually got to more steps - yes!
Tornado was giddy with excitement while we were waiting.
On the way up in the elevator, Winnie cozied right up to the man sitting next to her. No worries - he was a sweet Papaw/Sir type.
Winnie's first view out the Arch window
This teenager started talking to Tornado after hearing his excited narration of everything he was seeing. I thought it was really sweet of him to engage with Tornado. The teenager even told him, "See - that's Busch Stadium. I'm going to play there one day."
first father and son nap in the recliner together...Andy and Rush, home at last
As if it wasn't enough getting to spend time with my family and staying in a super cool loft in a fun city, Cary and Andy also gifted me with a Whole Foods gift card, a pretty scarf, and these cool silver-plated flowers (in their new home on my table). Not to mention - yummy, homemade strawberry muffins. Thank you so much, you guys.
I'm fairly sure I wasn't supposed to post a picture of Cary in her pajamas/Andy's boxers, but I'm overruling that because she looks super cute (cuter and skinnier than I've ever looked pregnant) - and it's the best picture to showcase her gargantuan stomach.
Tornado was - let's be honest - pretty psyched about having a little peace and quiet for a few days. Surprisingly, staying with a dog and a 15 month old was much quieter than a house with a 2 year old and 4 year old. They enjoyed lots of wagon rides and Winnie-type play, such as wheeling the shopping cart around and filling it with random objects.
It's hard to resist a 600,000 square foot museum/indoor-outdoor playground (with a bus hanging off the roof) that can be seen right outside your window. Tornado was hopping up and down, chanting, "Museum, here we come!" over and over all morning...until we finally got there (first delayed because I realized I hadn't brought my credit card, and we had to walk back to get it).
It was actually a little hard trying to keep up with Tornado. They have these metal cages and slides that span several stories, and I sort of panicked a few times, racing around with Winnie in her stroller, guessing where he may have exited. We stayed a couple of hours, then went home for lunch and a nap, then back later for another couple of hours. I left the stroller behind the second time, determined to hold onto Winnie and follow Tornado through whatever route he chose to go. (My knees got a little sore, but all in the name of fun.) As much as he loved crawling through all the mazes and enchanted tunnels, his favorite part was probably Art City. He stayed for a long time, helping the lady work on a magazine mosaic of the sun.
I wish my entire house looked like the inside of the City Museum. You feel like you're in this bizarre Alice in Wonderland type world; it's fascinating. It's really amazing how everything is reclaimed/recycled - and honestly, potentially a little dangerous, which is kind of refreshing to experience, in this sign-a-release/lawsuit crazy world we live in.
Winnie was clearly delighted to eat at the vegan restaurant, Vegadeli, in Chesterfield. :)
This is what we ordered to share...BBQ "Cheddar" veggie burger, sweet potatoes with apples and raisins, macaroni and "cheese", and nachos. We ended up going back the next day, too, (hee, hee) and ordered more macaroni (good stuff!), a "tuna" sandwich (made from seaweed and garbanzo beans - quite tasty), and lasagna (Winnie was a wild woman going after that one.).
We got up Saturday morning and headed to the hospital to meet Winnie's new brother! Unfortunately, I discovered that I left my camera memory card back at the loft so I didn't get to document my very first meeting with my nephew, sigh. We next headed to the Museum of Transportation. (I let Tornado choose our outing, and that's what he picked.) I bought a disposable camera in the gift shop. Tornado was very agreeable this trip, posing for pictures. Winifred, despite my many "Turn around, Winnie! Woo-hoo, look over here!" pleas, can often be seen in the pics, standing backwards or walking out of the shot.
The highlight of the museum trip was the ride on the train (and the ride on the tram that took us to the train). Very fun stuff for both of them. Here, they are just posing on the engineer's seat, and Winnie was not sure how she felt about that. We sat in the very back seat in front of the conductor, and the highlight for Tornado was calling out, "All aboard," into the microphone.
If you click on this picture, you can see the bird (sorry, I'm not up on my ornithology, not sure what kind of bird) guarding her eggs that were next to the tracks. It was so sweet. When the train started up, she'd pace excitedly until it was out of the way again.
Baby Rush, weighing in at 9.7 pounds. (See earlier photo of Cary's stomach.) That's how much Sissy weighed, but I didn't have to push her out. Go, Cary! We come from a big baby family. I weighed 9.12, and Cary weighed 10-something. After lunch, a nap at home, and a quick supper at Whole Foods plus little jaunt into Borders, we went back to the hospital for another visit.
lollipop buddies!
I love having nieces and nephews. I'm not just saying that. I won't be able to have the number of children I'd really love to have, which would be a houseful, so it does soften it to know I have so many special kids in my family altogether. Rush was #9 on my side of the family. (Just 1 other on Ryan's side; get to work, guys!)
glad to be back in Momma's arms
Sunday morning, we decided to sneak in a little trip to the Arch before "Mom and Dad" got home. Tornado had never been to the top before, and he obviously loves a good museum.
me and Winnie, in the Museum of Westward Expansion, which is located underneath the Arch
Winnie wasn't overly impressed with the museum. However, there WERE steps to go up and down, so she was happy as can be.
Again, Winnie is more interested in learning about "the builders" than my picture taking. 
There was a slightly long-for-a-15-month-old wait (not to mention an eager 9 year old) to get into the elevator. (The wait really wasn't as long as I expected - maybe 30 minutes.) However, we eventually got to more steps - yes!
Tornado was giddy with excitement while we were waiting. 
On the way up in the elevator, Winnie cozied right up to the man sitting next to her. No worries - he was a sweet Papaw/Sir type.
Winnie's first view out the Arch window
This teenager started talking to Tornado after hearing his excited narration of everything he was seeing. I thought it was really sweet of him to engage with Tornado. The teenager even told him, "See - that's Busch Stadium. I'm going to play there one day."
first father and son nap in the recliner together...Andy and Rush, home at last 
3 comments:
Thanks for posting all of these! What a special time Winnie was able to experience. THANK YOU so much for coming up...it meant the world to us.
I've linked this from my blog. Well, Andy did. That's something I don't really know how to do.
You are so sweet. I like your long posts...no complaints here.
What a special time for all of you! You and Cary look pretty similar, I think. It was nice to see your picture, too!
Tornado really likes adventures with Mommy, huh?
Looks like it was a GREAT trip!! Love all the pics and descriptions. You are such a fun mommy, aunt, and friend!
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