St. Louis! Day 1.

Dear Peep, 
I must get this in the record before too much time gets away from me and/or baby girl gets here or it will be lost.... and we can't loose our trip to St. Louis!  We planned it in early August thinking 1. your cousins would not yet be in school and 2. their average temperatures were going to be significantly lower than when we started discussing it at the end of June.  Well, your cousins Jonny (6) Tony (16) and uncle Gary, Grandma P, Bahboo, and Mommy and Daddy drove to St. Louis the first of August and the temperature was kicking our butts the entire time.  We LOVE St. Louis but I can't see returning unless it is in the spring for fall months.  We were all pretty miserable due to the heat but that is not to say we didn't have a great time.  So the itinerary...Day 1....

Arrived in St. Louis and went to the hotel for a few minutes to freshen up and let the little dudes check things out.  You were so excited by all of the snacks we brought you could hardly think about anything else.  Once we all refocused we loaded back up and went straight to the arch.  You loved it.  You and Jonny grabbed hands you were so excited to see each other. You ran and tried to climb the side of it...you got about...uh...two inches up before you decided it didn't have any footholds.  You took the little trolly to the top and I stayed on the ground to have a quite moment with Daddy, and a hot dog and lemonade from a street vendor.  You waved to us from the top.  We couldn't see you but that doesn't matter, we waved to you and you saw us as tiny ant specks in the grass.  

After the arch we were all hungry (that hot dog was the worst!) and we drove around the city looking for a good local restaurant.   We settled on a dark looking place with a board outside touting "pasta!" and decided to see what they had to offer.  Uh! This was an incredible meal!  We all got something different and were so mesmerized by how delectable ours own meals were we just started taking bites off of each others!  Daddy's lasagne had the creamiest yummiest cheese ever.  I would make the 4 hour drive just to get the pasta there.  You ate half of Bahboo's ravioli, tons of bites of my bake ziti and bits and pieces of everyone's plate too.  Even skin and bones Jonny ate most of a giant sized hamburger.  It was a great meal.  I wish I could remember the name of the place but it was only a few blocks away from the City Garden so we headed over there.  The evening air brought a cool breeze and a comfortable temperature to relax in the park and look at the wonderful sculptures and fountains.  You can climb on and jump into just about everything there!  With a three year old and 6 year old (and let's face it a 16 year old) that is exactly the type of place you want to be at.  You and Jonny stripped down to your shorts so you could play and run around the fountain area and you would have stayed here for the rest of the night.  

 I had the bright idea to look around more, I had given you all suckers with silly mouths on them.  Really cute! Until you tried to climb on the bunny sculpture with wet feet, slipped and crunched down on the sucker and bit your lip.  Lots of blood and screaming and a tired Henry was carried to the car to return to the hotel.  

 Your recovery was quick and soon you were running pant-less checking on the snacks in the fridge and jumping on the soft bed.  It was a great first day!  It was wonderful to have the first trip with my mom, dad and brother and Daddy and our kids.  So happy that your cousins are closer now.  You say they are your best buddies.  A wonderful thing.
Love, Mama