Visitors!

Post by: Beth


Hi again everyone.. Sorry we've been so behind, but we've been super busy and just haven't had a whole lot of time to update. I hope we still have some loyal readers out there despite our absence.. ;)


A few weekends ago, we were lucky enough to have LOTS of visitors here in St. Louis! My mom, cousin Casey, and little cousin Alex got to come from Thursday - Sunday. Raja's brother, Rishi got to come from Friday - Tuesday that same weekend. It was the perfect time to get out and do some of the fun things we'd been wanting to do, so we took full advantage of the weekend and company.


Casey and Alex did make a trip to the zoo Friday, so visit her blog for zoo pictures. Mom & I were running around doing passport errands and shopping on Washington Ave while they were at the zoo, so we didn't get to go on that journey. We did all meet up that night for dinner after Raja got off from work -- We ate at one of my fav restaurants here in St. Louis, Stir Crazy. Back at the apartment after dinner, Alex requested a pool lesson from Raja, which of course resulted in a slight injury for Raja.





Saturday, we cooked out in the early afternoon, then headed off to City Museum, which is "an eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel made out of unique, found objects. The artist and his longtime crew of 20 artisans have constructed the museum from the very stuff of the city; and, as a result, it has urban roots deeper than any other institutions'. Reaching no farther than municipal borders for its reclaimed building materials, CITY MUSEUM boasts features such as old chimneys, salvaged bridges, construction cranes, miles of tile, and even two abandoned planes!" That's what the website says about the place, but for a 5 year old and me, it just meant lots of fun. It's basically an enormous jungle gym that runs inside and out of a huge building that used to be a shoe warehouse. There's more to see and do than you can possibly get to in a day, and you can climb up on top of the building, into an abandoned airplane, slide down huge pieces of metal that have been fashioned into slides, swing from ropes that sit over skateboard ramps, and do just about anything. It has caves made out of materials from the city, classes that teach pottery and painting, tunnels that you get lost in, and circus productions. Here are some pictures of us during the morning and then playing in the museum.















The City Museum had an area where visitors can make all different types of arts and crafts. Alex took this opportunity to make a sign. To all of you who didn't take the time to come visit us in St. Louis, you really must have missed out. Apparently, Raja and I are some of the best hosts in the world. After only being in St. Louis and visiting with us for 2 days, Alex took her one arts-and-craft opportunity and made a sign that proudly declared "I LOVE ST LOUIS!!!!"

The night ended with fireworks in the park near our apartment, and that was cool.. Each weekend of the summer season, St. Louis hosts a free concert and fireworks show, and the fireworks shows are actually REALLY good. They last a long time, are timed to music, and are quite impressive. We forgot to take the camera out to the concert and fireworks, but Alex was in awe of all the lights in the sky. After that, it was Mexican food at Beso -- a restaurant on Washington Ave right behind our home. Alex of course fell asleep 15 minutes into the meal, bless her heart -- it was about 10pm and she'd had a VERY full day. We were all exhausted when we got home, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one that woke up sporting bruises and sore muscles from our City Museum trip the day before. ;)

We'd planned to go to the Arch the next day, so we took everyone to brunch at Urban Eats -- a new cafe in the city that serves paninis, flatbread pizzas, and wraps with pesto and basil and red pepper and spinach and herb chicken .. all kinds of yummy things. It's fairly new in St. Louis and Raja and I visited them the 2nd weekend they were open. We've been back about 4 times already -- The employees are super nice, the food is inexpensive and really fresh, and the atmosphere is laid-back and casual. Great brunch place, so we took our visitors there so they could see where we like to go on lazy Saturday or Sunday mornings. After that, it was off to Ted Drewe's for ice cream, then the Arch! Here of some of our photos around the Riverfront and Arch area. It was a great ending to a fun weekend. :)