Muny

I really enjoy going to the Muny each year.  There is usually a musical I really want to go see.  I saw Cinderella was playing and thought it would be fun to go see.  The weather cooled down and it was the perfect opportunity to go.  The weather was going to be nice for a few days but we knew the crowds would be big.  We decided to go down on Thursday as soon as JJ got off work.  We got there just as they were opening the doors for the free seats.  I know the free seats go fast and would have liked to been there a little earlier.  We got down there as fast as we could and quickly parked and walked over.  I haven't seen the lines that long and was worried we would even get seats.  Thankfully we were able to find two great seats.  This was the first time we have been at the Muny and not been hot and sweaty.  It was a beautiful evening with a nice breeze.  We really enjoyed the musical and thought it was really good.  We had heard and read mixed reviews since I wasn't the Disney version.  We really liked the colorful costumes and enjoyed the evening together.  After the show we tried to get an ice cream cone at McDonalds or someplace cheap.  We forgot it was only Thursday and everything was already closed.  We headed home, it was late!  We stayed up and had a snack in the kitchen.  JJ and I had one of our first dates at the Muny.  We have been back several times to see things over the years.  We have been a few times as a family and a few times on a date.  I love that it was a free date for us.  Lucy babysat for us, we love having a babysitter in the house.  We feel lucky in our penny pinching days to be able to still find things that are fun to do together.     

We have been busy this summer and haven't been able to take our Kayaks out much.  We took them out for the first time this year.  We decided to take them to the new park in New Melle.  We went out there to go walking once in the spring and really liked the lake area.  It didn't have the best boat launch area.  It was a walk down the hill and challenging with all our stuff.  We did like the direction the sun was, it wasn't in our eyes while sitting on the side.  When we go to Brommelsiek we are looking directly into the sun watching people kayak.  We brought our fishing stuff and enjoyed sitting on the side and taking turns with the kayaks.  Toward the end of the evening we were actually in the shade which was nice.  We didn't have any luck fishing but the water was great for the kayaks. 

 A bird made a next in my clematis plant in the backyard.  The kids made sure to look each day to see if any of the eggs had hatched.  There were four eggs and two of them hatched.  We loved checking on the little birds and thought they were so cute and tiny.  One morning I went out to see if the other eggs had hatched.  I noticed that the two baby birds that had hatched had died.  It was so sad!  Not long after that the nest was gone.  We later found the nest in our yard, it looked like an animal got to it.  We were sad we didn't get a happier ending for the eggs and baby birds we enjoyed watching.

 For the first time we decided to participate in cow appreciation day.  It was nice to not have to cook dinner.  We made some simple cow costumes and headed up for a free chicken sandwich.  We were thankful we were able to get one for JJ even though he wasn't with us.  The restaurant was busy so we took our meal down to JJ's office to eat together.  It worked out that JJ was just finishing for the evening.  We were able to sit down and eat in the conference room.  We bought a few things of fries but not bad to have a cheap meal out. 

Fourth of July

We had a really nice fourth of July.  It was nice to be able to have JJ home with us and to be together as a family.  We started our morning by volunteering at the O'Fallon city firecracker run.  They passed around a sign up sheet in church a few weeks ago looking for people to help hand out water.  I thought it sounded fun and there aren't that many service opportunities that we could do as a family.  We had to get a very early start to be at our water station by 6 AM.  We got busy helping fill up the cups with water so we would be prepared to start handing them out.  They gave the volunteers McDonalds breakfast sandwiches which was nice.  We went over how to hold the cups out so the runners could just grab them as they ran by.  We had the busiest station, all three races went by our station.  The boys were really helpful with helping pickup the cups the runners tossed when they were done.  We found our service rewarding to cheer on the runners and tell them they were doing a good job.  It was so hot outside and the runners really appreciated the water.  Several runners thanked us for helping and cheering them on.  We all had a good time and have all mentioned that we would like to do it again next year.  After the races were over we decided to stick around and watch the parade.  We walked down a little way and put our chairs down.  It was a bit of a wait until the parade came down to us.  We were really hot and dripping with sweat.  The kids enjoyed the parade and liked getting lots of tootsie rolls.  We headed home and had lunch and headed to the pool.  It felt so good to cool off after being in the heat all morning.  We were all pretty exhausted from getting up early.  We rested, got ready and grilled some dinner.  We then went outside to enjoy some fireworks the neighbors were setting off.  We knew we would be tired from getting up early so we decided to stay close to home for fireworks that evening.  A guy in our neighborhood bought a semitruck of fireworks and set them off at the high school.  We went over there to watch them.  They were really good and lasted about 45 minutes.  It was nice to stay close to home, we might have to make that our new tradition.    

 

 

 

Delmar Gardens

Sunday evening was the Delmar Gardens fourth of July festival.  One of our favorite activities this time of year.  My parents came up and went with us.  We had free hot dogs, nachos, ice cream, snow cones and drinks.  The kids enjoyed walking around and play the games.  They all won some cheap little toys at the games.  The boys got some balloons from the clowns.  JJ was nice and waited in the long line.  They each got a sword.  I knew they would pop and there would be tears.  Sure enough Nolan's popped and it was so sad.  A friend was so sweet and brought us some balloons that her girls got and it made him so happy.  We listened to the band and then watched the firework.  I really like their firework display, its to music which is nice.  This activity always makes me excited for the fourth of July. 

