Look Who Got to See the Coo Coo Trains (Finally)

Over the past year Sweet Baby Caleb has really grown to love coo-coo trains.  A while back there was a Groupon for the 

Museum of Transportation so I jumped on it.  Our plan was to take him to the museum closer to his birthday but it has been so hot here in St. Louis that we held off.  Finally, we had a mild day and decided to take advantage of it.

Since the Groupon was for 4 people we did have to buy an extra ticket.  Overall, though, I think we only spent about $25.  It was money well spent.

I think this smile says it all.  The very first thing we did was ride the red coo coo train.  

After riding around the property, we then went up to see the big trains.  Caleb was in Heaven!  He kept running from train to train and car to car.

There are so many old steam engines, tanker cars, snowplows, etc.  It really is neat to see.

We had a great day.  The kids had fun walking on the tracks.  I told them how when I was a kid there were train tracks in my town and I used to walk them all of the time.  In true form, Gracie asked me why in the world I would want to walk on tracks.

We all thought this snowplough engine was really cool and really big!

All of the kids had fun sitting in the engineer and conductor seats.  

We had a great day together and Caleb threw a fit when we left.  

He really loved seeing the coo coo trains!

Dave Matthews, July 11, 2012

After taking a year off from touring, the Dave Matthews Band came back to St. Louis last Wed night. It has been since December 2010 (read HERE) since Scott and I have seen DMB so we were beyond excited.

I know this is going to sound "spoiled" but I was pretty disappointed in our seats.  This year Dave incorporated a "pit area" into his show which means that the first 10 or 15 rows were gone and it was a standing room area.  Usually our seats are anywhere from the 12th-15th row but with the open seating, we were pushed back.  We only bought 2 seats this year, too, so instead of being closer to center stage, I think they used us as "fill-ins" and we were way over on the right hand side of the stage.  Once Dave came out and started playing it definitely didn't matter but they just weren't the seats that we are used to having.

(This pic was taken with my phone.  We really didn't look this horrible-ha!)

Here's the Setlist.  You can listen to the show HERE.

1. Don't Drink the Water

2. Proudest Monkey

3.Satellite

4. Eh Hee

5. Shake Me Like a Monkey

6. Lying in the Hands of God

7. Spaceman

8.The Song That Jane Likes

9. Crush

10. Mercy

11. So Damn Lucky

12.Digging a Ditch

13. You & Me

14. Jimi Thing

15. The Space Between

(Dave solo)

16. Typical Situation

17. Ants Marching

Encore:

18. Stefan Solo

19. Louisiana Bayou

20. All Along the Watchtower

Favorite song of the night:  Crush

Here is a video of All Along the Watchtower that I took:

http://youtu.be/RGGeRw2oh-w

Here is a video of Dave beatboxing that I took:

http://youtu.be/Brh42wEsu38

Caleb and Gracie's Birthday Party

This past Sunday we had Caleb and Gracie's birthday party.  Since their birthdays are only 2 days apart, it is much easier for us just to have a combined party.  I know that eventually we will probably have to end up having two separate parties because they will want their friends to come but for now, this works.

I had a huge debacle trying to get their birthday shirts but FINALLY they were finished and I was able to get them before the party.

Gracie really wanted Barbies for her birthday and Caleb didn't care as long as it was "boy stuff".  It looked like Christmas morning by the time they were finished opening up all of the presents.  Thanks to all of our family and friends for the awesome gifts!

Once again, Gaga made the birthday cakes and he did a fantastic job!

After cake and ice cream then the kids went outside and played on the water slide, sprinkler, and pool.  Gracie said it was the "best birthday ever!"

The Boo Boo is 3!

Today is my precious baby Boo Boo's 3rd birthday.  Can you believe it?  It seems like just yesterday I was laying in that hospital bed for 19+ hours and now here he is.

We had a rough start to Caleb's birthday as he woke up with a fever.  GracieAnn came down with a fever the night of her birthday (2 days ago--see that HERE) and, of course, Caleb had to follow suit and start a fever, too.  Luckily, his only lasted for a couple of hours so I was able to take him out and grab some pics of him.

I love this little red head so much!!

Somebody Turned 5 Today

My sweet Gracie SassyPants turned 5 today.  I can't believe how fast the time has gone by.  She woke up so excited today and was just sure that she had actually grown over night and that she looked different.

For the past several weeks Gracie has gone crazy over this huge sunflower balloon at our grocery store.  Scott went up this morning to buy her breakfast donuts and bought that balloon, too.  She was in love!  She kept talking to it all day long and pretended like it was her best friend.

It is our family tradition that you get to choose where we eat dinner.  Grace picked Chuck E Cheese.  While it wouldn't have been my choice (ha!), that's what she picked and that's where we went.  Before we went to dinner, though, I took her outside to get some pics.

Grace was excited to get her picture with Chuck E Cheese.

This big rocking horse was cool.  Mama rode with Gracie and I rode it, too.  

It was a great birthday for Grace.  

Now . . . 2 days until Caleb's birthday.

Race for the Cure 2012

Last weekend we participated in the St. Louis Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.  This is the second year that we have walked in honor of my sister-in-law, Debbie.  You can read her story, HERE.

The day started early on Saturday when we all met up to load the bus to get downtown. 

Since we had some extra time, of course, I had to take some pics:

All of the babies:  Ben (4), Gracie (4), Kenzie (3), Caleb (2), Ian (2), Kanin (8) 

Here is Scott with his siblings (minus his brother, Rick).  Jeff, Debbie, Scott, Sherri

We all loved this big head of Debbie.  We had a great time with it.

If you have never been a part of a large march, I urge you to find something you are passionate about and go to a march or a rally.  It is absolutely amazing.  See that blur . . .those are all people marching for a cure for breast cancer. Incredible.

This group of survivors always serenades the walkers right by the finish line.  I love them and it is very emotional to walk by them singing, "I Will Survive".

Here is Debbie crossing the survivors finish line.

The St. Louis Rams players and cheerleaders passed out roses to the survivors.

Here is our entire group after the walk.  It was such an inspiring day and we are so blessed that Debbie cancer-free!