Royals Game

The Kansas City Royals was the second baseball team we went to see play while we were on our vacation. I must admit that the Royals game was my favorite game of all as far as baseball goes. (That's because the Rockies game was my favorite as far as visiting goes! But that's another blog entry.) At the Royals game we actually had seats (unlike the bleacher seats we had at the Cardinals game), and we were very close to the field. The entire row in front of us was empty, so we weren't packed in like sardines like at the Cardinals game. Annalisa (who obviously had spent too much time at Six Flags) spent the entire game going up and down the row in front of us putting the seats down and telling the (imaginary) people in them to put on their seatbelts and hold their arms up or she would kick them off the ride. She was, of course, a Six Flags roller coaster operator. By the end of the game, she had worn herself out and had fallen asleep on my lap.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Stormy Weather

After we left Six Flags and the waterpark we decided we wanted to eat at Uno's. It is a restaurant that sells Chicago style Pizza's. We really love to eat there, but the closest one we have found to us (before finding the one in St. Louis) was in New Mexico. The first one we ever ate at was in Dallas, but the next time we went there it was closed down. If you know of one closer than St. Louis, please let us know! Cole and I love to share the Potato Skin Pizza. It is mashed potatoes and cheese with Bacon bits on top served with sour cream. Sounds gross, I know but it is DELICIOUS. I was very much in the mood for my potato pizza when we left the waterpark. Remember, it was sunny and hot when we pulled out of the parking lot of Six Flags. We weren't on the road 5 min. when the sky turned completely black and we knew it was going to storm. The photo you see is of the sign showing the exit we needed to take with the black sky in the background. By the time we got to Uno's the wind was blowing extremely hard. When I opened my car door the wind pulled it from my hand slamming it into the car next to us. Also, pieces of gravel flew into my face and eyes. I must admit I was a bit nervous about the whole situation. When we got inside, though, the hostess assured me that the weather in St. Louis is "like this everyday". I thought, "Well, then I sure don't want to live here." Within 5 min the electricity was out in the restaurant (and every other one within a 15 mile radius). Of course, the hostess then comes to tell us that they won't be seating us while the electricity of off (duh) but that we can wait there if we would like (double duh). What else were we going to do? We couldn't go outside in the stormy weather, so we waited. After about 30 min. Jacob had to go to the bathroom. It was pitch black in the bathroom because there were no windows in there, so the manager let Ben borrow his flashlight to take Jacob in there. Jacob had to go #2 so he was in there a really long time, thus using ALL the battery on the manager's flashlight! I am thinking, why do these things happen to me? All the while the storm raged, Jacob stood by the front door watching and crying that he wanted to go home. When the storm let up, the manager told us of another Uno's about 15 miles away that had electricity and told us how to get there. It was 9:00 now and we were very hungry! We went and saw a tree that had been split and was laying in the parking lot! We had good food and then went back to our hotel. The next morning we saw the debris from the storm all over the street outside our hotel. Trees and limbs littered the streets. I am so thankful that we were safe inside Uno's during the storm even if they couldn't seat us!

Six Flags St. Louis--Waterpark!

On Wednesday July 19 we went to Six Flags in St. Louis to brave Hurricane Harbor! The kids were very excited about this because the Six Flags in Arlington does not have a waterpark in it. Ben does not enjoy swimming or the water, so when he put on his swimming suit Annalisa practically went insane, "Daddy has a swimming suit! Boys! Boys! Daddy has a swimming suit!" She didn't even think he knew HOW to swim! We had a lot of fun! Jacob was brave and went down the big tube slides first, then Cole decided he wanted to do it too. We got all the way to the top and the guy decides he wants to measure Cole and before Cole even had a chance to stand up straight he deemed him too short. Jacob was already going down his slide and I had to walk Cole back down to the bottom. He was NOT happy, and for the rest of the day all I heard was, "I am 48" tall, Mom. He didn't even give me a chance to stand up straight. Jacob is NOT taller than me!" Jacob is taller than Cole though, but not by much. I wish the guy would have just let him slide. We then found "The Family Ride" as the kids called it. We all got in a big tube and slid down the big red slide at a tremendous rate of speed while being slung up and down the sides with water pouring on our heads! Nothing could have been more fun! I just wish the lines hadn't been so long, so we could have ridden it again. Overall the kids voted the wave pool their most favorite place to be! The waves were not too big or forceful and Annalisa loved to jump when the waves came and she would float with them back to shore. Overall it was a great day!
Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Cardinal's Baseball

On Tuesday July 18 we went to the Cardinal's Baseball game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Because we had been traveling all night and then taken a riverboat ride followed by a trip to the top of the Arch, by the time we got to the game we were all beat! Our seats at the Cardinal's game were in the bleacher seats because they were sold out, and Ben had to order the tickets from someone who already had tickets. It was very hot weather for St. Louis, but not something I couldn't deal with---96 degrees. I, however, was so very tired I fell asleep on Ben's shoulder and one of the attendants at the park came to check on me to make sure I wasn't passed out from heat stroke! I was barely even sweating, I was just exhausted! We got lanyard's with a plastic thingy to hold our tickets in, and the kids were very excited about getting a "gift". They shared a sno-cone before the game, and we ate pretzels with freak show cheese for supper---really healthy! We left at the 7th inning stretch because everyone was so tired, and the Cardinal's were losing. We also got to see the Cardinal's play again in Colorado, and they lost there too.