Last Day in Illinois

Today is our last day here. I spent the morning doing laundry and chatting with my sister, niece, and nephew. We spent the afternoon driving around and looking at all the changes that have occurred here in the past 10 years. It's really amazing and sometimes hard for me to find my way around.

We went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. Yum! Now I'm spending the evening catching up on my blog and getting everything together to pack in the morning. It's a little more complicated since some of us are staying at Grandma and Grandpa's and some are staying in a hotel. Hopefully, we'll make it home with everything we brought with us!

St. Louis Science Center

On Thursday, we headed back to St. Louis to the Science Center. Entrance to the Science Center is free, like the zoo. However, also like the zoo, it costs a lot to do anything special, including $6 to park. We have a Family Pass to a museum in Florida called the Charlotte County Historical Society. It is a pass that has a reciprocal agreement with over 300 museums around the country. The perks of this pass included free parking and free admission into the Lego Mindstorm exhibit, the Discovery Room, and the Ends of the Earth exhibit.

The Ends of the Earth exhibit was about the North Pole and South Pole. It had this scale for weighing polar bears, then you could compare your weight to a polar bear's weight. Landon weighed about the same as a female cub.



Penguins were a popular topic in this exhibit, and the girls enjoyed the Penguin Slide.


We didn't find the penguin costumes until they'd been down the slide a few times already.


Landon, Gerren, and Greg went to the Lego Mindstorm exhibit while Chase, Carys, Grandma, and I went to the Discovery Room. The boys divided into teams and competed against one another to build robots. They said it was fabulous and came out wanting to buy some Lego Mindstorms. I looked at them on Amazon.com. Whew! They are expensive!

I was SO impressed with the Discovery Room. I have been to many science centers all over the country, and this particular exhibit/room was the best I've ever seen. Part of the success is due to the fact that it's a controlled environment. You have to have tickets, and they only sell so many for each session. You have 45 minutes in the room for your session. They had centers for everything science I can imagine, and they were perfectly suited to preschoolers and young children.

This book display was provided outside the room while you waited to go in, and there were book displays all over the room to go with each center.


Grandma and Carys play with Melissa and Doug magnetic wooden dolls (like paper dolls that you dress up).


Chase, Carys, and a new friend raced cars down this hill.


This dollhouse, and a Thomas train table, were Carys' favorite things in the room.


Chase played with tangrams and wedgits at this table.


This water table was a pretty big hit, too. Chase used it the way you're supposed to--to build rivers through the table.


Carys mainly played with the fish and boats in a little corral she made.


They had a great time!

St. Louis Zoo

We went to the zoo today. I LOVE the St. Louis Zoo because it is free! It used to be very inexpensive to do everything there, including park, because you could park on the streets. However, that's no longer possible, and they charge you $11 to park in the lot! I have connections, though, and we were able to park and ride the train for free. Thanks to the donor who shall remain anonymous. :)

Gerren took most of the pictures today, although Greg took some as well. Gerren shot this group photo when we first got there.


The boys look at the seals and sea lions.


Greg took these great head shots:
Chase


Landon


Carys was not impressed with the smell. LOL!


We rode the train.


Greg and the girls rode the carousel.


Chase poses with her flamingo pose in front of the flamingos! :)


Some goofy children tried on these hats in the gift shop!
Goofy child #1:


Goofy child #2:


Gerren took a lot of animal pictures, too, but those just weren't as interesting! We had a good time despite the heat, but I think Carys enjoyed it most of all.

80th Birthday Party

Both of my parents turn 80 this year within three months of each other. Dad was 80 on June 16, and Mom will be 80 on September 13. There was no way for us to make the almost 1,000 mile one-way trip twice, so we planned a joint celebration. Mom knew about it as I needed an insider to help plan. We tried to keep it a surprise from Dad, though, and we succeeded. We thought we were going to have to tell him that day, though, as he fell and really skinned himself up. We were sure he would not want to go out to dinner, and so we'd have to tell him to get him to go. That didn't happen, though and he was really surprised.


My dad was an only child, however my mom has a huge family. She was the second of eight children. Six of them are still living. Most of her generation had 4 or more children. Many of my generation are already grandparents themselves. Of course, we have spread out all over the US now, but there was a great turn out for the party. It was so great to see everyone!

