4-25-17  on the road again----

Time for our 10+ hour trip back to Atlanta!  Managed to get loaded up and out of the house by about 9 am.  It was another nice day for a long ride.
First---a view of our house---minus the huge tree that use to be where the mulch is!  I didn't even notice the tree was gone until the 2nd or 3rd day we were there!    It was nice seeing my azalea and rhodie blooming.  Missed the lilacs this year. :(  There were even a few irises blooming by the time we left.

 Illinois farmlands

4-24-17  chilling out in St. Louis:

One more day in St. Louis.  Sara's flight wasn't leaving until the evening and then we had a 35th anniversary party for Bill and Lena to go to.  So we had the day free.  We started the day by meeting Becky at Old Town Doughnuts to return her table.  --- and eat doughnuts!  Had a nice visit, too.  Then we took the other table to their store---Fischer's of Florissant sporting goods store.  That proved to be profitable for them.  All 3 of us found things to buy.  Mine was a Blues t-shirt.  They've finally made it to the 2nd round of play offs.  Don't know when that last happened!
Yesterday Emily had said she and Brian could meet us for lunch, so we took them up on that.  They joined us at Mi Ranchito for a nice visit and tasty lunch.  They are great people!  So smart, but so down to earth.  They also adopted through the same company Angie and Josh are working with ---a christian organization named Bethany.  I'm sure they've been a wealth of information for Angie and Josh, as well as great friends.
As we were driving to the restaurant, we rode by the place Angie got the first of her tattoos.  To which Sara mentioned she was wanting to get a tattoo of a B.  So after lunch, we went to the tattoo parlor---a first for me!  Who knows, maybe someday I'll get a tattoo---a tropical flower of some sort?

 Her tattoo artist.  Angie goggled him after the fact and said he's a very good tattooist.

4-23-17  The big day!!!!

The day that we came back to St. Louis for was here.  The culmination of about 2 months of planning, exchanging ideas with Carol and Emily (my co-hosts in planning the shower), preparing, and doing stuff for the shower.  I've never been to a "couples" shower, let alone help organize one.  I was in charge of the invitations and cake.  Carol took care of the food and most of the worrying.  Emily took care of the rsvps and all the drinks (2 large coolers of wine, large cooler of beer, and large cooler of soda) and the favors (bags of candy).   Angie took the initiative to find the venue and lock down the reservation.  Originally she had booked a different pavilion at Tower Grove, but it only had about 7 picnic tables.   After making out 53 invitations, we realized we needed a larger place with more tables.  But it wasn't available on Sat. the 22nd, so we settled for Sun. the 23rd.  Glad it wasn't available on Sat.  It turned out to be rather cold and dreary---high of about 52.  Sunday was beautiful---sunny and about 68.  Only negative was the winds were a sustained 1000 m/h!  Anyway----

Angie and Sara brought the SUV over to me bright and early (about 9).  We loaded up the tables and some more supplies, then they headed back to Carol's house.  I loaded up the rest of the stuff and was on my way to the park by 9:45.  Pulled up at the park behind Carol and Darryl.  Spent the next 1 1/2 hours setting up---putting table cloths on all the tables and setting up a few decorations that wouldn't blow away!  Several of the decorations we had brought didn't go out---like balloons and table decorations.
Almost ready----

 The diaper cake I made---except this is the back of it.

4-22-17  baking and cake making!

The kids took off in the morning to pick up Sara from the airport and spent the rest of the day and night at Josh's folks place.  I spent the day baking cupcakes, making icing, decorating cupcakes, making a couple corsages for them to wear, and building a diaper "cake".  I've seen them at showers before, but had never made one.  We thought it would be a cute way to help decorate the pavilion by having it on the gift table.  Luckily, I had asked Becky if she had a table we could borrow.  When she called to drop it off, I mentioned the diaper cake I was making and she offered to help me.  That worked for me!  Especially since I had no car so she ran to get stuff like a base to put it on, foil to cover the base, hot glue, baby spoons to hold the layers together, wash cloths to make whales out of, and I'm sure there was more.  It was nice having the company and catching up with her again.  I even got the cupcakes iced between her trips here and there.
about 75 cupcakes--done

 diaper cake in the making.

4-21-17 settling in for the weekend.

Today was a day to start gathering stuff for the shower---cake mix, icing ingredients, all the stuff I had sent to Carol, and Josh.  So we met Carol and Darryl for breakfast, followed them to their house, got my stuff.  Then Angie and I killed time by getting manicures.  Then to the grocery store.   Eventually to the airport to pick up Josh.  Finally to meet Carol and Darryl for dinner at Stef's.

 St. Louis pizza is totally different from pizza elsewhere.  I guess it's the provel cheese used instead of mozzarella.  Love their italian salad, too! 

And thanks to Ken's brother, Bill, for getting us seated in a timely manor during such a busy dinner time!

4-20-17  back to St. Louis for another baby shower!

This time it's for Angie and Josh!  Now that they're approved to adopt, it was time to start thinking about what all they need.  Her friends in St. Louis, who have also adopted from Bethany, suggested we throw a baby shower for her.   Angie wanted it to be a "couples" shower, so we let her find the time and place.  She chose Tower Grove Park in downtown St. Louis at the Turkish Pavilion on April 23rd.  So Angie and I drove her SUV to St. Louis.  Josh followed on Friday night after work and flew home Sunday after the shower.  Ken stayed in Georgia and watched the dogs.

So----my frequent visits to St. Louis continues!  2 so far this year, with another one planned for June.  It's a long drive---10 hours, but not too bad when the weather cooperates.  Angie picked me up about 9 am and we were on our way.  Instead of going down I-85 to I-285 and sitting in the mess of traffic, we took SR 20 across to I-75---not really quicker, but a lot less stressful (usually) and more scenic.
I bet this house along the "hills" of SR 20 has quite a view!

 A few of the many horses in Georgia.