We're heeeerre !

Allen and Emilyn took a little nap to make up for a long night at the hotel...

It was a pretty long drive, and with lots of traffic because we're here on a Saturday instead of our usual Sunday. But the weather's warm and we are here.

Sure, when we got to the realtor's office, we found it totally empty! They'd moved!!? Where?!? After a couple frustrating walks up and down 59 in the heat, we found them. I was mad, but that quickly evaporated when we got to our beautiful home away from home.

We didn't waste any time getting into the water! Like I said, it was very warm out! Over 80! This is not our usual beach weather.


It's warm enough for somebody to jump right into the waves. No caution this year. We're gonna have to watch him closely! Beach Girl, of course, never misses a step.


After our traditional dinner at the Crab Trap, we were treated to a great sky show... the super-bright, super-big full moon!


Yep, we're here! Time to relax and have fun -- and just all be in the same place at the same time. Ahhhhhh...

For all the shots from Day 1, click here.

Beach bound, at last !

We've had such a tough winter that all the Crabbes have been mentally at the beach for months! But now, we're finally on our way to the real thing. Thank goodness!

After lunch at our new favorite place, the Greek restaurant in Blytheville, Ark., we crossed the Mississippi in Memphis and were well on our way. The water was mighty high!

The kids were so very good in the car. I had bought Allen a set of crayons and a note pad... when he asked why, I said, "To keep you entertained." Well, this was one of the many masterpieces he drew in the car:


(If it isn't already obvious to you, that's a picture of two sandwiches cut into 30ths.)

Later we crossed the Pearl River -- in Mississippi, just south of Jackson. Then it was time for Daddy to get his favorite award-winning rice and beans. A little inchworm hitched a ride on Mommy's pants! And look what they have in Jackson -- leaves!

Allen at the river park

My assignment for Luxe 365 was "water"... so we headed over to take pictures of the Meramec River. Little did we know that there was a little too much water! Made for an even better picture!

Allen wasn't captivated by the water... He wanted to play on some rocks and downed trees instead. (I wouldn't have let him in the water anyway! Those are not our shoes!)


The best thing about Missouri woods, as I think I've mentioned before, is how nice and dry they are... Well, they're usually dry, unless there's a flood right next door!

Anyway, it was nice and warm and a good break from getting ready for our trip to the beach!

Southwest Showcase

The stars came out... well, future stars... at Southwest Middle School's annual talent show. We saw a traditional dance from India (Allen's favorite), funny skits and lots and lots of singing. Too bad the microphones were working so poorly!!

Emilyn was a part of the fabulous finale, the Crescendo Singers' "Dance Evolution." She did really great. An amazing amount of footwork to keep straight! And a great mini-solo, too.

Two certain former Stage Krew members in the audience were happy to note that some things never change... Note the hand holding up the flat in this picture! That never happened to us, right, Steve? *wink*

Basketball tournaments are long for little brothers

Last night, Emilyn played in the last games of her basketball season. Tournament schedules aren't the best! She had a game at 5 and another at 8. We had to hang out in Arnold for hours. Luckily, there was a Cici's Pizza, and I had to take my last photo for Luxe 365's Night Shots. Memo to organizers: 8 p.m. on a school night is too late to begin a sixth-grade girls' basketball game!

But I digress. Although the Future Lady Patriots wrapped up their season winless, I feel like Emilyn learned and grew a lot; had tons of fun and plenty of exercise; and bonded with her teammates. And she looks super in her uniform. And made some excellent shots on Sunday!

Allen has had a long season too! He has spent his in the bleachers. Lots of different bleachers. And, as you can imagine, his head is not really in the game.

But Fox High's bleachers are really cool! And you can reach the nets!

Holy '80s flashback !

Maybe we shouldn't tell her how cool neon splatters were when we were her age...

Emilyn is performing in the Southwest Showcase talent show in a few weeks with her singing group, the Crescendo Singers. They have to wear their trademark pink T-shirts, but they're allowed to wear "wacky" pants to go along with their song.

Emilyn decided she wanted to transform an old thrift shop pair of black pants into a neon, paint-splattered masterpiece. Fun driveway project!

This look certainly reminds me of when I was 12... Ahhhh, 1984. Maybe she'll get the leg warmers, jelly shoes and plastic charm necklace to go with it?

Sick mommy and boy need antidote - to winter

Daddy was sick during the "super" storm... By the end of the week, it was Allen's and my turn to get hit with the bug. Some kind of flu-ey cold that gave Allen a bad, persistent fever and left me feeling like being vertical just wasn't an option.

