That little annoying box....

Does anyone know how to get that little box, that scrolls down the page with you, off of my screen? I have no idea where it came from. I've tried to right click on it and it does nothing. Any ideas would be great!

St. Louis Arch....

Evan and Aleah peering out of the little windows at the top of the Arch.

Views from the top.

Underground, in between the two ends of the arch, are the tram entry sites, a museum, a gift shop and a 1800's general store....and air conditioning!!

Vacation continues

**For some reason, I am unable to load pictures, so hopefully I will be able to do that later!

Day 2 -

This morning we awoke to very warm, humid weather. Ugh. The plan for the day was to see the St. Louis Arch and then head to Bowling Green, KY. Originally, we had planned for a day full of activities.....the zoo, arch, river boat cruise, etc...., but the kids all decided that they would rather get to the next hotel early enough to play in the pool. So we nixed everything but the arch. If you've never been the the St. Louis Arch, it is a must see. I knew it was large, but the word "large" does not even start to explain the size of it! I have to admit, I was a little uneasy during the ride to the top and the little tram car would jerk to help straighten us out. But once we got to the top, it was amazing.

After spending a few hours at the Arch and the surrounding area, we were back on the road headed towards Bowling Green. About 45 minutes outside of BG, we came upon stopped traffic on the interstate. This actually happened just outside of St. Louis, the previous evening as well! We sat for about a half hour, not moving an inch and watching other cars go down into the median to turn around. I ended up calling my mom, who was able to find the KY DOT website, which said there was a car fire and the road would be closed for 2 hours! So our big plan to get to the hotel early, was quickly going down the toilet!! After another 20 minutes or so, we joined the other cars and turned around to find a different route. Unfortunately, the alternate route was a little two lane road....speed limit 55, with small towns every 10 miles or so. We ended up getting to BG around 8pm. Sigh. But the hotel room made up for it. I was able to get the room for free using my Goldpoints that I had saved. The kids were very excited. The warm, homemade chocolate chip cookies in the lobby were a big hit also! We ended up cooking a pizza (yep, the room had a full kitchen), swimming and watching some TV that evening. Bedtime was a little late. What are vacations for?? :)

Summer Vacation - Day 1

We had originally planned to leave on Sunday, July 25th, head to Chicago and stay with the friends. But since they were under the weather a bit, our plans changed! We let Carter play the rest of his weekend baseball tournament - which they ended up winning - and decided to leave Monday morning. Getting up really early has never been so easy! We left on our journey at 6:45 am on Monday!

The goal.....get to St. Louis, with a stop in Springfield to see some of the Abraham Lincoln history. I started to keep a journal of our trip so here is an excerpt from it.

Our plan for Springfield was to see Lincoln's home and to head to the cemetery to see his burial site. The cemetery was amazing. Lincoln, his wife and 3 of their sons are buried there. I had never realized how young his sons were when they died. It saddens me to think of how many kids died of diseases back in the 1800's, that now days are curable. After the cemetery we headed back to Lincolns home. After his death, his oldest son Robert owned the house and rented it out. But when he found out that the renters were charging a fee and allowing people to walk through the house, he sold it to the state of IL with 2 conditions....1. it would be kept in good shape and 2. they would never charge people to go in it. In the 1970's the national park service took over ownership of it and tore down everything that was not original to the neighborhood. Today the only buildings standing are the ones that made up the neighborhood Abe Lincoln lived in for 17 years. The house was fascinating - to hold the stair rail that Lincoln would have held, to see the desk he wrote on , the stove Martha cooked with, the (horrendous) wallpaper / carpet combos - all of it was very memorable. We finished up the day by heading to St. Louis, eating supper at Denny's (the boys new favorite restaurant), swimming at the hotel and look

ing forward to Tuesday and our visit to the St. Louis Arch!

Summer fun

Pathetic, I know. Nothing since May?? I think this will become part of my weekly "things to do" list! Now that school has officially started, let's recap the summer. We started with a trip to Valley Fair and quickly decided that it needs to be a yearly tradition. It was such a great way to kick off the summer! Once again the boys rode almost every roller coaster....still can't get them to go on Steel Venom, though (if you haven't been to Valley Fair in awhile, you should look up the ride). I've become much more daring on rides that 20 years ago, I would have NEVER stepped foot on! We went with our neighbors this year and the moms...yes, only the moms were brave enough to go on the Power Tower. (the ride that lifts you way up into the air and then drops you!) AHHHHHHHHHH! Need I say more?? :)

The rest of the summer was consumed with baseball, softball and me working! We ended the summer with a 17 day vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC! After vacation, it was time to start preparing for going back to school. Does it ever seem that summer gets shorter and shorter every year??