Downtown

In the vein of enjoying the summer, I took the kids downtown for the morning. I thought it would be an adventure. We put the stroller in the car and drove to the metro (This was to save a little time. The Metro ride was part of the adventure.) Thankfully, we drove because we got from the parking lot to the Metro and realized our stroller had broken. Back to the car where I had a spare stroller. This new stroller, however, could only hold one kid. I really had no idea how much walking we would need to do, but in the spirit of adventure we took a chance. We finally hopped on the Metro. We were already sweaty and sticky. We really enjoyed the ride and pointing out things like the park, stadium, Buh's school, etc.

We arrived downtown at Laclede's landing. It was a short walk through a beautiful park to the Arch. I really had not planned to go up the Arch, but rather walk around and check things out. Well, Lillian was dead set on going up. I had never been up and wasn't sure what to expect. Before I even moved to St. Louis, my grandmother (Bootsie) told me never to go in the Arch. "It sways. Don't go up there." I had taken this advice to heart until my three year talked me into it. You get in these little enclosed cars with five seats and ride for about four minutes to the top. Then there are lots of windows to look out and see St. Louis. It was beautiful. It is a sunny day and we could see for miles. We tried to find our house or at least Washington University. We think we may have spotted Wash U. We could see right into the new stadium and see the river. It was truly amazing. Lillian and Grayson seemed to be very interested for about three minutes, then Lillian stated that they were hungry and it was time to eat. Back down in the tram and off to look for food.

We ate an overpriced lunch at a cafe' on the river, and had a blast watching the boats and the birds. We figured we might as well have some ice cream, too. So we did. Good thing. Somehow the walk back seemed much harder than the walk to the Arch. We walked along the river and watched the boats pass. Lillian was a trooper. We were all hot and I was tired, so I know she was. We hopped back on the Metro and enjoyed the cool ride home. It was a great morning. A good adventure that we might even repeat every summer.

On the ride home...
M: Lillian, you were a very big girl today. You walked a lot and didn't even complain.
L: I know, mama. I was very obediant, except when I said I was really hungry a whole bunch of times.
M: Well, that isn't really being disobediant. That is just being hungry.
L: Oh yeah, your right! (Big smile.)
M: What was your favorite part of our trip, today?
L: Eating lunch.