We packed out the back room at the Hometown Buffet in Fairview Heights, IL.


I took this picture of Gerren, but he took most of the rest of the pictures. I'm so thankful as it freed me up to socialize! :)


The buffet had tons of wonderful desserts, but we had to have a cake for the birthdays!


There were actually a couple tables of friends rather than relatives. This table is filled with people who've been friends of Mom and Dad's for a very long time: Adele Walker, Alene (Libera) Mergelkamp and her husband Ralph, Ruthie Williamson, and Kathy Grimm.


This is my Aunt Eve Gershwender (she was married to my mom's brother, Uncle Jim, and is always included in family functions), her children (my cousins) Jane Crum and Jerry Munro and Jerry's grandson, Jonathan.


Two of my mom's siblings, Earl Munro and Dee Hermanson.


Pat Fisher (my cousin Betty's husband) and my cousin Terri O'Saben.


The table in the foreground of this picture is another table of non-relatives, sort of. The Mamino family grew up with the Munro family (my mom's family). They are always included in each other's family events.


My cousin Adrian married a woman named Adrienne. :) She's on the left in this picture.


My sister Cindy and her husband Tom enjoy the party.


Cindy's kids, my niece and nephew, Tina and Tim, Tina's friend Stephanie, and Carys eat lollipops.


I finally sat and ate after making the rounds of the room. Landon ate with Greg and ate again with me. I think he had about 8 plates!


These boys are sons of my cousins Betty and Barb. Betty and Barb are twins. I cannot remember is these two guys are Brock, Mason, or Max. Yikes!


Mom talks to my cousins Jane Crum and Susie Molitor.


It was a lot of fun.

A Fun, Full Day

After a good night's sleep, we were ready for another day. We went to church with Grandma and Grandpa, the church that I joined in high school. It's a very traditional church and like going to a foreign country for my kids, but I really loved seeing some old friends there that I haven't seen in a while.

Here's my mom, Grandma Epie, in the kitchen. She was given the name Epie by her nieces and nephews when one of them couldn't pronounce Aunt Ethel. She became Aunt Epie then, and it seemed like an easy way to distinguish between grandmas for us.


This is my dad, Papa JoJo. He's lost a lot of weight since the last time we saw him. He looks really good considering his medical challenges this past year. He gets around pretty well for an 80 year old!



Unbeknownst to them, we were expecting a surprise visitor, my BFF since the 5th grade, Kathy. She considers my mom and dad as her mom and dad as well. Her dad had already passed away before I met her, and her mom has been gone for 16 years now. We spent a lot of time at one another's houses over the years. She'd been wanting to get back to Belleville and the 80th birthdays spurred her to actually come.

While she was here, Chase and Carys got Grandma Epie into the hair salon.


Fabulous, huh? This is what inspired us to get the camera out.


Carys had been begging to "slide" since we stopped at a McDonald's yesterday but didn't have time. So, we headed to the nearby park. The weather was surprisingly nice.




Gerren decided to climb on TOP of the jungle gym.



Boys!


Greg and Grandma had a little chat.


Landon had his books along, of course, and enjoyed talking to Kathy who lives in the midst of Civil War history - Richmond, VA.


Greg took this montage of pictures of Kathy and me. They were so fun and expressed such a range of facial expressions that I just had to post them all!











We headed home for ice cream and some more chatting!


Gerren was going crazy with my camera!


Carys had not had a nap and was getting heavy eyed. She tried coloring to keep herself awake.


She kept spilling drinks, too. I think she was delirious.


Greg spent most of the day trying to get Grandma's computer working correctly. It's a long story. It's working fine for her now, but the wireless router doesn't work, so I can't get on the internet on my computer at her house.


Carys finally gave up the ghost and fell asleep. Mom looks rather tired, too!


Chase was exhausted herself.


It was a great day, and I enjoyed my time with Kathy SO much. It's been way too long since we had time to really talk. So, in honor of long-lasting friendships, I'm listing three things I love and admire about my childhood BFF:
1) She has an incredibly positive attitude and faces everything in life with that attitude.
2) She is, and always has been, a hard worker.
3) She loves her friends and family and her patients. She is the kind of healthcare worker anyone would be blessed to have.

I love you, girl! Thanks for making the trip to Belleville.