Blog 13: St. Louis, Star Wars, and Siblings

Our second stop was in St. Louis.  We debated a bit where to stay (Mom’s or Ericka’s), but landed on Mom’s for convenience.  We arrived pretty late on Tuesday night and Mom/Frank met us at the airport.  They were super helpful throughout the entire trip when taking us back and forth to the airport and setting up their house for us. 

This stop was a little different because the first 2 days we didn’t have much of an agenda.  This was good as we had several last minute Christmas things to finish and it was nice just to hang out a bit.  We did a bit of shopping, eating, and movie watching.  Kids seemed to enjoy it… and so did Amanda and I.  I am sure we will go through different phases in our life and “long” for the busy days, but right now every minute of our life is scheduled and accounted for… so for now, a couple of “no-schedule” days is cherished.

St. Louis was bracketed by three main family events; the Old St. Charles Christmas event, the new Star Wars Movie, and Christmas at Mom’s house.

The Old St. Charles event is a treasure… I love this thing.  About 45 theater junkies dress up in character like regional santas, elfs, Scrooge, Carolers, etc.  and perform throughout the town.  Kids run around trying to catch them and listen to their stories… because when they do, they get a “baseball-card-like” souvenir from the character.  It is just great.  It is a relaxing evening, they sell good street food, and the kids run around having a blast… I have been all around the world and this is one of my favorite Christmas things to do anywhere. 

Star Wars:  This has become a bit of a tradition for us…  Whenever we can, this side of the family tries to get together to watch the new movie.  It started about 20yrs ago when I took Jarrod to the opening night rereleases for episodes 4, 5, and 6.  It has become a “thing” over the years.   We don’t get to many opening nights anymore, but this was a good night for the star Wars Fans; Big Dan, Erik, Jarrod, Gunther, Aunt Sherry, Jacob, and me. 

Christmas at Mom’s House… As every family expands in size and geographically, it gets harder and harder to spend quality time together…  so, several years ago Mom started hosting a Christmas night at her house the Saturday before Christmas.  We can’t attend every year, but we try and this year we made it work out.  Everyone came… 

Which leads to the best part of this trip… it was drama-free.  No one cried, got angry, broke eggshells… it was just easy and casual good times… If only we knew how to bottle that up and bring it out every year.

St. Louis started slow and ended quickly.  Frank kept saying over and over “I can’t believe you guys are leaving already”… That made us feel pretty good.  Time really does fly… you have to work hard to make the most out of every moment. 

The Christmas party ended around 10pm and we woke up at 3am on Christmas Eve to get to the airport for a 6am departure.  Again, Mom and Frank helped a bunch by taking us to the airport. 


Picture 1 - Small presents and goofy time:  Mom always gives the kids small gifts.. and the love it.  We end up with a pile of useless stuff, but it is a great diversion (and now expectation) for them.  


Picture 2 - St. Louis and grandparents house:  Grandma and Grandpa have a really nice backyard with lots of trees... This leads to a great memories.


Picture 3 - Big Dan and Christmas Carols:  That guy with Caroline is like the uncle on my side that she never had... except for Erik, Scott, and Jarrod.  :)  He is an extension of our family and a pretty good dude.


Picture 4 - Star Wars Tradition continues:  We didn't get a picture of Erik and Jarrod, but they were there too.  Star Wars has been a thing for Jarrod and I, Jacob and I, and I remember Aunt Sherry taking me to the Empire Strikes Back.  A life full of great movies.


Picture 5 - Snowfall:  We missed snow in Houston and Shanghai, but did get to see snow in StL.


Picture 6 - Christmas at Mom's House:  Mom started hosting Christmas at her house on the Saturday before Christmas.  It is a nice tradition and everyone has a lot of fun.


Picture 7 - Great moments:  The line of the night came from Zach when he opened his truck... He said "Now I like this!!!"  It as cute.  But, Emily and Grandma stole the show with the fart blaster... This is right up Emily's alley; yes, she's five and she loves potty humor.  Imagine a 5yr old sneaking up behind you and dropping a big fart bomb.


Picture 8 - Smiles:  Well almost.  We almost got Frank to smile.


Picture 9:  How many more?  Toward the end of the night, we snapped about a thousand pictures...  Every combination possible.


Picture 10 - And more.  And more.  And more.


 Picture 11 - The stuff that you will remember:  This montage highlights Zach's unwillingness to be photo'd.  Top right and bottom middle are my favorites. 

Picture 12 - Random fun:  Just a few cool selfies.  

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