To St. Louis & Back

This past week, we made a quick trip to St. Louis and back, and had a wonderful time visiting with friends and family. This is the last scheduled trip in a string of trips we have been on since Memorial Day. Britton has now been to 8 states in his first 6 months! He's a little travel trooper for sure. The travel fun must end, though, as Emily is heading back to work for a few hours each week beginning tomorrow.

Our time in St. Louis was wonderful, albeit brief. We were able to visit with many of Danny's old friends from when he lived in St. Louis and we got to go to our nephew Will's first birthday party. Here is a photo recap of our fun times:

Will's 1st Birthday:
On Thursday, we headed over to Greenville, IL, to celebrate nephew Will's big day.

Will wasted no time digging into his birthday cupcake.


Britton & Will share a toy!


How sweet!


Britton was really taken with PawPaw's shirt. We love that we have had so many photo ops of Britton with his great-grandparents over the last several months.


With his party face on. Only 6 more months 'til his big day!

A slice of Americana:
Our July 4th celebration started off with a fabulous parade in our friends, the Middendorf's neighborhood! We got out there thinking we would be on the sidelines watching the parade, but, nope, we were in it ... along with hundreds of parents and kids on bicycles, tricycles, scooters, in wagons and even Barbie cars. It was great! The parade ended in a neigborhood park where Britton discovered the fine art of swinging.


Hope everyone had a Happy 4th!


The parade starting line. Love how patriotic everyone was.


Britton had on his blue & red, too! (More than Mommy & Daddy can say.)


A decked-out house along the parade route.


Britton was pretty much oblivious to everything going on around him! He was so into his toy.


Britton & daddy's fun trick that causes mom a heart attack!


Britton's first time swinging. Two words ... in love.


Brian & Britton

Here a video of the swinging action:



Sarah & Britton. Baby Middendorf is due in just a few short weeks! Britton may have given them false expectations of what having a baby is like because he was so well-behaved during our time at their house. He just went with the flow despite the fact that he didn't get into bed before 10 p.m. any of the nights we were there.

Fourth of July Cookout:
We also went to a cookout in the Gruneisen's backyard on the evening of the 4th. It was so much fun. The weather was about 70 degrees (in July!), the food was incredible, and so many of Danny's friends from his St. Louis days were there. It was great to see everyone, to meet the newest babies and to catch up on each others' lives.

Britton meets the fabulous Gruneisen clan!




He doesn't go anywhere without the 'Roo these days.








Believe it or not, this is Britton with fellow 6-month-old, Jackson! It is always fun for us to get together with friends of ours who have little ones, and we really enjoyed our time with the Eubanks! Jackson is two weeks older than Britton, and the above picture shows the difference between being in the 25th percentile and the 95th!

Experiencing St. Louis:

We had incredible Italian food on The Hill. A first for Emily. Soooo good!



Britton's first trip to Ted Drewes for frozen custard. Maybe he can actually taste some of it the next time we're there.

We are already looking forward to our next trip to St. Louis! Thanks to all of you who made it such an enjoyable time.