St. Louis ~ Day 1

We went to St. Louis recently so Blake could compete in a big Kuk Sool Won tournament.  We dropped Beau off at Nana and Papa's house and headed out early one morning.  It rained ALL the way there!!

 You know you are there when you see the arch!!

 We decided to check in the hotel and do a little sight-seeing.  Union Station was pretty cool!

 Inside view....

It was cold and rainy, so we still couldn't decided about whether to go to the Cardinals game that night or not.  We ended up downtown and ate at Joe Buck's.  SO, so good!!

 It was about 30 minutes until game time, and we still couldn't decide.  So, I checked the Cardinals website and they had dropped the ticket prices!!  So, Travis and Evan decided to go and Blake and I decided to go the the City Museum downtown instead.

Travis and Evan ended up with great seats!!

 It only drizzled a little bit and ended up being a good night for baseball!

 They managed to move down closer and had even better seats!!

 Blake and I had a great time, too!  This museum was amazing!!  Not exactly a traditional museum, but very entertaining.  Notice the school bus on the very top edge of the roof.  Way cool!!

 The outside part was crazy and super fun for kids....not so much for an "old mom" trying to keep up:)  I was totally stressed out.  It seems that every teenage kid from St. Louis all gather here on Friday nights:)

 Some of the "caves" we explored inside. 

 Blake and I out on the roof:)

 He was crawling on his stomach through this narrow tunnel underneath the walking "cage" that was about 3 stories up.  Totally freaked me out!!

 My view above him as he crawled underneath me!

  There was a separate aquarium on the 3rd floor of the museum and Blake LOVED it!!  We spent a good hour and a half there.

 It was pretty cool and had some good stuff.

 Blake read every word on every display!!

 Some super friendly somethings?? I can't exactly remember what they were??

 There was  tunnel you could "slide" through inside the shark tank.  Pretty cool!

 My handsome boy!

We loved this turtle.  Totally felt like we were in "Nemo"..

We had a great evening!  Travis and Evan had a blast, Cardinals won, and Blake and I enjoyed each others company and had fun exploring the museum together.  Fun times!!

East Pointe Quiz Bowl

 Evan got to play on the East Pointe Quiz Bowl team this year.  The tournament was in Van Buren.  Pretty exciting stuff!  I was so glad I was able to go watch.  

The team getting ready with Mr. Clow.

 Poppy drove the bus and NaNa came down from Springdale to watch.  So, Ev had quite a cheering section!

 Here he is in action.  He played very well.  I was surprised at how aggressive he was and how much he knew about random stuff:)

 Nana and I rode the bus with the kids to lunch at Braums.  You can learn a lot on a bus;)

 Evan & Grant....these 2 are trouble~

 The team getting ready for the afternoon rounds.  The first round after lunch they had to play Westwood.  Pretty weird playing against your friends...but they managed to WIN!

 They ALL wanted to go in and play.  Only 4 kids could play at a time.

 After many rounds....they WON!!!  Woo Hoo!!!  Evan was disappointed because Mr. Clow forgot to sub him in during the last round.  He didn't think he deserved to be a part of the "winning" since he didn't play the last round.  I explained to him that he contributed during other rounds and if they hadn't won those rounds, they wouldn't have gotten to play in the finals.  Evan is his worst critic. 

I was SO very proud of these kids!!  They played hard and won in a crazy overtime!  Good job guys!!

Baseball, Razorbacks, and Misc...

Evan had a baseball tournament in Farmington, so we decided to head up Friday night and make a weekend out of it.  Saturday was also Razor Fest at the U of A.  We all loaded up and headed to the university.  

These 3 have a blast together!!

 All the kiddos in front of an awesome Razorback truck!!

 We headed to Farmington later for some bsaeball.  Evan pitched his first official inning and totally rocked it!!!

 We got up early Sunday morning and went to church with the Scogins before our first game.  It was fun to get to go to their church!

 LOVE these friends!!

 Evan had quite a cheering section at the game!!  So thankful for our supportive family!!

He was WORN OUT on the way home!!

 On a random note....Evan mowed Granny's yard all by himself so she made the check out to him. He was super pumped!!

Evan's room makes me CRAZY!!!  He is SO stinkin' messy!!  He drops his clothes right where he is standing and would never touch them again if I didn't make him!

 This is GREAT!!  Travis has a friend getting married, and this is how the inside envelope was addressed.  Our sweet little "Bow". 

Hahahaha!!!

Around here....

 I have "spruced" things up a little bit around here.  The hearth room has been a thorn in my side for a really.long.time.  So, I finally decided it was time for a change.  I got rid of the red.  Woo Hoo!  Added a few pops of color and it is SO much better.  I'm actually really loving that room now. 

 We grilled for the first time of the season last week.  Yay!  And it was SO good!!

 Grilled chicken, spinach mashed potatoes, 7-UP biscuits and veggies.  Perfect!

 We celebrated Evan's Student of the Month Award with breakfast at his school.  I was SO proud of him.  He had not had a good last 9 weeks and his citizenship grade had reflected it.  Well, after some serious conversations about attitude and respect, I am SO proud to say that according to both his teachers he has had a complete 180 degree change!!  They both raved about how respectful and helpful and thoughtful he has been this 9 weeks.  Music to this momma's ears!!

 SO happy to get to celebrate this award!

 Dad and Ev:)

 Evan and Mrs. Fox

Good, good times!!

Georgia:)

 Amy and Georgia came to visit!!  Yay!!  We were all so excited to see them.  Beau LOVED having Georgia here to play with.  It is bittersweet, because they play SO good together now and it makes me SO sad they aren't here all the time.  But, they did have a great visit!

Beau gave Georgia a ride in the laundry basket.

 After a little LaFee-lest-a.  Love these kiddos.

 Georgia had never jumped on a trampoline before and she loved it!!  Nonnie came over to play, too.  They needed a little juice break after a hard jumping session.

Seriously, could they be any cuter??

 Beau took Georgia on the ride of her life!

 Sweet:)

 Cooling off watching a little Umizoomi.

 We went out to dinner together the night before they left.  Georgia was all smiles!

 And, a little potty lesson for Georgia before she left.  She was pretty interested.  I'll bet she is trying to use the potty herself before too long!

Come back to visit soon!!