4th of July: Veiled Prophet Parade

Saturday, after Andrew's swim class, we drove downtown, parked in a garage, and then settled in on the sidewalk by City Garden to watch the Veiled Prophet parade. I have no idea why it is called that, but it is the independence day parade in the city of St. Louis. It was great ... and LONG - almost 2 whole hours, I think! Andrew wanted to watch the whole thing, and finally the street cleaners had to ask him to move from the curb so they could clean the street. Seth was mesmerized by it, even though he was so tired, he didn't go to sleep (still can't figure out if wants to take 1 or 2 naps a day).







Andrew's favorite part was the little flags they gave out. He played with them all day Sunday and even wore them in his shirt and pants to church! Seth liked it too, but when they passed out flowers, he liked that even better and held that the whole time.

The street was pretty full. We weren't right on the curb, but this family was sitting in front of us and they made sure that Andrew got onto the street to get candy every time they were throwing or giving it out. And the mother would yell at everyone making sure that they didn't miss our part of the street! So funny.







There was big floats and balloons and tons of marching bands. The theme was a night at the movies and there were all kind of movie related floats. There was also characters, like Mickey Mouse and Goofy. Andrew could see the people's face under the costume and was like "There is a man in there!" and then he was very skeptical of the characters. They aren't really like the ones at Disney World!







Afterwards, we had the boys run through the water at City Garden. Andrew was hungry and tired and not really in the mood, but Seth didn't mind.




Then, we went to the Arch where they were having the big 4th of July party and watched some of the air show. We had fun.

Renting

As my high school 10 year reunion is this summer, this marks the time that I have been renting for 10 years. Dorms, apartments, whatever we were renting in Boston when we were first married (first floor of a brownstone, kitchen, no bathroom and we weren't paying rent because Katsu was a resident assistant .... what WOULD you call that), and now a condo.

There are some perks to renting, perhaps. Not having to sell a house. Not having to buy a house. Not having to maintain a house. Not losing money on a house. Getting to move all the time (I am not so sure about this being a perk). Having a good excuse for white walls. Not worrying too much when the kids spill something yet again on the carpet because "it's not my carpet" and you know they will just replace it when someone new moves in. Living in an area we could never afford a house, so you can lust after the quarter million dollar houses on your walks and go to all the story times with nannies.

But I admit, I get very jealous of all my friends from high school (and college) that have houses, which it seems like is most of the them. I get jealous when I see the money waiting for a down payment, but no reason to buy when we'll just be moving in a few years anyways. I get jealous when I am trying to park in the tiniest car port ever, requiring at least one backing up every time and always checking to make sure we are far over enough so our obnoxious neighbor won't come and complain about it again. I get jealous when I am hauling both children plus a diaper bag plus groceries and swim suits and art projects and strollers and library books up the stairs which are full of painting stuff as they pain for the whole last month (but, you should see my biceps, another perk, I suppose). I get jealous when I look at people's garages - wow, what a luxury. I get jealous when people talk about things like play rooms or offices or more than 1000 sq ft! I get jealous when I imagine being able to install hardware to really baby proof or having nice blinds or interior doors that shut and lock properly. Or walk-in closets. Or closets without stupid sliding doors that are always falling off. Or neighbors who don't come bug you before 9 am because apparently you accidentally put garbage in the wrong dumpster and they know it was you because they dug through the garbage and found a discarded envelope from your house (a little creepy if you ask me). Or hallway painters who require you to leave your front door open for 4 hours in 100 degree heat, so they can paint your door. And then ask to do the back door the next day.

But when I really get jealous is when I contemplate the laundry. We have never had laundry in our apartment, but always in the basement. Although, there was only one set of washers / dryers when we were first married, so I carried it down the street to the laundromat. I was always mortified when all the people in the subway car seemed to be staring at me as I struggled to carry the big bag of laundry plus detergent and quarters down the street.

(Now, yes, you could say, we could have rented an apartment with laundry inside. But they were always MUCH more expensive and MUCH less convenient. And here we could probably rent a house, and maybe will later. Although as a sidenote, there is the one car thing. Someone in the ward looked at me kind of askance when I mentioned that we want to only have one car here - I think they thought it was funny and I was hopelessly naive. Well, fella, why don't you figure out how to pay for two cars and expensive parking where Katsu works on what will be a measly 35k salary once I quit/finish grad school and don't bring in any income, especially when Katsu can take the metro for free. So, for now, we are confined to one car and places close to the metro.)

Quarters - I hate them. I hate having to go to the bank to buy them. I hate when the laundry machine eats them. We use SO many quarters.

Loads - seriously, I am amazed at how much laundry people do. People do laundry every day?!?! I wonder how much laundry these people would do if they had to pay for it. And had to haul it.

