Almost Home

St. Louis was a great family city and we were happy to stop there again on the way home (not to mention that it was only 5 blessed hours from home). The activities were great and FREE, the food was good, and did I mention that it was only a half-day's drive back home?

We spent the afternoon of our arrival at the St. Louis Arch, which was really amazing. Really. Amazing. Underneath it (that is, underground), there is a "Westward Ho!" museum, which was fascinating and fun for the kids. It made me very excited to study US history with the kids (but not this year).

Arch-gazing.

A-mazing.

Hays, KS: The Windier City

We're winding down folks. We're making the return trip. We had all sorts of new and different things planned for the way home, but the kids just wanted to do the same ol' things. They *requested* the same things. So Hays, KS got another look-y through. This time we headed out to Fort Hays. What? You've never heard of the famous Fort Hays?? Legendary outpost of the west?

Frankly, there wasn't much to see. A couple of old fort buildings that were already closed by the time we arrived. And a great big buffalo statue.

The kids were much happier to head to the Sternberg dinosaur museum the next morning . . . again. What can I say? Dinosaurs are their thang.

Evergreen Lake

As I mentioned in a previous post, we spent the morning before the wedding at the little lake in Evergreen. We rented a paddle boat (they wouldn't let us rent a canoe with two kids) and set out for exactly 1/2 hour of adventure. Honestly, 1/2 was just enough time.

Look at that scenery! Although I think I prefer the hills and trees of the east to the rough mountains of the west, it's still so beautiful it amazes me sometimes. It was really fun to have the wedding up in the mountains. Kudos to Courtney and Aaron for their impeccable planning.

WHAT??!! Another picture of me? I had to take this one myself.

Then we did some hiking around the lake, stopping again at the conveniently-located nature center. Tiny little nature center in Evergreen, CO . . . could have kept their attention all afternoon. In fact, as soon as we got off the boat, they wanted to "go back to the nature center." Typical of kids.

Always talking. Always.

Colorado, the Colorful State

Let me tell you, if you arrive from the eastern end of Colorado, things do not appear to be very colorful. Nevertheless, our very "colorful" family made up the difference. We tried to convince everyone (then anyone) to go with us to the Denver Aquarium . . . to no avail. Courtney, whose idea it was in the first place, was the only one who came.

This may not be the cutest picture in the world, but I just love the expression on that face. Fish-watching.

Proof that Courtney was with us.

And one of the benefits of having your sister with you on outings?: there are actually pictures of you that *you* didn't have to take.

Phx and the eel. Can you see it back there? It's hard to get good pictures in an Aquarium. Sheesh.

The Big Day

Soon after we returned home from our trip, we were sitting around the dinner table and we asked the kids what their favorite part of our trip was. I was happy that the first thing Lu said was, "Courtney's Wedding." With all the work and trouble and hype, I'm glad it made more of an impression than the Dinosaur Museum or the St. Louis zoo (however great those things were).

The day before the wedding we all drove up to Evergreen and stayed at the Bear's Inn, a lovely bed and breakfast in the mountains. We had the entire Inn to ourselves, that is, all 24 (?) of us from both sides of the family.

The actual day of the wedding, we took the kids down to the lake (pictures to follow), which must have really worn them out. While Stayc was reading to the kids to keep them busy during pictures, Phx zonked out on the couch. Totally zonked out. He slept through all the pictures. He slept while we buckled him into his carseat, drove to the wedding venue across the street, and got him out of the car. He slept through the entire wedding ceremony and only woke up for the reception afterward. At about 8:00 p.m. he could be found going up to anyone who would listen, saying, "I just want to go home." (Previous pics taken by Scott.)

Everyone congregated in the sitting room of the Inn to get flowers and direction. Stayc read to the kids. I was in with Courtney. The one child some of you may not recognize is Eleanor, the groom's little niece. She's the same age as Lu and the two of them got along famously. (Picture by Elizabeth, Eleanor's mom.)

Stayc left Phx asleep on the couch and we got some family photos outside the Inn before heading over to the Red Barn for the wedding. Poor kid will always wonder if he really *was* at the wedding.

Ahhhhhhh. Finally a picture of the bride. Doesn't she look lovely? (Courtney, you're not allowed to comment.) She did. Lutece kind of inched her way into these pictures.

