Ok, so let's see if I can get my *bleep* together...First Trip to the Arch!

So...I know I have said this before and I'm sure I will say this again.  I'm starting over.  This web log, or as you tech savvy kids call it, "blog", will have to be revisited.  I've missed quite a number of things over the past couple of years, but with my avid Facebooking I've let our beloved Little Brass Tacks go by the wayside.  Josh constantly goes to look at and says, "Why haven't you updated the blog?", "Where are your new blog posts?".  I know, I really am a slacker.

On to fresh starts!  We have a big summer planned ahead of us and this is just the start. Above picture is the girls' first visit to the Gateway Arch! I really can't believe we haven't been there before this, but quite honestly  now is the time when they will enjoy it.  We went down on a Tues afternoon at 3pm and it was perfect. No lines, no crowds, etc. The girls and I decided to do this for a friend of ours who needed some Flat Stanley pictures taken and sent back to California, so I think I got those two birds with one stone.

The girls loved every minute of it! Granted, we were there for a total of 45 minutes. We went up to the very top and got to look down on beautiful downtown St. Louis and also see the Mighty Mississippi!  I think they got a kick out of the river, "Mom, its so dirty! We won't ever swim there, will we?". Um, no thank you.  Piper was a little leery of the "pod" ride up, but she worked it out and thoroughly enjoyed the ride down.  They were dancing and singing at 630 ft up in the air! We proceeded to get our fun pictures of Flat Stanley and head down to the Jefferson Memorial Expansion Museum where they saw everything from a Bison to a wheel from a steamboat. It was so great seeing them learn all about this area that we live in and how different things are today and I'm sure will be very different in the years to come for them.  Can't wait to go back and take Daddy with us.  There are quite a few pictures we took of the museum and you can see them by clicking here.

Here's to future entries!!

Emaline's First Day of School 2011!

Stingrays @ Caribbean Cove

Since we'd never been and had a zoo membership this year, we decided to finally check out the Stingrays at Caribbean Cove! It was so fun and the girls LOVED touching the soft and slimy skin of the stingrays. There were even sharks there! Piper was in awe of them. :-) So glad we are patrons of the STL Zoo, it really is one of the best zoos in the country! We are super lucky.

I love this picture of Piper trying to kiss the seal at the fountain!

U2!

Happy Fourth!

Westward Ho!

We left the safe bubble of West County and headed westward to California for my niece, Natalie's high school graduation. I can't believe she is that old now. Unbelievable. We took full advantage of this momentous occasion and journeyed with my parents, my next youngest sister and her family and my youngest sister over 1800 miles (two plane rides) to LAX. We decided to stay a week to take advantage of seeing some family and enjoying some fun time with them. We stayed in Anaheim for a good deal (thanks Steph!) and each family got a suite to themselves. The kids had an indoor pool to get thrown into each night as well, which helped to tire them out.

Our old culinary delights pretty much determined our whereabouts. Here is the play-by-play of our happenings: We arrived on Tues night and crashed immediately. Wed night was Natalie's graduation and we followed up with a wonderful family dinner at Buca di Beppo. Thurs we went and had lunch with my Aunt and cousins at El Pollo Loco and then dinner with other Aunt and Uncle at Bob's Big Boy. Friday was an all day excursion to Disneyland! After realizing I couldn't move Sat morning...we finally made it to my Uncle's house for Natalie's Graduation Party. Sunday we celebrated Memere's birthday at Lucille's Smokehouse and Monday we treated the kids to a day at the beach, complete with meeting up with cousins and one of Mom's childhood friends and her family. Tues we got up super early and left for the airport to head back home to the midwest. Whew! (There was so much, I had to cut it down)

Here are some of the great photos from our family trip. It was absolutely wonderful to see all my family and even a couple friends and for my girls to meet them all. Our first family vacation was a success! Can't wait to visit again!

Our Travels:

kids waiting to board our plane

Our eats:

Natalie tearing into a cannoli

The crew at the table

Stephani holding her conquest of Tiramisu

Daddy taunting the children with Big Boy Enjoying some leisure time on the patio at Lucille's BBQ

Our Fun:
Disney:

To see all the photos from our travels, click here.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Piper's First Haircut

I finally bit the bullet and had to take Piper to get her first haircut. She was simply getting too shaggy in the front and couldn't see, plus she hasn't been letting me put anything pretty in her hair to keep it out of her eyes. So, we loaded up our snack bag and headed to Ammie's Hair Design to get her a trim. I thought I would have my hands full with her because she hates to sit still, but she did exceptionally well! I was very proud of her and glad to be able to see her beautiful hazel green eyes again! Thanks to Ammie for always making my girls look so great. :-)

Happy Birthday Kaya & Nana!

Since there was so much going on with Jennifer's wedding this weekend, Stephani decided to have Kaya's birthday on Sunday afternoon and then Nana celebrated her birthday on Monday night with dinner and cake. So, needless to say, it was a very busy weekend for us! We headed out to Steph and Adham's place in Wentzville for Kaya's 3rd Dinosaur Train birthday! Stephani again did a great job with decorations, desserts, food and fun for the kiddos. I cannot believe how much that kid (Kaya) LOVES dinosaurs. This year, I decided to break away from the theme and got her a Cars Scooter with Lightning McQueen on it. I think she couldn't wait to ride it! Yeah! Thanks for such a great party Weeze!After all the fun at the Ahmad house, Monday night we celebrated with dinner with Nana, Pepere & Aunt Kayleigh. Then back to the house to eat cake and ice cream. The kids are so entranced with cake and ice cream, I don't think they will ever get enough to satisfy them. :-)

Happy Wedding Day to Russ & Jennifer!

Congratulations to my sister-in-law and her new husband, Russ! We were so excited to be a part of such a wonderful family occasion! The ceremony and reception were held at the Royale Orleans in South County and it was done wonderfully. We had such a great time and loved the photo booth to get our pics taken during the reception! I was really happy that my parents got to come to because my Dad just got a hip replacement on March 1st and was ready for dancing! We wish them all the best as a married couple and can't wait to see more of them together! Love to you both!