On Super Bowl Sunday, during the third quarter, Allen crawled up next to me in the papasan chair and said, "I need to rest with you." He promptly fell asleep, leaving me to wonder how either of us was ever gonna get out of that chair!

Allen eventually started coughing, and stretched out, giving me a chance to shift my weight and lever up out of the papasan... I carried that big boy all the way upstairs, went to put him in his bed -- only to find it full of toys! Long story short, we eventually got him to bed, and amazingly, he didn't wake up! No school for Allen that next day... And Mommy stayed home from work, too.

But the boy's fever just wouldn't quit. After another missed day of school, and lots of cabin fever, we decided to head to our classic "sick of winter" spot, the warmest place we could think of: The Butterfly House.

As I was uploading my new pictures, I found other folders of butterfly pics, all from other Februaries! When we get tired of winter, we always end up in the same place.

The trip must have worn Allen out... He went in for a nap at 4:30 p.m. -- and was pretty perplexed when he woke up the next morning in Thursday's clothes! Maybe 16 hours of sleep will do the trick. And we're aiming for school on Monday!

The snowpocalypse that wasn't

Oh, boy, the weathercasters were foaming at the mouth. We were gonna get slammed by three days of superstorm, bringing an inch of ice and then a foot of snow.

Well, we got the ice... but more like half an inch. And instead of snowing all day, it sleeted in our corner of the world, piling up 3 inches of teeny ice pellets.

It did eventually turn over to snow, but that just left us with an inch or two on top of our slippery sleet base. Then, the bitter cold came and froze it all into a multilayered mess.

So, everyone was terrified and stayed home on Tuesday, and the kids got three days off of school. But it didn't turn out to be the end of the world, by any stretch. But it sure has been a cold and annoying winter. We're ready for spring!

Produce by the foot

Well, the weather doomsayers were predicting a dilly of a storm, so we decided to stock up Sunday night and get stuff to make our famous beef barley vegetable soup... Steve kinda went overboard on the potato-buying, though... We had plenty before we even got to this behemoth tuber.

The soup was terrific... even if the storm didn't live up to its billing. To be continued...

Actin' all cheesy - in the pages of the Post

So... thanks to my good friends Norma and Carlos, I got roped into being a "model" this week!

They conceived of a cover for our food section, Let's Eat, that involved two football fans fighting over pizza... They figured a girl going after a guy's pizza would be funny... and they picked me as the most rabid female football fan in the newsroom!

Well, that's probably true. But for this shoot I had to play the role of a crazy Cheesehead Packer fan, and my colleague Rich had to play one of the Steeler faithful, defending his "Roethlis Burger" pizza. Our chief photographer, J.B. Forbes, took about 100 pictures, and of course they settled on the one where I look the most insane -- or probably because the pizza in the shot is most prominently featured. The fact that I look like a nutjob is just a side benefit!

So, here's the finished page, plus the original photo of me and Rich... Rich was such a good sport. He had to deal with my headlock plus the lights plus the hot and cramped helmet! I just had Cheesehead hair and a stained face from the green and yellow makeup.

Click the picture to see me and Rich in all our silliness... If you click the newspaper page, it'll take you to the food section of our website. Don't forget to try our Super Bowl pizza recipes!

What's all this Luxe 365 business, anyway ?

You may have gotten some e-mails asking you to vote in the Luxe 365 poll, to help pick our weekly selection. Well, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm taking part in a photography project this year, where I have to take a photo a day, every day, based on a weekly theme.

Thanks to everybody who voted so far... Our skipper, Brian, won the Roy G. Biv balloting, with his picture of the girl in the orange gloves. I made the finals again this week, so, head over there and vote -- if you haven't already!

I'm darn proud of all my work these past two weeks, so I wanted to share my photos here on The Crabbe Trap! You can always go to my Luxe 365 DropShots page and see them all. They'll be piling up there all year!

Week 4: Generations

Week 3: Roy G. Biv

Yet another snow day !

It's only Jan. 20, and the kiddos have already had three snow days... More like this, and it'll start cutting into our spring break!

The roads were a mess for me getting home last night, and for Steve getting to and from work this morning... but they were pretty OK by the time I had to head to work this evening. Maybe because lots of people stayed home... The Post-Dispatch has discovered, though, that snow = clicks -- on the website that is. So, why don't you check it out?

