The Long Version Part IV: My siblings came to visit and we had a marvelous time

They were supposed to arrive Tuesday night around midnight. I had the house all ready. The carpet was freshly vacuumed, the kitchen and bathroom were sparkling; now all I had to do was head to Wal-Mart to pick up some things and make some "Welcome to St. Louis" bags for my guests. Yep, I had thought of it all. Can you tell I was a little excited to finally have someone come and visit us? But then. Then I got the call. "Sage, don't come and get us tonight. Our connecting flight was delayed. We can't leave tonight or we'll be stuck in Salt Lake. We won't be there until 2:30 pm tomorrow." Oh the crushing blow! The disappointment! I had to wait
another whole day until they got here. How was I going to keep the house clean? What would keep me occupied until then? Now how would we be able to fit in the bazillion things I had planned for us to do? Yes I was horribly disappointed. I had waited and pined for this day, but now their arrival was delayed and I had to wait even longer. I didn't want to cry (I had already cried a lot that day; I won't go into details) so what did I do? I bit my lip and watched Pollyanna to cheer me up.
Well, Wednesday afternoon finally came (I watched Pollyanna again that morning) and after waiting and waiting for them to get off the plane (there was a big thunderstorm and they weren't allowed to get off the plane until it was all cleared up) they finally arrived. The rest of the day we spent laughing and catching up and hugging and crying. Just kidding. You didn't think we were that cheesy did you (not with a thirteen year old boy around anyhow)? I do know that I brushed my brother's hair into a crazy Afro on fire. Observe-



Thursday we went to the Arch and the old Courthouse. I took them into my work and
David said- "Who would ever want to buy any of this crap?"
and I said, "David I pour my life into this place!"
and he said "What? You're JUST a cashier?"
and I said "thanks David. That makes me feel special."


Waiting for the tram up to the arch (notice the haircut)


Two redheads in the tram car the baseball stadium as seen from the top of the arch

the Mississippi river from the top of the arch



Judge David at the old courthouse


Old Courthouse ceiling


Friday we went to the Zoo even though it was a cruddy day (oh yeah did I mention we had the worst weather ever while they were here? It rained 90 percent of the time.) I don't have any pictures because zoo pictures are boring. Actually, I already have pictures of just about every animal at the zoo so I didn't need to take any.

Friday afternoon we drove to Normal, Illinois to see our aunt and uncle and cousins. We stayed the night there and headed back the next morning. I took them out to my old work to eat dinner (and got horrible service; that's what happens when I leave) and then to one of the weirdest and wackiest places in the world, City Museum. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures but you can check out the website here. We had a good time crawling around on our hands and knees.

Sunday we went to church and came home and watched the Goonies. Then we cried and cried because David had to leave. Brooke and I took him to the airport. Then we comforted ourselves by drinking hot cocoa and coffee and then watching Pollyanna (are you getting sick of me talking about that movie yet?)

Monday we went back to the zoo because we hadn't gotten all the way through it the first time. Plus it's free so we can do that. We saw the birds and the monkeys and the reptiles. Brooke wanted to see the hyenas again because they were asleep the first time. They were still asleep.

Then we ate some delicious Vietnamese food at Pho Grand and walked around South Grand a bit to some of the shops. Then we topped the night off with St. Louis' own Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. I could have some more of that right about now please.

Tuesday we went to the Contemporary Art Museum and looked at obnoxiously large and oddly shaped cardboard boxes that were supposedly art. Then we went to the REAL art museum and saw some Egyptian mummy cases and some paintings by some SUPER famous artists. Are you totally impressed yet? We topped the night off with some really nasty Ethiopian food down on South Grand again. (It was solely Brooke and Jonathan's idea- If you live here do not go there; it's not worth it. That is, unless you like Teff i.e. thin, sour, dirt-colored pancake sponges). To get the taste out of our mouths we went to Crown Candy Kitchen and had some delicious Cake Batter ice cream.

Wednesday we enjoyed the beauty of the botanical garden and had an overpriced lunch on the patio while basking in the joy of a rare sunny day. Brooke was leaving that afternoon so she was determined to get me a present to say thank you to me for being a good hostess (i.e. making her sleep on the couch hide-a-bed and dragging her out of bed every morning to go trekking all over the city). She got me some awesome presents for me from the gift shop there. Someday soon I'll have to take a picture of them to show you.
Here are some flowers at the garden-


After that the grand finale of Brooke's St. Louis tour- the Miniature Museum! Something right up her alley. Dollhouses all decorated up with every tiny accessory and minute detail you can imagine. It was quite cool really.
Then we finally had to say goodbye. What I had been waiting for all spring had finally come to an end. We had a lot of fun though and I was ready to say goodbye (Brooke chews crackers in her sleep and is much too cheerful in the morning.)

Sorry about the lack of decent pictures. I hate taking pictures and Jonathan wasn't able to take any either because he was busy grading final exams for most of the time they were here.