Another Quick St. Louis "Drive By"

As I prepared for our trip to St. Louis to see Nana and, of course Dr. Dobbs, it rarely seemed like it was actually going to happen. Our last few trips have been plagued by snow - faaaar toooo much snow as a matter of fact - so perhaps I felt that another storm would hit us without warning. Or perhaps I felt like we'd reached the end of the line and I really didn't see what other options we had besides bone surgery or continued casting, and I wasn't sure I wanted to hear that final answer. But the need to know combined with the desire to see my Nana took precedence and I prepared for what would turn out to be a record 19 replays of "Are we there yet?" and 26 "How much longer" repeats. I'd keep score by kid but that would have required far too much thought. So I stuck with the basics.

We left at the beginning of what would become a wonderfully sunny, warm day. As we drove through Indiana and Illinois I was struck by how green everything was. Not only was the sun shining for us, but the spring green grass was everywhere and buds were on the trees. Daffodil, crocus and tulips were blooming, and bugs actually splattered the windshield, (if I weren't in such a hurry I'm sure we could have gotten a science lesson out of that somehow) and we felt like we were on a bit of a vacation instead of a medical trip. And that's not all bad no matter how you look at it!

When we arrived in St. Louis, my precious Nana had dinner almost made. But after spending 9 hours in the car a walk seemed in order. We started out together but soon, keeping us that way took effort. Here we are, minus Jonathan, about to head down the little development she lives in:


As we'd walk along, I'd keep turning back (or looking ahead) to see where everyone else was. Sometimes I'd find just Mom, Nana and Laura in a group and other times they'd all be together having discovered something interesting. Here, Jonathan and Matthew are figuring out that a new stump once held a tree lived 36 years before someone took it down:




When we finally got back to Nana's house, the boys decided a little tree climbing was in order so up Matthew went. Jonathan, on the other hand, wasn't exactly tall enough to get a good leg up...






Finally, Matthew went as high as I'd let him go given his propensity for falling out of them at the most inopportune moments and all I could see were all of those beautiful buds on the tree. OH for spring to arrive here, too!!!


After our walk we had a wonderful visit with Nana before we headed to bed. Our time at the Red Ruby Inn is always too short but I'm so thankful the Proprietress always fits us in. Thanks, Nana! We love you!!!