Reunion weekend

This weekend we traveled to St. Louis for my 20th high school reunion. As usual, our trip was dominated by stops to eat at all my favorite places-- Lion's Choice, Imo's, Ted Drewes, and Fitz's. We were even able to buy a case of ginger ale at Fitz's with no hassle this time. I added a new twist to the food theme this trip, and purchased a gooey butter cake at the Dierberg's bakery. It didn't quite taste the same as the ones I make at home, and I think it may be because the ingredients listed margarine instead of butter. That just doesn't seem right! But it was nice to find one at a bakery, instead of having to bake it myself.

Charlie apparently decided that our food fest trip was time to turn over a new leaf as well-- he ate meat three times on Sunday. He had almost an entire sausage link at breakfast, ate some roast beef from my sandwich at lunch, and eagerly nibbled on some cheeseburger at McDonald's Playland when we stopped on the way home.

Charlie also has a new wave going on-- instead of just opening and closing his fingers, he actually bends his arm at the wrist and gets the whole hand waving. He's also getting used to swimming pools. Beth, who went along with us on this trip so that she could watch Charlie while we were at my reunion, took him to the hotel pool while we were out on Saturday night. He likes to splash with his hands, just like in the bath, but does not like to get his face wet (same as with the bath). One of his favorite activities during the trip was to play around in the closets at our hotel. They had mirrored doors, so when he wasn't running inside the closet, he was banging on the outside.

We visited the City Museum on Saturday, which was new to me. It was hot, so we didn't explore much of the outside, but it definitely looked like a fun place to take Charlie back to when he's a little older and can enjoy it more. We also took Charlie to his first major art museum on Sunday. There was a Gordon Parks photography exhibit going on that we enjoyed before heading out of town.

The Reunion itself was fun, although I missed seeing some of my closer friends. I was glad to see at least one or two folks that I had lost touch with, though, and hope to stay in touch with them more in the future.