Which brings me to my next point. This has been the hardest place to do laundry yet. The laundry is in the basement. Which is reached by going through our back door, outside, down several flights of stairs, unlocking an exterior door, and walking all along to the other side of the basement. Which is nigh impossible to do with two little children. Because I can not for the life of me carry both Seth and the laundry. Impossible. And Seth does not nap enough for me to do the laundry completely when he is asleep. So, Katsu has mostly been doing the laundry, which I guess is a perk.

Anyways, there really is no point to this post. I guess all of you who have a house can not fill a little more grateful. And I got my regularly scheduled whining in. Thanks!

Week in Review

What did we do this week? This post is strictly for my memory and grandparents ... ha ha ha.

Monday - Play at park next to the library and then STORY TIME at the library. Andrew loves this one because he gets suckers! In the afternoon, we visited the "cookie store", i.e. Schnucks, the grocery store for groceries.

Tuesday - poor Seth got blood drawn (from his arm!) for a lead test. Afterwards, we hit the ZOO, which was a huge hit. Seth finally fell asleep as we walked to the car while Andrew played at TURTLE PARK. Then, we enjoyed samples and a hot dog at Sam's club while we picked up a few things.

Wednesday - we went visiting teaching, two visits. Then, we drove to go HIKING at Emmenegger Nature Park. We had a picnic lunch and then I strapped Seth in a carrier and we hiked 1.75 miles. Andrew wanted to quit about halfway through, but we made a quick call to Grandpa for some motivation. The views were nice and I was impressed Andrew made it all the way. I think that is about his limit - especially, if it's just me and I can't carry him. Then, we stopped by the Powder Valley NATURE CENTER, which we love!

Thursday - we planned on staying at home all day ... but we had to stop at Target to get chocolate chips to make ice cream (unfortunately, the ice cream never set up ... oh, well. Then, the kids both fell asleep in the car and took late naps. I woke them up just in time to go to a special library summer reading program with a JUGGLER/MAGICIAN. Andrew loved it and even Seth liked the juggling - they were pretty entertaining and taught the kids about the water cycle.

Friday - we stayed at home in the morning. In the afternoon, the kids were driving me bonkers and it was warm enough (i.e. > 90 degrees) to hit the local splash park - TILLES PARK. I love this park and it is SO close! They have a great playground, swings, sand box, music area, big pond, fishing, and water! The boys love and love to play together. And I took pictures! Seth fell asleep and took a very late nap, so we improvised and went to the CONCERT at the ZOO which was Katsu's very first trip to the zoo. Fun.

Pictures from Tilles Park this morning:

Last Weekend: City Garden & the Arch

We took pictures last weekend! We went to see City Garden (on the advice of the pediatrician) and then see the arch (the first time since moving here). We figured it was time.

We LOVED City Garden. It looked brand new and was beautifully maintained and there were even staff and guards there - how strange is that in the city parking. And downtown parking is free on the weekends. Seth fell asleep on the way over. He napped while we had a picnic lunch.



It was SO hot - most of last week, we had "excessive heat advisory" days with heat indexes of 105-110! So, we are loving splash parks like this. This one had over 100 jet sprays, plus a couple wading pools for the kiddos to play in. Andrew loved it, especially the little pools. Seth toddles right in, too. He go through huge jet sprays and get soaked and not mind. What a little walker!






Seth even found a little twin!




The pools - Seth likes to cling to my back.





St Louis has the coolest places.

Then we walked over to the arch. We had snacks above and then went down below the arch and walked through the museum there. We sat on the grass for a bit and then walked home. Andrew liked the arch, but Seth was FASCINATED by it and kept pointing at it. We should have guessed - he loves everything tall or in the sky.

Some pictures - Seth's birthday

So, I've decided our blog is really lame. I talk too much, give too many monthly details for the kids and our trips, and not much else. Too bad. That will continue, but hopefully I will take the camera and take more pictures (I hate taking the camera with me and taking pictures). So, we can all explore St Louis together. Since we have no other friends, why not bring our 5 blog readers with us.

So, pics from Seth's birthday.

Birthday celebration 1 with our neighbor Martha. She brought cake, cupcakes, and Ben & Jerry's mini-ice creams and presents. I think she is a goddess! We had no birthday candles, so we had to improvise, but no problem since Seth couldn't blow out candles anyways. Andrew didn't mind helping. Seth loved the cake (unlike Andrew, who still would prefer to eat the icing and then leave the cake).






Birthday Celebration 2 - Presents and cake just us on Seth's birthday. Andrew helped me make the cake (i.e. lick the spoons). Seth wasn't too interested, but he licked the frosting. Martha even brought over helium balloons that morning. Seth liked his Elmo doll and really loves the boats we got him for his bath. I think we filmed most of this, so not so many pictures.