The rest of the story...

I know that it is beyond later on...but just to continue on. After Nauvoo, we drove to St. Louis to see Mark's sister Sara and her family. Sara, major high fives to you for putting up with all of us for a few days and graciously hosting us in your home. Sara's husband, J, is a resident at a local hospital and works crazy hours. Somehow, we managed to see him while there. In fact, we all went downtown to visit the St. Louis Arch. It is an incredible work of architecture and design. Underneath the Arch, there is a national museum and park. We watched a "vintage" 1960s movie about how it was built. The kids thought that was really weird, but the older people felt right like we were in high school science class. We also took a ride up to the observation deck at the top of the arch. The ride was a strange experience to say the least. You climb into this tiny space capsule thing inside a concrete and steel tunnel. Claustrophobics, BEWARE! Then, you ride up an elevator, ski gondola track thing to the top. There are windows in the capsule so you can watch how quickly you go up inside the tunnel, but no windows to the outside. Once at the top, you can look out the windows to all of the beautiful sights in St. Louis including the Mississippi River. However, you also feel a bit dizzy due to some swaying that takes place. Grandma Dee, Lori, JJ (Sara's little boy), Andrew and Sydney were all ready to head back to the ground shortly after arriving. I'm so glad we went to the top, but I'm not sure I would do it again. Kind of scary!!

My kids loved hanging at Sara's for a few days. JJ and Sydney are pretty close in age. One night, they had a "sleepover", but I'm not sure much sleeping happened. I think I nearly shushed myself to death as midnight became the wee hours of the morning and those two were still awake. Sara's baby, Tyler, is so cute, and a really happy baby. Sara fed us, let us crash hard, do our laundry, and generally just be bums while there. Thanks again, Sara and J!! We are excited to see you this summer.

After we left St. Louis, we drove through Kentucky and West Virginia to arrive home. We made very few stops over the next two days because we were ready to get to our new home. We did go to Mammoth Caves, but were too late to go on a tour inside. We did walk down to the gates though. Definitely, going back there sometime. We also stopped at Tudor's Biscuit World in West Virginia. It is a fast food restaurant that serves breakfast all day. The food was really pretty good. When we first walked in, Josh was checking out the menu, and beginning to feel a bit skeptical about his new home state of WV. His opinions were somewhat solidified when a young lady came up to the front and asked for a "bah-ayg fer mah fer-eyes". (In Western American English this translates to a "bag for my fries".) I wish that I had a camera to capture the look on my son's face. He knew that we weren't in Colorado anymore for sure. After eating, we were packing up to go. Josh had some leftover on his plate, so I asked if he was done. He said, "I think I need a bah-ayg fer mah fer-eyes." We are so proud of how he is acclimating already.