 

 

Hurricane Harbor

We have never been to Hurricane Harbor at six flags.  We decided to go as a family Saturday afternoon.  JJ worked in the morning so as soon as he go home we had lunch and headed over.  We didn't anticipate how busy the park would be.  There was a long line to enter into the water park.  They were letting people go in as people were leaving.  They were operating at full capacity.  It was hard to have the water park so busy.  It was a little much for me in the wave pool to be standing so close to other people.  There lines weren't to bad for the waterslides and we were able to do a few all together.  I took Lucy and Garrett on some of the tube slides while JJ played with Nolan in the kids area.  Nolan loved the little kid area.  We all commented on how it was much smaller then the other water parks we have been to in Wisconsin Dells and Holiday World.  It has been many years since I have been there but it seemed to be run down.  We are glad we went, it was a fun way to stay cool.  We packed a dinner and after the waterpark we walked out to the car.  We had a picnic under a tree out there.  The kids changed their clothes in the van and then we headed back into the park to ride a few rides.  When we went back in the crowd was thinning out.  It was really busy all day but I think the heat made people exhausted and they all left.  We were able to ride several rides as a family and either walk right up or wait in a small line.  It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed riding the rides together.  We ended our night with a stop at QT in Eureka for a slushy drink to cool us down.  It was a very hot and humid day and we were all thirsty.  It was also a very late night, we all had to shower before heading to bed.  I am glad we were able to go.  It has been really fun having season passes.        

As soon as JJ's parents went home the heat and humidity of summer came.  We have been keeping cool at the pool almost every afternoon.  It keeps us cool and gives us something to do each day.  It is hard to not feel like we are in a rut but there really isn't much else to do when its this hot.  The kids love going and usually find a friend there to swim with.  We see or friends the Carpenter's there often and they have a little boy close to Nolan's age.  They have a fun time swimming together.  Nolan loves to swim and will jump off the side off the pool over and over again.  We were there one afternoon and all of a sudden a summer pop up storm rolled in.  It moved in quickly!  The guard heard thunder so we all had to get out of the pool.  By time we got home it was sprinkling and not long after it was pouring rain.  There was a good lightning show with lots of thunder and even some pea sized hail.  I love summer thunderstorms. They are fun to watch and I love how it cools everything off.  We are so thankful for our pool, it gives us great entertainment and lets the kids use up some energy! 

 

 

Fruit Picking

Tuesday was our last day.  JJ took off work that morning so we could go do something fun.  We decided to head out to Theirbachs to pick some fresh fruit.  It was a pretty drive out to Marthasville, about 30 minutes away.  We picked a little bit of everything ripe.  There were blueberries, blackberries, cherries, raspberries and peaches.  The cherries were a little to tart for me and the peaches still needed to ripen a little more.  We still picked peaches and knew we would let them ripen on the countertop. It was a hot and humid day.  Thankfully the first hot and humid day of their trip.  They were really worried about it being to hot while they were here.  We really lucked out with the cooler temperatures, which weren't ideal for the lake but were great for everything else.  Craig's feet were still bothering him so we walked slow around to the different area's.  We got home about lunch time and then JJ headed to work.  Denise and I took the kids to the pool, it was a perfect day for the pool.  They all found friends there to swim with and it was nice and relaxing.  We stayed home and relaxed together that evening.  We said our goodbye's at bedtime since they had a very early flight home Wednesday morning.  We don't get to see them very often so we were so glad they came out to see us.  We tried to pack in a lot of fun things with them as well as some downtime.  I think we had a good mix of a little of everything.  I hope they enjoyed coming and visiting.  I know our kids really enjoyed spending time with Grandma and Grandpa.   

 

 

Chess Hall of Fame

JJ went into work Monday morning, he had some catch up to do with being down at the lake.  Lucy was able to adjust her babysitting job so we could do some sightseeing together.  We have been wanting to take the kids down to the Chess Hall of Fame.  Monday seemed like a good opportunity to go.  It is in a fun part of town, just by Forest park in the central west end.  It wasn't a big museum, in fact our favorite part was the large chess set out front.  The kids had fun playing a game with the big pieces.  We bought a new chess mat and let the kids each pick out a fun colored set to play with on the mat.  Craig's feet were really bothering him, it was hard for him to walk.  We went down to the loop after the chess museum.  We ate at Fitz's for dinner, the kids picked.  I think Craig and Denise would have enjoyed the BBQ place down there a little better but oh well.  Grandma and Grandpa wanted to buy the kids a new book.  W looked up and found a bookstore there in the loop.  We walked down there and each of the kids picked out a new book.  They liked how fun that part of town is and we drove through a few fun neighborhoods down there.  The kids were excited about their new chess pieces and played chess all night out on the deck and on the dinning room table.  Grandma got to play more chess the last few days of her trip then I'm sure she imagined.

 

 

 

Frank Lloyd Wright Home

A little while before their trip here Craig mentioned that the one thing he wanted to do while he was here was to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright home.  We weren't even aware there was a home here.  We certainly have never had that on our list of things to take visitors to see.  We had kind forgotten about it and then the only day available to do the tour was Sunday afternoon.  Nolan isn't old enough to go and Garrett didn't have any interest.  I stayed home with the boys while they went and toured the home.  They have a really fun time and thought the house was really neat.  I am glad they were able to go.  We had a nice dinner together that evening.  Lucy made us a chocolate cake from the cookbook they gave her at Christmas.  She did a good job, it was very yummy!