Sunday, August 17, 2008

Night of Dreams...

The summer is winding down and the kids will be headed to school at the end of the week. It has really been a wonderful summer. I am looking forward to school and the routine. We are looking forward to several things this Fall, nonetheless, I am always sad to see summer go. I love summer! I may cry when the pool closes. The weather has been less than ideal for the pool for the last week. It was been highs in the 80's with lows in the upper 50's. Wonderful, perfect weather unless you want to hit the pool where you will freeze. It is the perfect recipe for a night of dreams.

Yesterday was a beautiful day. The kids and I were up making a smoothie and hanging out. Peter was at work. There was a knock at the kitchen door. It was Starr. Shocking so early on a Saturday morning. It was 9:30. She asked to join us on our Saturday activities. We go to a Farmer's Market every week. Starr had never been to the Soulard market, so we decided we must take her. It is an open air market in downtown St. Louis. There is a pet shop, tons of veggie/fruit vendors, meat shop, spice shop, fresh flowers, mini donuts, pizza, homemade soaps, breads, pies, musicians, etc. It is a delightful place. And I have loved it for years. So, we loaded up on peaches, tomatoes, corn, etc and enjoyed all of the sights and sounds. This left us hungry.

Starr suggested that she introduce us to something new. We headed to Cherokee street for authentic Mexican food for lunch. Cherokee street is like "little Mexico". There are lots of shops and everything is in Spanish. We found this little restaurant and sat outside. I had a coke in a bottle which was just delightful! I don't know why, but it was. And we had these fabulous fajita nachos and the kids had a blast! It was just a perfect lunch on a beautiful day!

We headed home and napped for the afternoon. Also, nice. Peter arrived late in the day for playing, BLT's and homemade guacamole for dinner. Yum, Yum! I picked up our favorite sitter for the evening. Peter and I loaded up our bikes and biked with Jeff (our neighbor) downtown to our friend's the Thros for a concert in their garden. About forty people were there with food and wine to listen to a couple perform. It was very folksy and beautiful music. Perfect for a cool summer evening in a garden under a full moon. Glorious! We enjoyed talking with friends after the concert then hopped on the bikes again.

We were joined by our neighbors Jeff and Starr and several other friends from church, including Slywinn who stayed up way late for someone with a four month old. It was oh so much fun. We all biked to the heart of downtown for the Moonlight Ramble. This is a bike event that happens once a year on a night with a full moon. About 10,000 bikers bike all over the city starting at midnight. Thankfully, the late night watching the Olympics prepared me a little for the event. We didn't actually get started with the event until 1 a.m. It was really fun to bike around at night. I had a great time with our friends and it was almost chilly out. We got to bed around 2:30 a.m. Wow! I'm a little old for that. It was, however, a beautiful magical day all day long. And it ended in a dreamy night bike ride all around this city I have come to love. What a perfect end to the summer.

3 comments:

Lora said...

That would rank as a perfect day for me. I would love to visit your farmer's market.

Starr said...

I made the blog! I LOVE it when I make the blog!! It really was a day of dreams. One of my fav weekends of the summer. What can be better than produce and Mexicans and music and bikes under a full moon in the City of Dreams, aka San Luis - and all with the dearest and best of friends! What a dream!

Anonymous said...

I had no idea we started so late! Oh well, next summer we'll just skip the actual "start" and maybe actually bike a little longer!
-sylwinn