St. Louis

A week ago we left Texas.

This is leaving Texas.

There was no cutesy-rustic lone-star sign bidding us farewell and ya'll come back now. Just this train bridge and some litter.

Somewhere past Oklahoma (which was less flat and more green than I had expected) in the middle of nowhere Missouri we stopped to eat at a McDonald's straddled over the tollway.

We'd been in the car for quite some time, and I couldn't wait to get out of that thing. Until we got inside the rest stop complex and realized the a/c was broken. It was over 90 inside and stuffy. Suddenly I couldn't wait to get back in that car.

We didn't quite make it to St. Louis. We stopped in Springfield for the night. I have nothing whatsoever to say about Springfield.

Other than it was the first of many nights spent in hotels.

Monday morning we drove to the house in suburban St. Louis where I used to live. The neighborhood looks very nice.

This is the house where childhood slipped away. I guess they call it the tween years now.

Next we stopped by my old elementary school. Grades four through six. It was a very good school.

This is a picture of a storm drain. Many a fourth-grade recess was spent hanging out on that storm drain.

I have a story to go along with that storm drain. But not today. (Instead I refer you to Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood because when I read that book I thought of this storm drain, but it's been so long since I read the book that now I can't remember why I thought of the storm drain, only that I did. I think it has to do with that tween thing. "Tween" is a cutesy word, but I'm not so sure it's a cutesy time.)

David wanted me to take a picture of him in front of my former school.

Pretty soon David will have an elementary school of his own. Kindergarten is just around the corner. (Literally and figuratively.)

Of course Mary wanted her picture taken too.

The playground equipment has been replaced. But the blacktop is exactly the same with its hopscotch and foursquare games outlines in peeling yellow paint.

Then we drove here.

I was obsessed with visiting the temple in St. Louis. Since it was built after we moved from St. Louis, I'd never seen it, even though I have always felt a certain special affection for it, almost like it was my temple. When we lived in St. Louis, the nearest temple was in Chicago. Families had to make a significant effort and sacrifice to attend regularly. I remember very vividly the church members in St. Louis (my parents included) making the effort and the sacrifice to travel to Chicago, some 300 miles away.

But now the members in St. Louis have their own temple (conveniently located at I-270 and I-64). What a blessing!

Mary was happy to prance around the grounds. David was grumpy, as shown by this very pained "Cheeeeeese!" for the camera.

It is a lovely, traditional building.

Look at these sweeties. One little, one big.

I am so grateful to Greg for humoring me with a visit to the temple grounds. (Like I said, I was obsessed!)

Then we went to the science center in Forest Park. It is much much bigger than the last time I was there (twenty years ago!).

Our trip to the science center was a near-disaster. We entered the building happy and hopeful; we left the building grumpy and grouchy. And that is all I have to say about that.

Last, but far from least, we went downtown to the riverfront.

So we could go up this!

I love the St. Louis Arch! I think it's super cool. (Although there is something odd about it...maybe that it's in St. Louis? It seems out of proportion in size and coolness.)

Here we are, ready to descend down underneath the Arch. (Ugh. It was so muggy that day. The air was like molasses.)

Despite the fact we had pre-purchased our tickets, riding to the top of the Arch involved a lot of waiting.

Part of the waiting was passed in the Westward Expansion Museum. Mary and David decided to take pictures of their favorite parts of museum.

Their faves were undoubtedly these creepy latex animated robots. I just uploaded dozens of pictures of them. I will treat you to just three.

Sometimes I forget how little my children are, how they literally see the world differently.

Two more pictures, courtesy David and Mary.

After the museum and picture-taking, there was more waiting

and more waiting

and more waiting

accompanied by a lot of grumpiness.

At one point during your wait, you are treated to a full-scale, life-size replica of the top of the Arch. I thought this was odd. In five minutes (or ten, or thirty, or sixty) we would be at the top ourselves. Why did we need to hang out in a replica?

Anyway, at one point during the waiting, there were phones to listen to. Mary and David loved talking on the phones, but they were not so interested in what the recorded voice on the other side had to say.

Notice the Hello Kitty purse in the above picture. Mary has been faithfully taking it everywhere with her. She's so cute, with it slung on her shoulder.

Finally! Our turn to cram into one of the tiny white pods for a ride to the top on the tram. (Maybe the pods are so small to make the top of the Arch seem spacious in comparison.)

The gang peering out of a window.

David, 630 feet high.

View to the west. (My dad used to work in one of those buildings down there.)

View of the Mississippi.

I love this picture.

After having a look-see, we headed back down and out. (By the way, all the waiting was worth it!)

My cutie-pie on the banks of the Mississippi.

I love these three.

Exhausted, we crossed the Mississippi (on a bridge in our car) and drove to Pontoon Beach, Illinois, which has no beach or water that I could see, and checked into a perfectly generic Holiday Inn Express.

But to the astonishment and joy of David and Mary, they found bunk beds in our room!! Complete with themed sheets. (Isn't that weird? Or at least mildly unexpected? Really, I've never seen anything like it. The hotel was completely generic and unremarkable in every other way.) It was like the best thing that ever happened to my kids.

The next morning we retrieved our car that's been in storage.

I guess when your car's been in storage for a year, it shouldn't be surprising to have to do this.

Or even this.

The battery was soon swapped out.

And then we drove to Wisconsin.

(The a/c wasn't working in the Forester. Nevertheless, the kids INSISTED on riding in the red car. Wow. The power of novelty. They would emerge sweaty and hot, yet they insisted on riding with Daddy in the Forester. For the record, this was all during a major heat wave.)

We ate our first meal in Wisconsin at, appropriately, Culver's. I've never been a fan of Culver's. But it tasted so much better in Wisconsin! (I wonder why.....I'm working on a big theory about how chain restaurant food tastes better closer to the point of origin even though the menu is the same everywhere.)

David and Mary loved their frozen custard!

So, yes, we're in Wisconsin!

We've been painting at the house and living in a hotel for a week. Tomorrow the moving truck comes, and the amount of work that awaits us is staggering.

Needless to say, it's going to be a busy week.