At Lunch at the Boat House

 This beautiful entrance may make you think we are in some exotic location, but we are in Forest Park.

 The Boat House has a restaurant by a lake making anyone forget that we are in the middle of the city of St. Louis.

 Four of us who were former teachers at Barnwell get together every few months for lunch or dinner.

 In addition to lunch, individuals can't rent paddle/pedal boats.

 We just enjoyed the beautiful day, watching the ducks and having lunch with dear friends.

Visitors are gone, but. . .

 Even after the visitors are gone, there are little reminders of their visit like the boxes of cereal,

 Towels and sheets to wash,

 Notes, and art and coupons,

 Bandaid wrappers,
Toys in the bath tub,

Art in the driveway,
Art turned around because it frightened a little girl,
A "blankie" left behind in a corner.  All of that can be thrown out, cleaned up, put back in its place, but would someone please get "Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog" from Disney Playhouse out of my head!  Click here if you don't know what I mean.

Magic House

 We are always amazed at the activities at the Magic House, a wonderful children's museum in Kirkwood.  The special exhibit this time was the Magic Tree House with many wonderful scenes for the children to re-enact from the books.

 There is also a roof-top garden area where the cafeteria grows veggies which they serve.

 But, there are garden activities for the kids, also like making a pouch with a bean to sprout.

 Speaking of bean sprouts, there is a three story beanstalk the children can climb up or down.

 We discovered a mystery area which would certainly appeal to my older grandchildren.  They have to figure out who committed the crime based on the clues.

Here is a microscope to compare hair samples of the suspects with hair found on the scene.

 There are many areas to try out different careers like a construction worker,

 The President of the United States or a pediatrician.

 We had lunch outside on the front porch, but we still had some time for a little more fun.

It is easy to see why children have voted this their favorite place to go in several surveys!

Here and There

While Anna and Eli were here, we had several little local trips.

We walked and rode bikes to Henry School's playground one day.

 

Another day, we went to Faust Park for the carousel (the same one I rode when I was a child--new location) and Butterfly House.

 The kids loved the butterflies. . .

 Finding them in the brochure and. . .

 On Mommy's head!

Friends

 Once upon a time, there was a group of single friends who went to concerts, had float trips and ski trips together.  We were centered around an apartment complex.  After a few years, we started pairing up with many of us marrying within the group.  Fast forward 43 years.

 Although we live from one coast to another now.  Several of us got together for lunch (now that many of us are retired)

 We all still like to travel.  The Barkers showed us photos of their recent trip to the Galapagos Islands and Peru.  And, the rest of talked about our future trips to Panama Canal, St. Kits, Transatlantic, and Disney Cruises. 

Drew (son of Mary and Bill) joined us for lunch---hard to believe that we have children who are the same age as when we met.

Transportation Museum with Anna and Eli

 In March, the Transportation Museum opened a new Visitor's Center, but we headed for the train ride around the lower part of the property.

 Leah decided to take a nap as we made the circuit twice.

My favorite part was of course a MoPac caboose.

 Then we headed for a tram which took us up the hill to the indoor exhibit area where we saw some beautiful classic cars including. . . .

 The Bobby Darin car which Eli thought might have flames shoot out.

 I also learned about the beginning of Enterprise Rent-a-Car starting in Lindburg Cadillac in 1957.

And we saw a small part of the Coral Court Motel saved when it was torn down 10 years ago.

 After a train ride, tram ride, we also got a trolley ride---it sure took me back to my childhood.

 For some reason, the driver had disconnected the bell that sounded when the cord above Anna was pulled.

 The tunnel below was the first railroad tunnel west of the Mississippi, but was abandoned because it used a single rail.  It is, according to my father, the reason the museum was built in that location---the tunnel served (and serves) as a storage shed.

 Of course the kids were surprised at how large the trains were and

 posed for us on another MoPac Caboose.

Naptime?  Not exactly but Eli thought it would be fun to sleep on a train!  We had a great time and need to go more often.