Day 68: St. Louis, MO

I was a little behind in updating the blog, so this entry probably seems a little out of order since Ron's real-time posts of our drive from St. Louis appear after this entry. Oh well.

Jonah got two of his biggest wishes today. We visited the St. Louis Arch and went to a major league ball game. We'd been thwarted in three previous attempts to attend an MLB game this summer, so he was thrilled that it finally worked out. Busch Stadium is right next to the Arch, too, so we could combine both activities in one trip. The drive to the Arch took a little longer than anticipated, so we had to skip all the museum displays in order to be on time for meeting some more college friends at the Cardinals game. Our stay on top of the Arch was like Clark Griswold viewing the Grand Canyon, but the kids didn't seem to notice. I think they thought everyone sprinted to the front of the line for the descending tram after looking out the windows for 30 seconds.

Our speedy visit allowed us to get to the ball game on time where we met up with three more friends from our Virginia days. We couldn't all sit together through the whole game, but we played enough musical seats that we all got to visit. It would have been nice to hang out longer, but there's only so much you can cram into one trip. Jonah seemed to enjoy the game, as did Elli, but she was ready to leave early with Dave when his son, Owen, had had enough. Elli was definitely more interested in playing with Owen than hanging out at the Cardinals game.

Dinner was a decidedly relaxed affair which allowed the kids to play as much as possible. The adults enjoyed reminiscing about "the good old days". It's a bit to sad to think that I'm old enough to have "good old days", but there you have it.

Tomorrow is going to be a long drive as we try to get as close as possible to my parents' house before crashing at a hotel. It's hard to believe the trip is almost over. We've had so many wonderful experiences and really bonded as a family. I hope the kids will remember all the happy memories and not focus on how long we made them sit in the car.