Take me out to the ballgame!

Paul surprised the boys and took them to the St. Louis Cardinals game tonight. Paul and the boys love baseball and this was a rare treat. He has been trying to take them to an Atlanta Braves game for five years and hasn't made it yet! Since we are right here in St. Louis we figured this was his chance to take them to see a major league game. They really had a great time and the boys will remember this forever!

2nd Casting Day

Today was the day that Claire's first casts came off and the second ones went on. She was less than crazy about the saw they used to remove the fiberglass top of the casts! Once the casts were removed she was ready to go home! "Ready go", she kept saying! We could see some change, but mostly in the left foot, which seemed to face forward more. Once the casts were off, they put us in a room and let us wash her legs and feet in the sink. She really needed a full fledged bath, but at least her feet got a good scrubbing, because those toes were smelling rank! Then I lotioned them up, which she loved helping with. After that, Dr. Dobbs put the second casts on. He is pretty positive that she only needs three more casts. However, he is going to China to train doctors next week so we will not be back for our next appointment until July 14th. She will also have an appointment on the 21st because Dr. Dobbs is not casting on the 28th and they don't want her to go three weeks between castings! So, it looks like her surgery and last casting will be on August 4th. The cast on her right foot will have to be removed three weeks later and the cast on her left, about 4 weeks after that.

I don't like this at all!

Not finished yet, but on the way!


Playing with Parker!


Oh no, not again!

Now I'm ready to go!

Science in St. Louis

Good Morning! I'm feeling better today!

The Gulkes and the Gours

Isabel, Becca, Josh, Brett, Noah and Parker

Today, we started off with the free breakfast bar at the hotel with the Gulkes and then headed over to the St. Louis Science Center. This humongous museum is free! Yes, FREE! Have you noticed the theme here. WE LIKE FREE STUFF!

We started at one end and went through it to the other end. It was completely hands-on, which is good because when we are in places like that our kids can't keep their hands to themselves! We spent hours there and still didn't see all the exhibits but we had a great day! Karla's sister met us at the Science Center and helped us find a good restaurant. Thank you Maria! At the end of the day, we had to say good-bye to our friends. It was such a great visit!

Isabel, Becca and Noah built a space shuttle


Are those hamsters in that wheel? Oh, it's Becca and Isabel!

Sharing a little rock candy, thanks to Mrs. Karla!

Having a few Mia moments!
Who can resist those cheeks! How big is Mia...sooooo Big!

Getting my Good-bye kisses from Brett!

And that's all I got to say about that!

Friends!

Going to lunch

Last night I opened my email to find something exciting! Our dear friends, the Gulkes, live in Illinois and wanted to know if they could come see us in St. Louis for the weekend! Scott and Karla were in our travel group when we went to China. We met our first day in Beijing and it was like being with friends we'd known forever! I was so happy that we would get to see them again! They drove in today and we all went to lunch and hung out by the pool. It was so much fun to see Scott, Karla and Mia again and meet their other children, Brett, Josh and Becca. Later, we ordered in pizza and played one of our favorite games, Apples to Apples. It was so nice to have some friends to hang out with! Thank you, Gulkes! You made our weekend!

Hanging out at the pool-Becca, Isabel, Josh, Noah, Brett, and Parker


Brett with his arms full!

Parker being tossed by Brett and Paul

Isabel with Mia

Hair bows, courtesy of the Gulkes- styling by Parker!

Feeling better at the zoo!

Prairie Dogs,

Anteaters,

and Monkeys, oh my!

....And Claire preparing to hide from the animals!

We were able to get Claire into an urgent care facility first thing this morning and get her on stronger antibiotics. She is feeling much better this evening!

Since the weather was nice again and we knew that the zoo was free, we decided to stroll around it with the kids this afternoon. Claire still wasn't quite herself but she loves to stroll. She does not love animals though, so she would get very upset if I took her out of the stroller for a better look and cover her face with her blanket when she saw any animals from the stroller! This girl has real issues with animals! However, we found that she did like to look at the penguins and puffins! The exhibit was indoors and freezing cold but she let Paul get her out of the stroller to look at them!

The penguins that Claire loves...okay, tolerates!

By-the-way, the St. Louis zoo is very nice...lots of beautiful plants and flowers, nice exhibits and a variety of animals! The kids have never seen kangaroos, wallabies, takins, sun bears, or prairie dogs! They really enjoyed the new animals.

This is the Giant Sugar Daddy that the kids found at Cracker Barrel. We do not usually buy the kids candy or junk food, but when we are on vacation we will occasionally and I could not resist this treat! I just think it is hilarious!