World War I rolls into town

A couple of big chores laid in front of us still before closing on the old house... We had to get all of our reinspections (town, fire and gas) done, and we had to get the rest of our stuff out of the basement and garage.

But we're never ones to let a big job distract us from something distracting... So, when Steve heard on the news that the World War I Museum's traveling exhibit was in town, we decided to procrastinate for one more day and head down to the History Museum to see it.

It really was a tractor-trailer filled with artifacts from the era... Lots of reproductions of photos and newspapers hanging on the walls, uniforms and helmets and the like. Thanks to Steve, I've absorbed a lot about World War II, but I didn't know much about the Ninteen-teens, except for what I learned about the Spanish Flu. Learning about this period was pretty fascinating.

Inside the museum, we saw the great St. Louis 1904 World's Fair exhibit and an exhibit about fires and firefighting that Derek and Tyler would have loved... They even had a little fake campfire that you could sit around and have a pretend cookout.

Being down at the west end of Forest Park naturally led to lunch in the Loop... a trip to Cheese-ology for three different kinds of mac 'n' cheese. Emilyn and Daddy had the Buffalo chicken. Mmmmm. Dough to Door, sadly, was not open!

We did make it back in time for the Ballwin reinspection at the old house... We passed! I also bagged up a bunch of garbage in the garage... more on that later!

Dinner on the deck

After a pretty quiet Father's Day -- Steve made pancakes and then went with his boy to the car show at the Museum of Transportation -- I headed back to the kitchen to whip up more food for dinner with my friends Ron and Colleen, the first guests to officially join us for deck-sitting.

Deck-sitting was an important part of Staycation 2012. Steve has been working hard on our giant back lawn, and I relished the chance to enjoy his handiwork. The deck goes into the shade about 2 p.m. or so... normally just in time for me to go to work. But for this stretch of time, I was able to enjoy my favorite part of day -- evening -- in our own beautiful yard, and I took advantage of it. (And the weather wasn't too shabby, either!)

I got a new grill, same as my old grill, and cooked some marinated Kickin' Chicken... I made some more potato salad and some ramen salad, plus some tomatoes and mozzarella. For dessert: Peaches and strawberries over angel food cake and ice cream! Delicious!

Thanks, Ron and Colleen, for helping us christen the grill and the deck. More guests coming soon!

Barbecue at Nate's

Allen's friend Nate and his family were sweet enough to invite us over Saturday for hot dogs and hamburgers... this, of course, touched off Mommy's grand kitchen scramble... I made ramen noodle salad and tried once again to refine my potato salad method. A little bit too much pickle this time. And my egg-boiling once again was a disaster. I might be a totally lost cause in that area.

Anyway, lunch at the Donovans' was delightful... I had three sweet teas, which led me to run off at the mouth some (caffeine has that effect on me), but Stacy and Jason are super-smart, funny people. After lunch, the kids and Steve started an epic Monopoly battle -- reminding me why I dislike that game so... Hours later, the four players merged into two teams, and Allen Crabbe, the master hotelier, was declared the winner (paired with Daddy)!

We have to have the Donovans over to our house soon. No Monopoly, though. Maybe they like Whoonu or Apples to Apples!

'' If I can't eat svickova or cream donuts . . .''

Boy, impressing this man on his birthday is sure hard since Prague.

But, I gave it a shot. I bought him a Shop-Vac (for cutting his hair) and a big garbage can on wheels (to avoid the rental fee that the trash company charges) -- with a jaunty red bow! -- and had him pick where he wanted to go eat.

He chose Bacana Brasil... the all-you-can-eat Brazilian meat place. We headed off, took a loooong detour around road construction, only got a little lost, and then -- found out the Brazilian place was closed for good. When did that happen? Harumph!

What to do? Daddy chose another favorite, Espino's, home of the make-your-own s'mores.

How does it feel to be turning 42? Tasty!

We ordered the flaming cheese appetizer... and the s'mores... and we asked the waitress if there was anything else on the menu she could set on fire for us.

(Earlier in the day, Emilyn and her friend Celine had rehearsal for All-State Choir, coming up in July! Stay tuned!)

Staycation - Magic by night

On Daddy's birthday eve, he fortified us all with his homemade chicken marsala (and please, ask him about the crunchy broccoli).

I had purchased tickets for my main goal of Staycation: the Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden. I borrowed a tripod from my good friend Ron and was ready to take some pictures!! In the dark!!

We got there before dark and milled around with at least two bus-fuls of tourists... There were quite a few senior citizens.

Then, at 8, the lights came on! Amazing!