Luckily the bride didn't mind. (Such a sweet bride.) I think the photographer (my uncle Tom) got some lovely pictures of the two of them together.

And one of me with my lovely. (Previous photos taken by Donna?)

The flower girls did their job well. Mission accomplished.

And then wanted to sit next to each other during the ceremony . . . and not by any of their parents. I'm still amazed that we didn't hear a peep out of them for the entire ceremony (thank you for making it such a short one.) (Photos by Elizabeth.)

Phx and his GREAT grandpa (better know as Jeep to the kids). It was a wonderful evening.

With Family At Last

Yeahhhh! We finally made it to Colorado! We arrived at Courtney and Aaron's in the afternoon, with only a few hours to spare until the Rehearsal BBQ. I took the liberty of dressing the kids in matching clothes. Did anyone notice?? Of course, Phx *would* find all the sticks in the yard. I had to take a baseball bat from him at one point.

Lounging in the backyard.

Gesticulating.

Mmmmmmm. Hot dogs.

The BBQ was a blast. A fun time was had by all. I couldn't resist posting this last picture of the girls 'cause that is a dang cute dress on my sister. (photo credit to Scott for all of the previous pics)

The next photos (taken by Courtney) are actually from after the wedding. Thus the kids' NEW uncle Aaron has, if you look closely, a wedding ring on his hand. Oh my gosh. The kids officially have a new uncle! Weird.

The pure enjoyment a blow-up mattress can give. (Especially when you don't have to actually sleep on it.)

Lu with her uncle. When she saw this picture she laughed in a very delighted way and then paused and said, "Why does Scott have that look on his face?" Why indeed.

Driving Across America

Although I have lots of pictures of the fun things we did when we *arrived* at our various destinations, let's face it: a road trip is a lot about the road. And we saw a lot of it. Luckily, Stayc had the presence of mind to take some pictures of the actual driving part of our drive, thus documenting the bulk of our trip.

Always talking . . . always.

So after we left St. Louis, we stayed in Kansas City (or near Kansas City) with our good friends the Petersens. Where are my pictures of that? Uhhhh . . . Then we spent two days driving through the heartland of America. That IS Kansas, isn't it? We stopped for the night in Hays, KS, home to the Sternberg Museum, a fantastic dinosaur fossil museum located in the middle of the state. Although it was a planned stop, we could not have anticipated how much the kids would enjoy this museum. Seriously, if we lived in Hays, we would be at this museum at least once a week. At least.

In fact, the kids liked it so much that we ended up stopping for the night in Hays on our way home too (not our original plan), just so we could go to the museum again. It was a great museum. We highly recommend it, you know, if you happen to be driving through the middle of Kansas.

Then on to Colorado. The kids really did an amazing job of entertaining themselves in the car (when we were not entertaining them). They listened to music and books on tape, they made up imaginary stories (see above and below), did puzzles, Lu wrote in her "travel journal," and asked every 10 minutes, "How many more miles?"

Hey, what's she doing?

Oh yes, and added to our boyish dress-up collection. This fireman hat and a construction worker hat were very generous gifts from Andrew Petersen. Phx wore the fireman hat, backwards, through most of Kansas.

DinoROARus

Yes, you read that correctly, and no, I can't take credit for it, but the kids sure enjoyed it. Although the St. Louis zoo is free, there are a few "extras" that are not . . . natch. However, from 8:00-9:00 a.m., they *are* free. Now you know why we went to the St. Louis zoo three times--the last two times arriving promptly at 8:00 a.m. Are we cheap or what?

Phx wore his special dinosaur shirt to fit in.

Lu with Triceratops. The models actually looked pretty realistic; they moved in a fairly non-robotic way. We were impressed. Lu even asked me if the first one was real. Um, no. Extinct for 65 million years. Tsk. She knew that.

And of course the requisite shots of the kids on the one dinosaur you can climb on. A parasaurolophus. The spell-checker is rejecting that one, but I think it's correct.

Giddap.

Aaaaaaaannnnndd, a family shot. One of the few pictures I'm actually in. Now we'll remember that I was, indeed, on this vacation. The kids are less-interested in the camera, what with six-inch-long teeth to gaze at. No competition.