Meet Me in St. Louis

I have actually never seen that movie, but I hear it's good!

Saturday after Thanksgiving, we drove about 2 hours from Melissa and Andy's house to take in a couple of sights of St. Louis. Above anything else, I wanted to see the Gateway Arch, so that is where we headed first.



As you can see by the red noses, it was quite cold. We didn't spend a lot of time outside, we went underground the the museum that showcases the western movement. I could have spent hours in there reading every bit of information they had of the old days. Of course, the kiddos only lasted about 1 minute at each stopping point. (And when I say 1 minute, I mean 10 seconds!)



This collage is all thanks to my up and coming photographer Emily. We need to work on the important skill of not chopping off the head.



After the museum, we went back to the vehicles and had a delicious picnic of leftover-turkey sandwiches, chips, and apples. It had warmed up some and we had a good time just hanging out and feeling thrifty by not eating out.



As we drove away from the monument I snapped some photos from the passenger seat. This is the coolest area. I would love to go back when the temperatures warm up a bit and spend some more time there. It's really beautiful.



We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Galleria Mall. A real mall, people. I can't barely remember the last time I was at a real, 2-level, jam-packed mall. For being all thrifty at lunchtime, we made up for it by going to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Funny thing happened right before dinner though. Melissa and I left the kids with the husbands while she came with me for a make-up consultation. We had about 15 minutes to spare so we browsed around Anthropology. It's a good place to browse for me because I can sit, stare, and fantasize for hours, but not be tempted to buy because everything is so dang expensive. Anyway, as we were walking out the door to leave we spot Stephanie Nielson of the Nie Nie Dialogues. I told myself if I ever ran into her, I would most certainly introduce myself and tell her how much I admire her courage. It was a moment of truth for me, so that is what I did. Melissa and I walked on over to her and introduced ourselves. Her mother was standing right there as well and was was a delight to meet as well. We probably visited for 5 minutes with the two of them. As were about to say goodbye it occurred to me that I had my camera in my purse, so I got brave once again and asked if we could take a photo. Stephanie's mother offered to take the photo but we insisted she be in it. We ended up asking a stranger and I think that made her mom feel pretty happy!



NieNie was beautiful. Her eyes absolutely sparkled and was the first thing I noticed when I looked at her face. And then her jacket...*sigh* I want it. She was very gracious and kind and told us how happy she was that we stopped to speak with her.

It was one of the highlights of the day for sure....and then we topped it off with cheesecake!