I was learning on the fly the best way to capture the details on each lantern... It was hard to see how intricate they were in a wide-angle photo. They really were magical, though. Such an amazing amount of work obviously went into each one. An incredible undertaking!




The special exhibits at the garden are really one of the great treasures of living in St. Louis. I wish you all could have seen it in person, but I hope our photos are the next best thing. For all our shots from the Lantern Festival, click here.

Staycation - Suite view of the game

I was pretty nervous about this company-sponsored trip to the ballgame... Emilyn and I had to spend part of the day relaxing at the spa so that I could deal with it. She got a facial and I got a pedicure -- with Cha-Ching Cherry polish.

Now, I might have serious trouble going back to the cheap seats.

I decided to bite the bullet and see what was going on in the corporate luxury box Wednesday night. Be it a loyalty test, or some glad-handing with Lee honchos, I was ready for anything.

What I wasn't ready for was getting to see a great game. With free food and drinks. And people I actually like.

And all in a luxury box at Busch Stadium. Which are so classy that it's nearly impossible to even find the way in! They segregate you from the regular fan rabble and steer you up to a private escalator and ring of walkway that is pretty much inaccessible unless you have a golden ticket.

The hoi polloi have to walk up the regular ramps. I was across the way on the super-secret luxury box level.

When you walk into the suite, it looks like a hotel sitting room, with a big-screen TV and mini kitchen. This particular suite was outfitted with hot dogs and a nacho bar, plus beer wine and soda, and unlimited popcorn!



Outside the box is what amounts to a "front porch" with 20 comfy seats for watching the game. A sliding glass door keeps the air conditioning inside, or lets it all out if you leave it open, as my colleagues did. They also took full advantage of the free beer. Reporters love free beer. Just sayin'. I had a Coke and a cookie. Copy editors love free cookies.

I guess there was some glad-handing going on, but I was there to watch the game -- and so was one of my colleagues, Mandy. So, we took seats out on the "porch" and were riveted by quite a pitchers' duel. And I kept experimenting with the zoom on my camera.




I ended up eating a company hot dog. And the Redbirds ended up winning a squeaker, 1-0.

For all the photos from my weird, but fun, night at the ballpark, click here.

Staycation - Long walk in the park

Tuesday was a bit of a weird day... Allen, Daddy and I had decided to go on a hike. On our way to the park, I got a call on my cellphone from Maureen at work. Odd, and terrifying, in light of the recent and still-painful layoffs of my friends.

One of the first things she says is, "This is a good phone call." Well, thank you. She is calling to tell me that "my name is on a list" to use the corporate box the next evening at the Cardinals game. I'm thinking, "Yay, we can all go!" Then she says, "No, it's just for you to spend some time with your colleagues."

Now I'm thinking it's some kind of loyalty test... which makes me very uncomfortable. Do I want to go and glad-hand with the very people who just fired my friends and are very likely plotting me out of existence??

Then I'm thinking, yes, I should take any and all oaths offered. I should get down on one knee and kiss their rings if that's what it takes to keep my job. If there's a list of people who move forward in the New World Order, and a list of those left behind, I know which list I want to be on!

Well, it turns out I overthought the whole thing. More on that later.

We got to the park and chose the three-mile Grotpeter Trail. It has a very steep ascent called "Cardiac Hill" -- with a handy bench at the top -- which we scaled with aplomb. Daddy got to see the baby birds that Allen and I had seen a few days before. And we survived an encounter with a scary (but wounded) hissing turtle!

It was a great hike, and we travelers were really proud of ourselves at the end.

Later on, we spent some time around our new patio table, working Cryptofamilies puzzles, which Emilyn said were "addicting." She and Allen also ran through the sprinkler... and we all decided that deck-sitting should be a major part of this particular staycation.

Staycation begins

On our first day of "staycation," Daddy went on a long bike ride with his friends, so the kids and I kind of had a slow day at home.

Then, on Monday, Allen's friend Nate came to play. Steve, Emilyn and I took the opportunity to tackle the garage -- which up to this point had been stacked with stuff we hadn't had time or space to unpack. We needed to cut down the clutter in there to make room for even MORE stuff we still had to move from the old house. It was a rare rainy day, so it was a perfect excuse to get the job done.

Later on, when the weather dried out, we took a drive to Lone Elk Park, mostly because it's where Emilyn likes to practice driving. We saw a beautiful deer, and baby buffalo...

But the native animals were restless! This mommy elk charged our car! That's why she's blurry!



Daddy (as always, running the pedals) kicked up some gravel getting away from this angry lady. Apparently they are super-protective of their young. And I bet they've been harassed by other idiots in the park, so they probably have good reason to be cranky.