When I was around 6, we went as a family to St. Louis, where both of my dad's parents were born and raised. My grandfather's sister and her husband (Aunt May and Uncle Bill) were having their 50th anniversary celebration and so it turned into a mini family reunion. While I don't remember everything, my experiences there are some of my favorite memories of my dad's side of the family. So, I was excited to share some of the places we went with my little family now.
Memories include:
The big reception/party for Aunt May and Uncle Bill.
This is most of us minus my Uncle John, who must have been taking the picture.
My parents
Dancing with my dad.
We visited the Botanical Gardens
The Arch (which I went to the top with my dad)
The zoo
Anheuser-Busch where we saw the Clydesdales and smelled the brewery
We fished
Played with cousins
It's a very happy memory for me.
The family, from l-r: cousin Jennifer, Great Uncle Bill, cousin Rebecca, Aunt Kathy, my sister Sarah, Great Aunt May (in the red coat), my Dad, my mom, me, Uncle John, Grandpa Rayko and Grandma Rayko.
So, we managed to get into St. Louis around noon, only to discover that the majority of the park around the Arch has been dug up and is under construction. So, this is what we saw:
12:30ish-4:30ish: View of the Arch from where we hiked across downtown to buy tickets.
One side of the base was open. When we become a family band, this can be our album cover.
Underneath, the museum was closed due to construction, but you could pretend to be a park ranger. Colin was especially enamored by the rangers.
Lots of construction and chain link, but it is still a pretty impressive thing to see, even if it wasn't quite what I had envisioned our trip looking like.
The riverboat tour was also closed - not because of construction - but because the river was too high.
6:30 - we ended the day by visiting Jacob's friend, Alison, from graduate school. She and her husband live in St. Louis near Washington University. They have 3 kids, including a set of twin girls. A fun way to end the day.
1 comment:
When I originally looked at this post, back when you posted it, my phone was slow to load the pictures so I just read the captions. I'm glad I went back to look again at the pictures this time! That picture of you sitting in the chair on your childhood trip looks just like you now!
Too bad your current trip to St. Louis had some disappointments, but I'm still jealous you went all the way to the arch. For some reason I've always wanted to see it and we planned on it, but when it came down to it, we wanted to save time by going around the city rather than right through. We saw it from afar, though, which was a surprise.
Post a Comment