Last week, as part of our summer fun, the Rodrigues family took a trip to Saint Louis, Missouri to visit our good friends the French's. The French's lived just around the corner from our old house in Ballwin. We used to have dinner with them every Tuesday night. Dana and Cyndi would go work out, while Tony and I fed and watched the kids. Then we would all sit down and enjoy a wonderful meal while the kids played. We have many fond memories from those evenings in Ballwin, so we felt it was fitting to visit and catch up after being away for five years.
Arriving in St. Louis was like taking a walk down memory lane. Everything felt familiar yet different. As we drove through the city, there was a comfortable familiarity as many of the major roads have not changed very much. It sort of felt like we should be going home, but we no longer have a home in St. Loius. Sounds a little weird, but that's how it felt.
We arrived Thursday afternoon and made our way to the French's new farm located in Pacific, MO a few minutes West of Ballwin. Tony and Dana bought the place this Spring and have been busy transforming the property into a pleasant retreat just outside of suburban St. Louis.
On Friday, I helped Tony spread some gravel on the drive way and we picked up a couple pickup loads of soil for some garden beds. Then, that evening we attended a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium. Andrew and Jonathan are still big Cardinals fans so it was a special treat for them. We had great seats and the weather was very pleasant. A perfect night!
Tony had been having a problem with some animal(s) breaking into the horse treats in the barn. All indicators suggested raccoons. So Tony put out the trap and baited it with horse treats. There was a raccoon every morning except for the second to last day.
On Saturday, Tony put me to work! Tony, Jacob and I dug three holes for fence posts to run a section of high tension electric fence. Three holes doesn't sound like a lot, until you've dug a 36" deep fence post hole in the rocky Missouri clay that Tony's land is composed. On Sunday, Tony Jacob and I ran the high tension fence from the barnyard to the new fence posts that we'd put in the day before. I was really impressed with how hard Jacob, Tony's oldest son, worked! Overall it was very hard work, but extrememly satisfying. I also learned a new skill; I'm now confident that I could put in fencing if ever needed. Jacob showed me all the tricks to getting it done right!
On Sunday we all got to go horseback riding. Rachel and Emily's horses are very good natured and took great care of us city slickers! No one got thrown, and everyone had a great experience.
One of my favorite memories of our time in St. Louis was summer float trips with the French's on the Courtois River in Missouri. This picture was taken in May of 2006 a couple months before we moved to Guam.
Here's the same group plus one five years later. We floated on Monday, the hottest day of our trip. The heat index was 117 degrees! The cool water of the Courtois felt glorious in the sweltering heat. Taking Sophia was a bit of a challenge. She didn't want to stay in the canoe and continuously petitioned to get back in the water. Cyndi was very patient with her as we meandered down the river; she probably should get some type of major award!
On the last day of the trip we took all of the kids to the City Museum in downtown St. Louis. It was hot and overcrowded and we didn't stay long.
The Big Boy brought back many childhood memories!
Bank vault!
Jonathan and Rachel had a blast running around and climbing on the maze of urban jungle gym!
The museum is filled with all sorts of interesting visuals.
The tunnel of mirrors was pretty cool!
Most of the museum is geared towards school age kids and older. Although Sophia seemed to find ways to have a great time. You can't even tell that she has poop in her pants!
It was great to see our old friends and spend some quality time with them at their new farm! We managed to pack a lot of activities into six days! A Cardinals Game, float trip, hard labor, horseback riding, etc... I just want to say "Thanks a bunch" to the French family for hosting us and all of the wonderful fellowship and fun!
Overall is was interesting to visit St. Louis after such a long time away. We left our home there to go explore a new part of the world. Since coming back to the mainland we had not been back to St. Louis. So this trip served as a strange belated homecoming.
Our flight home was a little stressful! Fortunately that will be the last time we fly with a lap child. Sophia decided that we were going to be, "that family." You know the one...with the screaming, hitting, obnoxious, won't sit on her parent's lap child. Yep that was us! All things aside, the real treat was Cyndi's iPhone falling out of her purse unknowingly to us on the first flight from St. Louis to Newark. We didn't realize it was missing until right before landing in Boston. Fortunately for us, the phone was recovered and back home a few days later. Thank goodness for the find my iPhone app!
To read more about how we got Cyndi's iPhone back click here.
