Our Last Day In St. Louis

Today was our last day in St Louis. Sadness! Joe and I have really loved this city, our church, and our friends and we are both sad to be leaving. To celebrate our good time in St. Louis, we put off any packing and spent the day enjoying some of our favorite St. Louis things. After church, where our new church family sent us off in prayer and hugs, we ventured downtown for the Cardinals game. We didn’t have a chance to get tickets, but we enjoyed watching the game from Mike Shannon's, right next to the Stadium.


Then, we headed to Forest Park, a favorite destination for both of us. We really love this park. We’ve been talking for ages about doing the paddle boats and decided today was the day. It was perfect weather, so we spent an hour paddling the grand basin, the fountains, and the various waterways.


Then, we headed over to the Gordon’s for dinner. It was great to get to spend some time with Maria, Craig, and the kids. I love these kids a lot and they are really special to me!


Maria is a great friend and I really enjoy her. I am going to miss our every-other-week mornings out.

Goodbye to CASGSL

My co-workers very generously threw us a lovely going-away party this evening. My coworker, Megan was so gracious and opened her beautiful home to us and my boss (and mentor), Jerry and her husband, were awesome grill masters! It really was a great evening of good food and fun conversation. And, I have to say—it was quite difficult to say good-bye to this group. They are really great people and I couldn’t ask for better colleagues. I am going to miss them--consulting on cases, support on the hard days, laughter, and random chatting during the day. You guys are the best!

(p.s. to you CASGSL folks....for some reason I have NO pictures. So, if you do, send them to me, please. And, I really need pictures from karaoke in LA).

San Diego

This week, I took a much needed break from all the demands of preparing for a big, international move and traveled out to San Diego to visit my precious niece (and very cool sister and brother-in-law)! As crazy as it seems, I really did just abandon my packing, left my office with work to be done and boarded a plan to sunny California. I cannot imagine a better way to have spent the last few days. I have been SO stressed out with this upcoming move and all that still needs to be done (job? Place to live?) and it was so good to get away from it all. Besides, how can anyone be stressed when they are with this amazing little girl?


Claire and I had a great time together exploring San Diego every morning. Then, we enjoyed the pool every afternoon! What a great vacation! One morning, Claire and I went to the San Diego Zoo, which is a really big, great zoo. We just happened to walk by the giraffes during lunch time and apparently they have this program where you can feed the giraffes. Claire and I both thought this sounded cool, so we stood in the line for our biscuits to feed the animals. Here's Claire feeding two of the giraffes:
Check out the tongue on this guy! 18 inches long.
The San Diego Zoo also has a great Children's Zoo. There are a number of exhibits there, including a children's petting zoo where you can pet sheep and goats. Here's Claire petting one of the sheep:
The Zoo also has a great Panda exhibit. Evidently, a new panda was born in early August. The baby and it's mother are kept inside until the baby is 4-5 months old, so we didn't get to see him. But, we did see this 4 year old guy. According to the zoo literature, Pandas spend 10 hours a day eating, and 12 hours a day sleeping.


One morning we took an "expedition" of Balboa park. Mostly we went to see the Science Center (which was really fun) but since we got there a little early, we took in the other sights as well. Here's Claire copying this funny fountain we saw:

She was jumping here. Not falling. I promise.
I should also say that, though I have no pictures, I also really enjoyed time with my sister and brother-in-law. I think I am really lucky because I genuinely like my sisters and their husbands a lot. They are all really special to me. It was particularly great this week to get a little sister time in with Melissa.

So, thanks Melissa and Mark for letting me enjoy your sweet girl and for giving me such a haven this week!

Another Night Out With Friends

A few of my St. Louis clan went to have pizza and beer at a place called the “stable”, which is a now a “staple” of mine for pizza. It has an amazing beer selection too—but even more cool is the fact that have a 48 oz mug to put your beer in…but it costs like 15-20 bucks for one. It is located across the street from Anheuser-Bush off of I-55. Check it out sometime.

It was good to see Noel, Jen, Grant, Emily, Jonathan, Martha and Scott before I left. Scotland here we come.

Total Eclipse of My Heart

Last night some dear friends, Audrey & Glen Woita and Maria & Craig Gordon, took us out for a fun and delicious farewell evening. We enjoyed some art and demonstrations at the 3rd Degree Glass Factory (I love to look at the various pieces on display and it is so fun to see how they make the times) and then a fantastic meal at Eclipse. We were seated at a secluded corner table known, evidently, as the “Mafia Table.” So fun!

It was a great night and a great way to say good bye to these two couples who have loved and supported us so well over the last couple of years (and me over the last 5). They are sweet, sweet friends and will be dearly missed.

A Visit to Webb City

This weekend we traveled 4 hours southwest from St. Louis to visit my mom, dad, 2 brothers, sister-in-law and niece. We also hung out with some old high school friends who have 3 kids of their own.

Overall, it was a great trip. Amanda and I really enjoyed playing poker with my mom and brother, talking politics with my right-wing dad and debating with him whether Catholicism is a cult or not. He grew up in Costa Rica and thus has some not-so-fond memories of the Catholic priests who taught him in grade school and high school. We also hung out Aaron and Monica Walker—the two old time friends with whom I grew up. Aaron is going to use the GI Bill to go to Johnson college…fall of 2010? He wants to teach theology and Bible at a high school when he is finished with college—and admirable goal indeed!

We then spent some time with my fun-loving brother and his sweet and hospitable wife, Rick and April (Rivera). Their little almost-3-year-old girl, Ella, is the cutest thing. She finally likes me and will actually talk to me a little: we’ll have to get pictures of her up soon.

Some refreshing family time before the big move to Edinburgh.

A Visit from the Ricky Riveras

Joe’s brother, Ricky along with his wife, April, and little girl, Ella, came to visit us this weekend. They are always so much fun to see and we had a great time with them. I think the best part of the trip was our visit to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, one of my all-time favorite St. Louis spots. It was great weather and we got to enjoy some of the main garden areas as well as the fun Children’s Garden.

Ella made a sweet ladybug and danced around the flowers:

Hard work climbing to the top!

Victory!
Ella made a friend playing in the fountain.
A dragonfly
One of my favorite sculptures in the gardens