For my part, I made sure the Crabbe-lets got their gear on, at least briefly, and got out in the snow for a few pictures. If we didn't, what would be on next year's calendar in the month of January? (Thank you, Norma, for the hand-me-down boots and snow pants!)

Allen sledded for all of five minutes, then consumed three cups of hot chocolate to recover from the experience. Emilyn showed more fortitude -- and bravery -- and tried out snowboarding on her sled. I sledded too, and shoveled, and tried to get everything on camera.

They say it's already the ninth-snowiest January on record in St. Louis, and there's more on the way this weekend!

For more snowy shots, click here.

A photo a day - every day !

My friend Brian, the man behind Luxe Photography, asked for people who might be interested in the Luxe 365 project, where several players would submit a photo a day on a weekly theme, anonymously, then judge each other's work to pick the best representation of the theme.

Well, I jumped in (probably without thinking), and I'm glad I did! It's been fun, only four days in, challenging myself, my creativity and my camera skills in coming up with a shot I feel is worth submitting. Guess who's her own toughest critic?

Our first weekly theme was "Sooo 2010." This week, we're on to "Something New."

I have to say that this anonymous thing is tough for me. I mean, I submit these photos, and I don't even get a chance to explain what makes them cool! LOL

So, to remedy that, I've started a new DropShots page, where I'll upload each day's photo and provide a comment on why I took it and how I think it measures up against the week's theme.

If you need a link, you can always find Luxe 365 and the Luxe 365 DropShots page in the right sidebar of The Crabbe Trap, under "Sites to visit."

A-tisket, a-tasket . . . she made herself a basket !

And at the most-crucial point of the game!

She played the entire second period, and she got her shot when her team was down 16-14. She made the basket and tied the game!

Then, she made a free throw to go ahead 17-16!! She would have won the game for her team if it weren't for a last-minute foul (not committed by Emilyn) and some free throws that won it for St. Charles West, 18-17.

But man, we're proud of those three points. Now she and the other girls know that every basket counts! (The ones you make and the ones you give up!)

Ringing out the old - with a crash and a roar

Well, after 15-plus years of Midwest living, it had to happen eventually. We just didn't expect it to happen on ... New Year's Eve?

We had our closest-ever encounter with tornadoes yesterday. In all, meteorologists estimate, six twisters raked the St. Louis area.

One touched down at the Ballwin Municipal Golf Course, about 2.5 miles north of our house and right next to the Ballwin outdoor pool. Big trees were downed, and many roofs lost their shingles there. A judge's house lost its roof, and the decorative columns on the front of the house fell back and through the windows.

Another twister touched down in Fenton, peeling the copper roof off St. Paul's Church and demolishing the rectory. Emilyn and Allen and I had been in the car headed to two stores right across the street from there when the sirens went off. We turned around and went home. Thankfully. More on that below.

The worst tornado, which forecasters have labeled an F3 (that's winds up to 165 mph), skipped across Lindbergh Boulevard in South County, two miles northwest of where Emilyn played in a basketball game earlier this month.

That's where we headed today. We wanted to take a look and get some pictures of our own.

A mile away, the front window of our favorite Chinese restaurant was splattered with gobs of insulation. Freeeeky.

To see more photos from our Post-Dispatch photographers, click here. To read the amazing stories collected by our reporters, click here. If you click on the related links, you'll see videos, readers' photos, and more.

So, Emilyn and Allen and I were in the car headed to Fenton when we heard the sirens. We turned around and headed home to check the radar. Of course, we knew there was a tornado watch in effect through lunchtime, but the sirens meant a warning for our county.

The radar indicated a "hook echo" -- the signature for a tornado -- headed right for us. We had time to prepare, so I got the kids busy: Outside, we stowed anything that could be picked up in a wind gust. Inside, we closed all the blinds to contain flying glass and moved valuables away from the windows. Then we got our sturdy shoes on and settled in on the couch to watch more local news. All of a sudden, the rain came pelting down, we heard the roof make a popping noise, like it does in a windstorm, and we headed for the basement.

As they got under the stairs with their blanket, I made sure that Emilyn had put Daddy's shoes outside the door of the room where he was sleeping. (I wasn't going to wake him up until we absolutely had to! heeheehee)

Within a minute (it was SO quick!), all the sounds abated. I checked on the kids, and the laptop radar, and headed back upstairs. Aside from a river of runoff flooding the side yard, there was nothing to see. The rain had slackened, and there was hardly any wind.

Whew. We dodged a very nasty, very close storm on the last day of 2010.