jonathan’s blog

After watching Toy Story I, II, and III…Noah has been really into his bucket of green toy soldiers.  (me too actually!  see how I have artillery on the left, flanked and covered by 2 separate fire teams, with both a sniper and spotter on the right?)  Sorry…got carried away.  Anyway, I hope he’s having as much fun as I am…

One of the good byproducts of this toy soldier thing is a “sometimes new found quick obedience”…captured in a simple, “Yes sir!”  Now Noah sometimes answers us with a quick and curt, “Yes sir!”  Noah…clean up your trains.  Noah…sit down in your chair.  Noah…finish your food.  “Yes sir!”

The other day we saw some really fragrant bushes and pretty flowers at the Home Depot.  They were on a super sale, so we picked up a few bushes for less than $5 a piece!  Bekah has been REALLY into the gardening thing with me…and is always the first one out whenever I’m watering or gardening.  Here is Noah, tagging along with his little shovel.

Fragrant Jasmine!…my dad has tons of these bushes in his front yard, and they smell so good.

Purple flowers…can’t remember their name.

It’s been right under 100 degrees here these last couple of days.  High 90’s AND humid!  It’s totally gross being outside.  We found this cool blow up pool at costco, and decided to go for it.

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That’s the famous St. Louis Gateway Arch…also known as The Gateway to the West, an iconic monument built to remember and celebrate America’s expansion into the West.  We had to drive 4 hours east to get here, not a bad drive considering all the driving we’ve recently been doing.  We always wanted to visit St. Louis…but never really got around to it.  Until now.  What brings us out to here?  A job interview, of all things.  The CEO of the company said he’d pay me $150 for my troubles if I could come out and meet with him.  Why not!?…so we burned our remaining hotel points and made it a family road trip.  I didn’t even have to re-pack snacks for the road!…they were still packed into our picnic basket from the last road trip.

First stop?  Of course…the family favorite, Old Spaghetti Factory.  This was the cleanest one we’ve ever been to, I thought they should have called it the “New Spaghetti Factory”!

St. Loius, Missouri was actually really beautiful.  Green, hilly, lots of rivers and lakes.  Even the drive out was pleasant, compared to the incredible boringness of our drive through Kansas.  Here we are at the edge of Forest Park…a HUGE park in the middle of St. Louis.  I thought to myself, wow…this is almost as big as Central Park in NYC, nah…nothing is as big as that!  Turns out…it’s even bigger!

It started to get REALLY hot outside.  We had planned to take the kids on a riverboat ride, but the banks of the Mississippi were flooded!  Instead, we took them to a children museum called, The Magic House.  The kids had such a great time.

Noah…mesmerized by the fan keeping the balls in the air.

Static electricity.

Pretend shopping.

Pretend maternity ward.

Pretend bank.  Bekah said she was writing a check to the Exodus for offereing!

Pretend mailbox.  Noah said he was mailing a letter to A-Ma and Lina.

Pretend garbage collection and recycling.

Noah inside a huge bubble!

For dinner, we visited a microbrewery and bottling company for root beer!  The root beer is not in the picture…but it was really good.

That was our quick weekend in St. Louis.

Oh…and the job interview?  Not what I expected.  Still looking…

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