Memorial Day Weekend!

Way back when, some of you may have heard me or Greg talking about going up to visit Rustin and Sharon over Memorial Day weekend. Well, Brett and Laura bought a house, so they decided not to go, and it ended up just not working out for us. Sometime last week, Greg mentioned that John and Heather were taking the Tremont rotation to St. Louis...maybe we could tag along? I called Heather and learned their plans for the weekend and asked if we could come! Greg, Max, and I left Saturday morning around 9:00 to meet John, Heather, and crew at the St. Louis Zoo. Greg had gotten up pretty early to do some hardcore exercising with his dad, so I drove after the first half hour or so. Unfortunately, this meant that I was driving once we reached St. Louis, too. I don't do city driving. Not well, anyway. Everything was fine until we were a block or so away from the zoo...they have roundabouts you have to turn off of, and on the first roundabout, I took the wrong road. One too soon. So, instead of being on the same street as our parking lot, we had to go around the whole zoo, around the block, along with everyone else who missed the road! Let me tell you, it was enough people that it took us 45 min. to just get to the parking lot. :P Not one of my proudest moments ever. Thankfully Greg had brought lunch with us, so he was able to feed Max while we inched our way around the zoo. It ended up being fine, though, because we got a great parking spot and when we got into the zoo, John and Heather's were just finishing lunch. So, off we went!

At the River's Edge exhibit, the hippos were really showing off. Here's Max, watching the hippos and fish.

Elisabeth thought the hippos were pretty cool, too.

At one point, the hippo in front turned and attacked the one behind it! Maybe it just wanted some personal space?

These animals were just amazing to watch in the water...I can't remember how much they weigh, but they move so effortlessly. I would have loved to see one get up on the dry land, but it was pretty hot that day. I didn't blame them for staying underwater!

Silas, Grace, Elisabeth, and Jacob making friends with a cobra (statue). We had to tell them, "Don't cover up his head! We want to see it in the picture!"

While John and Heather's family rode the train, Greg, Max, and I sat and watched the grizzly bears for a while.

I thought the video was kind of fun because it looks like the bear is closer than he really was.

Okay, this picture is obviously not from the zoo, but it ties in...note his sleeping position...

...and now note the bear's! It just made me laugh when I saw this bear with his foot hooked up on the rock because I knew I had the picture of Max on my camera...sleeping with his hand hooked on his crib. :) Neither one looks real comfy, in my opinion.

Here come the train riders!

After the train, the next stop was the carousel. Greg doesn't like rides that go in circles (and yet he can ride roller coasters...I am the complete opposite!), so he opted to stay off and be the cameraman. (It works out, though...if we ever take our kids to an amusement park, he'll ride the roller coasters with the big kids, and I'll ride the merry-go-rounds with the little kids.) ;)

Several attempts were made at a good picture, but of course it was hard to capture since we were moving.

Max could never quite get the hang of looking forward at Greg to smile for a picture, but he did look back pretty often once he spotted him.

Max really liked it...a couple times he leaned off like he wanted me to hold him, but he usually grabbed right back on to the pole. By the end, I think it was making him sleepy! I think he would definitely do it again, though.

After walking around and looking at some more animals, we were all getting hot and the youngest ones were getting a bit tired and cranky. We decided to wait in line to go through the penguins, since it was sure to be cool in their exhibit!

Max checking out a penguin

Well, we certainly weren't disappointed in the temperature! Almost as soon as we walked in the exhibit, Max started coughing. :S I decided to hold him instead of keeping him in the stroller so that we could share body heat. :) Anyway, we all loved watching the penguins, as usual. They were so cute, swimming around and splashing. Supposedly there was a baby chick in there somewhere, but I could never find it.

A penguin checking out Greg!

There were some puffins in there, too...not as active as the penguins, I don't think.

After the penguins, we started to look at the orangutans and other monkeys, but some of the little ones (namely Hannah and Max) were sorely in need of naps. After watching a Malayan sun bear for a bit, we decided just to head back to the hotel.

I should have gotten a video...this guy was being pretty cute.

That evening, we ate at Chevy's...we had an early supper to avoid a big rush, and it worked out great. The service was pretty quick, too! And the food...marvelous. I know I was pretty hungry, but I thought it was very, very good. After supper we went back to the hotel and played Dutch Blitz and Uno with John and Jacob while the girls watched the younger ones. Around 7:30 we headed down to the pool so that Max would have a chance to swim. Of course, Jacob, Grace, Elisabeth, and Silas were all overjoyed at another chance to be in the pool! When we got there, I think there were close to 20 people in the pool...which was why we hadn't come down earlier. After we got in, though, some people cleared out and it ended up being fine. No pictures of Max swimming this time! The water was a bit chilly, and he was a little intimidated by all the other kids and splashing, etc. We had fun, though.

We left after church and headed home Sunday afternoon. We got back just in time to change and head up to Eureka with Dad and Mom Beutel for Craig Blunier's graduation party. After that, we just hung out at Dad and Mom B's house for a while.

Then, Monday morning...Rassi Memorial Day breakfast! We got there around 8:15 so Greg could help fry bacon and eggs. I didn't have my camera out very much, I'm afraid, but I did get two pictures. I just thought it was cute seeing Jason and Mike holding their little boys while they were frying eggs. :)

Jason and Jack

Mike and Lincoln

Max had a great time being pushed on the swings, going down the slide with Grace, and just toddling around to his heart's content. By the time we left, though, (around 11:00) he was, once again, more than ready for a nap. Greg, Caleb, Max, and I headed to Peoria since we were already in East Peoria. Greg wanted to go to Dick's Sporting Goods since they were having some kind of sale that day. He was looking in particular for a backpack to carry Max in (like the one we borrowed from Nate and Steph while in Germany). Max fell asleep in his carseat before we even got out of East Peoria, so I stayed in the car with him while the boys shopped. Not surprisingly, I fell asleep, too. Next thing I know, Greg's calling me and asking if I want to go to Border's with them and wondering if Max was still asleep. Since he had woken me up and I just wanted to sleep some more, I said, go ahead and go to Border's! After he and Caleb browsed for a while, we headed back to Tremont...Max was still sleeping. He slept all the way until we got to our house...a total of about a 2.5 hour nap! It was good he got it, though, since we still had plans for the evening. We had supper at Dad and Mom Rassi's to celebrate Nic's birthday (Happy birthday, Nic!) and then eventually went to U. Roger and A. Sally Koch's to play volleyball with some Beutel cousins. It was a great Memorial Day weekend, all in all, but it feels good to be home again with my little Maxbug! :D