Our First Family Trip to St. Louis

** We made it to Germany two days ago and are exhausted but so very happy to be here! I plan on doing a more in-depth post of our flight over and first few days just as soon as Ellie's body decides to make the adjustment to our new time zone and not be up for several hours in the middle of the night like she was last night. Until then (hopefully soon rather than later!), I'm still catching up on the rest of our travels in the States.**

When we began planning our road trip months and months ago, I knew at some point I wanted to make a stop in St. Louis to see my mom's side of the family. I ended up spending the entire time up through our stay in Iowa debating whether we would go right after our stay in Fort Dodge or later in August when Ellie and I would be in Ohio for several weeks. The indecision just kills my husband. I finally decided that since we were already so close, I wanted to drive down from Fort Dodge. That way we could enjoy St. Louis together (we haven't been in over four years) and it would give my family there a chance to see Brian before we leave the States. Even better, my sister Kate and her two boys drove in from Ohio so we could all spend the long weekend together!

We arrived on a Thursday evening (July 11th) and, continuing family tradition, had our first meal at Steak n' Shake which is where my family always ate when we would roll in to St. Louis. My Aunt June, Uncle Barry, cousin Maddie and Grandma Helen all came out to join us. Ellie loved watching her great-grandma Helen color.

Friday morning was spent at the St. Louis Magic House, aka the best.children's.museum.EVER.

Seeing Ellie with her cousins just melts my heart. They are so good with her.

Especially my older nephew Nic.

When I say the Magic House is the best children's museum ever, I'm not kidding. There is so much to do and I can say from experience that the adults will be just as entertained as the kids.

Ellie exploring with her Aunt Kate. My sister and I haven't been to St. Louis together in years -- this was a long overdue visit!

Aunt June and Maddie even joined us for the fun.

That day (July 12 to be exact) also happened to be Brian and my 5-year anniversary! So lucky to have this man in my life.

More Magic House fun.

Leave it to Ellie to find the ducks.

Also notable -- Ellie's shopping basket in the kid's village. Yes, that is all bread. What can I say, she knows what she likes. :)

The true highlight of any visit to the Magic House is their huge, electrically charged ball that makes your hair stand on end. It's been around a loooong time.

That's my mom and I having some hair-raising fun (get it? ha!) back in the early 80s. With this in mind, I couldn't wait to see what it did to Ellie's pig tails. We were not disappointed.

"Now shake it Ellie!" That really gets the hair to stand up.

There it is!

Later that evening we enjoyed a yummy dinner at the Pasta House with Aunt June, Uncle Barry, Maddie and Grandma Helen (and of course Kate, Nic and SAM). Also joining us was my cousin Leigha, her husband Rich and her three adorable boys!

After dinner we had to make a stop at another iconic St. Louis location -- Ted Drewes! Ellie had her first taste of their famous frozen custard. She was hooked.

Fascinated with her great-uncle Barry's beard.

Family pic in front of Drewes!

Kate and her boys.

We spent Saturday evening at my Uncle Chuck and Aunt Vicky's house. They hosted us for a nice family dinner. Leigha and Rich were there with their three boys so Ellie had lots of second cousins to run around with in their huge backyard.

My grandfather lives with my aunt and uncle so it was a nice opportunity to sit and chat with him.

On the ride back to the hotel, we left the windows down as we flew down the highway and Ellie thought it was "crazy!!"

Our last morning in town we went over to my grandma's house to visit with her. Even though we've had a lot of fun visiting family and friends this summer, this trip has also been quite the emotional roller coaster. My grandmother has been having a lot of memory issues lately and as those continue to grow so do the concerns about her well being day-to-day. As a result she is moving out of her home of 35+ years into a new house that is closer in town and closer to family who can better keep tabs on her. While this arrangement will certainly be more conducive to checking on her frequently, knowing that this visit would be the last in the home where I spent a couple of weeks out of ever summer growing up was particularly difficult. I walked around the house, soaking in each minute and savoring the wonderful family memories that were made in her house over the years.

We somehow convinced all the great-grandkids to (sort of) sit still long enough to take a picture with Great-grandma Helen.

What can I say about a child's gentleness towards her great-grandmother? It might look like she's trying to take a swipe, but Ellie really was ever-so-softly touching my grandmother's cheek.

And, just like that, Ellie was done and off...

...which provided an excellent opportunity for my sister and I to get a picture with our grandmother.

Making faces after Brian came in for an extreme close-up of my face (which will not make it onto the blog).

It really was a lovely visit but one that was quite difficult to end. Needing some levity after a somewhat emotionally-charged morning (for both me and my sister), and having exhausted all of our "need-to-visit" restaurants, we decided to make a new family memory by having lunch at Fitz's near Washington University. Fitz's is famous for their home-brewed root beer which I must say is so delicious, and they even have a small bottling facility in the building where you can watch all the action from from behind a wall of glass.

T-ravs (toasted raviolis) -- a St. Louis must-have.

We rounded out lunch with root beer floats and milkshakes all around then spent the afternoon in my Aunt June's front yard, sipping lemonade and talking while the kids played inside (Brian generously took Ellie back to the hotel for a nap so I could go to my aunt's). Later we all met up at my cousin Melissa's house to have dinner and spend the evening with her husband, kids, my cousin Greg, Aunt Terry and Uncle Tim. With five kids in the house, things were bound to get rowdy. Ellie and Melissa's younger son Brady ran around the house trading off yelling with each other (I stole this picture from my cousin's facebook page).

Never a dull moment in this family.

My sister opted to stay in St. Louis the following day while spent the day driving east, making it to Ohio just in time for dinner. For being in St. Louis just a few days we really made the most of our trip and, in hindsight, I'm so glad we went when we did -- it was wonderful making those memories as a family and enjoying the time with my sister and her boys.