A day at the Zoo

Today was teachers' conference day in Parkway, so we grabbed Emilyn's friend Sarah and headed to the Zoo!

It was a weird day, weatherwise. One of those prairie-scary fall days that freak out an old Easterner like me. 70-plus, thick and weird. Then, an hour later, it's raining and 50. Then, an hour after that, it's howling wind and 35. If you're lucky, it doesn't get down to 20 and freeze your car doors shut.

But it was fine while we were at the Zoo. Just warm with dark clouds. The rain stayed away until we were headed home in the car.



Allen enjoyed himself, except when he got a frigid shower from a cheeky penguin. Penguins don't have much to entertain themselves, you see, so they think it's hysterical to pee and poop in their water, then splash it all over the Zoo guests! Ha-ha! Penguin fun! (Something else pooped on Steve's head in the Children's Zoo. We still don't know what.)

But Allen liked the guinea pigs, and the meerkats, and the bears... We didn't get to see much, because we had a short window of time and weather. But I still managed to take a ton of pictures! So, enjoy!

Allen's first trip to the Zoo

Memories and... artillery

Didn't everyone spend their childhood crisscrossing the country, measuring cannons? Well, we sure did. Here's a shot from Laurie, from her trip to Salem, Mass., on Halloween (celebrating her 30th wedding anniversary...):

Here's what she had to say in her note:

"thought you would..... i don't know exactly
get a warm fuzzy
tear in your eye?
choked up
Smile?
Something we found in Salem @ Halloween.....
and no we did not measure it!"

Just because

Here are a couple pictures of Allen playing outside today... Just because!

Thanks for the visit!

Grandma and Joe headed home today. It was great having them here for a whole week. A lot happened! Emilyn lost two teeth, and Allen started walking for real! I know Joe really loved his bowling and calamari... Hope you had a safe trip, and see you next time!

Look what our boy can do!

I can't say that I captured his "first steps." I can't say that he ever really took "first steps." He just evolved into walking upright! He started cruising on the furniture... Then he flung himself between pieces of furniture. Kind of like a pinball. And now he does more walking than crawling. Check him out!

Spares and strikes

The other thing Joe wanted to see was the Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum. What a great place! You can bowl four frames for free downstairs with admission to the museum. I had to go to work after four, but Joe and Steve finished a full game. Let's just say I was winning handily when I left. It's a neat museum, with plenty of open carpet space for Allen to practice walking!

After I left, everybody went over to the stadium to shop for championship gear at the Cardinals store.

A fun time was had by all!

Bowling Hall of Fame

Majority Rules!

We had a little lesson in civics and voting on a field trip to the Magic House... But first, we played like heck in the village! All the buildings were decked out in the campaign posters that Emilyn and the other second-graders had made. On the ballot: Recycling, wearing helmets, wearing seat belts, playground safety, going to school year round (that one failed in a landslide!) We voted on eight ballot measures, then each team got to tally up one.

Anyway, it was really fun, and I got to go, because Grandma was here to take care of Allen. So, it was neat! Hope you all go and vote Tuesday! And, when they're tabulating into the wee hours, please think of me, and the rest of your free press. As Emilyn exclaimed at the end of her field trip report: "WE THE PEOPLE!"

Second-grade trip to the Magic House

Lunch on the Hill

We just had to take Joe to St. Louis' Italian neighborhood, the Hill. Known in less-gentle times as Dago Hill. Where even the fireplugs are painted green, white and red. We had lunch at Cunetto's. Our server was very nice and spoke Italian to Joe. He wrangled two things that weren't even on the lunch menu! That's what you get when you travel with Don Giuseppe. First class all the way, baby! Allen ate like crazy, and a nice lady at the next table took our picture.