Our Saint Louis Vacation

Heather & Chad live in an apartment complex that has a pool this summer in Saint Louis, so we were able to go swimming almost every day this last week. There's beautiful landscaping around the pool, so I couldn't resist taking a picture of the grandkids by the waterfall.

Here's Steve right before another enjoyable swim at the apartment.

Did you know Panera Bread actually had its beginning in Saint Louis, and it is named Saint Louis Bread Company?

We went to the Missouri Transportation Museum on our first full day in Missouri with Heather, Kyra, Skye, and Dane.

Here I am hanging out with one of my girls at the Transportation Museum.

Dane loves trains. He was thrilled with this one in particular because he said "it was working." I think he thought that because the light was on. Dane loves his Thomas the Train set that he has at home. Dane also loves trucks or actually anything that has tires.

This car is an example of what cars looked like when Steve and I were born. It's ancient looking, I admit. I've seen pictures that my parents had of our family cars that actually look similar to the one above.

The Mississippi River flooded this year, so our dinner cruise was canceled, AGAIN! This time someone at the ticket office told us that the river floods most every year. Next time we'll book our dinner cruise when we arrive in Saint Louis and after I look at the water level.

In the background of this picture is The Old Courthouse (it's the one with the light blue domed roof) that the famous Dred Scott slavery case was held. He and his wife eventually paid $1,000 each and bought their freedom.

Here's a picture of the Saint Louis Cardinal game we went to in which we saw the famous first baseman, Albert Pujols, hit a home run. We hear that one day our grandkids will be very impressed when we tell them we witnessed one of his home runs. In the picture Pujols is running to home plate.

This is Steve and me after the game was over. We splurged and got some great seats. We enjoyed dinner before the game in an air-conditioned area of the stadium. It was a real luxury, and although I'm not really a baseball fan, it was fun to be part of the Saint Louis Cardinal fever. Every store I went in this week, even grocery stores, had Cardinal clothing or gadgets of some sort for sale. I think it would be fun for Las Vegas to have a professional team too.

This is a picture of Heather and Chad's new home in Chesterfield, MO. It's a suburb of Saint Louis. Right now they live in another suburb of Saint Louis called Creve Coure. Creve Coure is French as well as many street names, etc. in this part of the country. They live temporarily now on a street called Rue De La Banque. Funny, huh? Heather says she can't wait to have her new address. Their new street is Isleview in Chesterfield. It's much easier to say!

We celebrated the 4th of July on the 3rd of July by having a picnic and swim at the apartment. Then we went to Longview Farm and played on the playground, went on a nice trail for a hike, and saw some beautiful horses that live on the farm. You would not believe how many beautiful parks are in this area. It's unbelievable.

Steve and I went one evening to Queeny Park which turned out to be over 13,500 steps just to walk around it once! We had to use our GPS to get back to the car because we lost all daylight and were totally turned around with the multitude of trails and shortcuts, etc. through the park. Queeny Park looked like we were in the middle of a major forest. We walked on gravel trails. I have to admit I was a bit frightened when I realized I had no idea where the car was, and it was completely dark. Why or why didn't we bring Heather and family with us???????

Heather made a 4th of July cake for us after our swim and picnic. This was actually July 3rd.

Melanie flew from Oklahoma City for the three-day weekend over the 4th.

On July 4th we went to Six Flags in Saint Louis. We enjoyed rides plus the water park.

Here Melanie, Heather, and Kyra are having a little fun with a shark while at Six Flags.

Here's Melanie with Kyra, Skye, and Yosemite Sam at Six Flags.

We all enjoyed wearing red, white, and/or blue for the big holiday while at Six Flags. It was a great way to celebrate our country's birthday. This was actually our second celebration since we already had had a picnic and swim at Heather's apartment the day before. We definitely know how to capitalize on a holiday, if I do say so myself.

One day we went to Grant's Farm which is owned by the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company. They have beautiful Clydesdale horses there to view in the barn and out in the field. I learned that Commanding General Ulysses Grant (from the Civil War) married into the Busch family. As a wedding gift, the Busch family gave Grant and his new bride 80 acres of land which is now Grant's Farm.

Well, we're not drinkers, but we still can enjoy looking at the wagon and the huge horses that used to go along with delivering products from the brewing company at Grant's Farm.

Heather, Kyra, Skye, and Dane are cooling off with a water mist while at Grant's Farm.

Heather and Skye are feeding the goats milk at Grant's Farm. There were actually tons of goats in the pen. They are very aggressive animals!

Heather and I are playing in the water at Millenium Park on a rainy day; sort of comical if I do say so myself.

Heather, Kyra, Skye, and I are enjoying a swim in Creve Coure Lake on a rainy day. The lake is about 10 minutes from their apartment. Kyra is a great swimmer, and Skye just learned how to swim in the pool from the shallow end to the midway point. She was so proud of herself, and I was really glad I was there to see her do it for the first time.

Steve, Heather, Kyra, Skye, and Dane are standing by Creve Coure Lake near the apartment. It was a cloudy day, and it eventually rained and rained on us. Chad actually had a small scooter accident due to the rain coming home from work on the same day that we went to the lake for a swim. Someone cut him off, the roads were slick and his scooter slid. He fell off his scooter, and he ruined his new Father's day outfit which were dress pants and shirt. His scooter has some damage, but luckily he wasn't hurt too badly nor was anyone else. As luck would have it, there was a policeman at the intersection when the accident occurred.

This is the Saint Louis, MO LDS temple. It's right off the freeway, and it is just minutes from Heather's apartment in Creve Coure.

Here's Heather, Kyra, Skye, and Dane at the Saint Louis, MO temple.

On our last day in Saint Louis we went to the Missouri Botanical Garden (the balls are made from colorful blown glass). We had so much fun that we stayed for five hours. It's a huge place. This is the third time Steve and I have been there. It's beautiful! We wore clothes we could get wet in because there are fountains you can play in.

Here we are at The Japanese Garden within the MO Botanical Garden.

Here's Kyra, Skye, and Dane at the MO Botanical Garden. I have a picture of this same scene when we went to the gardens when Kyra was only 2 or 3 years old.

These pics are a sampling that show a little bit of our Saint Louis vacation. We've had a marvelous time. My mom always used to tell me that you knew you had had a good vacation if you hadn't done everything and wanted to go back and revisit a past vacation spot. That's exactly how I feel tonight as we pack and get ready to head for Oklahoma City to visit Melanie and Ryan tomorrow morning.