Visitors – Quiet Gardens & Raging Seas

Our best friends, Crystal and Travis, came to visit for a long weekend this past week! We had so much fun together. We shopped and went to fun restaurants, we explored grocery stores, watched quirky (and not so quirky) movies and we drove by the good ol’ Arch.

This trip was conceived one day last November after a string of text messages between me and Crystal. After my trip to Seattle last June, I had a voucher (because of an overbooked flight that I volunteered to be bumped from) with a lot of travel left on it. Crystal and I were texting back and forth. She said she missed me and I told her I felt the same. It had been a long time since we had seen each other. I told her she should come here and she said “stop teasing me!”. But I was completely serious! We booked the travel for her and her husband Travis for January less than one week later. What fun!

Here’s a run down of our visit:

They arrived Friday a little before noon. We picked them up at the airport and laughed as Jeremy got confused about how to get out of the airport. It’s been a while! Then, we immediately headed to Chick-fil-A. Poor Washingtonians, they are deprived of the peanut-oil and pickle juice goodness! We enjoyed our treat then headed back to our place to relax a bit. That night, we had burgers on the grill and they were oh so good! Afterwards, we were trying to find a good movie to watch. I suggested one of the Golden Globe nominees/winners. I had made a list earlier so I wouldn’t forget what they were. We ended up watching “Moonrise Kingdom”. Yeah. Um….it was not a movie. It was a “film”. Artsy, quirky but funny. When it was over we all looked at each other, laughed and said, “ok then!”. By this point, our friends who had been up since 3 am that day were quite tired. So, we called it a night.

This is me trying out a Chocolate Bock by Sam Adams. We have a little toast we do when we enjoy beverages. "To the King!" we say. Our pastor encouraged us in that endeavor...it's a long story. — This is me trying out a Chocolate Bock by Sam Adams. We have a little toast we do when we enjoy beverages. “To the King!” we say. Our pastor encouraged us in that endeavor…it’s a long story.

Saturday morning we made a big breakfast; pancakes, fresh fruit and bacon, mmmmmmm! We got cleaned up and then waited for my MIL to head over. She watched all the munchkins for us so that the grown ups could do something our offspring loathe; shop Main Street in Old St. Charles! WAHOO!

That day was the Fete de Glace downtown. Basically, there are artists who have giant blocks of ice that they carve with chainsaws and blow torches and the like. We didn’t get down there till almost noon (the competition started at 9), so a lot of it was winding down. But we saw some neat sculptures; the three little pigs, dragons, tigers and even a neat ice castle that looked like the Magic Kingdom! We got coffee at a local place called Picasso’s Coffee (which took what felt like an hour to get because of how busy they were, but it was really good!) and then walked the streets a bit. Jeremy and I took them to all our favorite stores; Provence Soap works, Di Olivas, a fudge shop (I can’t remember the name of it!), Moss and then we went to Hendricks for lunch. MMmmm….cheese grits. We had a wonderful meal there. Then we walked allllllll the way back to our car. That was probably good considering our lunch.

Best friend rings from Moss! How cute, right?

Crystal and I as we waited for lunch at Hendricks. Our faces were so red from the cold air!

We came home for a brief reprieve and to check on everyone. I needed to feed my little bambina (she is sooo cute!) and we needed to put our feet up for a bit. After a rest, we were back out again for date night! We went to old Webster Groves for dinner at another of our favorite little restaurants, The Block. It’s a butcher and bar/ restaurant that is farm-to-table. We stumbled across it last year and really enjoyed it. We had a long wait (they don’t do reservations) so we went and hung out at Straubs (a super fancy local grocery store chain). We found some HILARIOUS things there. Including a root beer called Rat Bastard and some dark chocolate with caramel, sea salt and coconut (for Crystal). We had a lot of fun exploring all the yummy and weird and expensive things Straub’s offered. By the time we headed back, we only had to wait 15 minutes for our table. WAHOO!

Pardon the bad language. It was REALLY good rootbeer though. I wish my love would have taken a picture of the ingredients. They were weird,...in a good way! — Pardon the bad language. It was REALLY good rootbeer though. I wish my love would have taken a picture of the ingredients. They were weird,…in a good way!

Crystal and Jeremy have a special love for popcorn. It’s kind of out of control. (But come to think of it, all the people I love most love popcorn….Amy, Crystal and Jeremy…hmmmmm) I noticed while we were waiting at the restaurant that there was popcorn at the bar and some people had it at their tables. We didn’t see it on the menu, so we asked our server for some. He said it was just for the bar (like peanuts/pretzels that are often out) but he could bring us some. He brought this tiny little bowl out. We tasted it and all almost fell over. IT WAS BACON FLAVORED! It was soooooooooooooooooooooo good. We gobbled it up. Then we joked about popcorn all weekend long…

Dinner was delightful even though I had lost my voice Friday night and was straining to be heard in the loud restaurant. It was pretty funny considering Crystal is 1/2 deaf! (No really, she is.) My love and our friends managed quite well without me 😉 . After coffee and some delightful desserts, we decided to drive the rest of the way downtown to look at the arch. An evening drive by was all Travis felt he needed. I think it’s prettier in the summer time anyway.

We headed home to relieve my dear MIL. What a trooper she was! All the kids had been fed, bathed and put to bed. We visited for a bit, saw Marsha off and then crashed ourselves. What a fun and full day!

Sunday morning we were up and off to church. We were anxious to show them our Acts 29 expression and chat about church plants. Crystal and Travis helped plant a church in WA that we were a part of. We were all part of the original group who planted it in fact! It’s so fun to see the differences in churches across the globe.

I still had no voice but oh well. I sounded worse than I felt. (And by the way, it’s amazing how children tax you when you can’t speak to them easily or clearly…) After church, we stopped off at our beloved Manino’s for a peach pie. Mmmm…..it is one of our favorite things. We stopped at a few other places and drove through one of our favorite neighborhoods. But the children were quite expired! We made it home and got lunch on. Then we relaxed and put people down for naps. Some of them slept…but not many. Jeremy and Travis went to see a movie while Crystal and I manned the front. I made chicken picatta that night for dinner. It was so yummy! Crystal got a glimpse into my crazy life with 3 children. (For all my friends with 4-6 children, hush up! I have no idea how you do it anyway.) The hours of 4:00-7:00 pm are rather intense around here. Circus like…. I laughed when she said she had a glimpse of her life in the not-so-distant future and how she wasn’t sure she liked it. HA!

Best of all, we enjoyed our new addiction once the kids were put to bed that night: Downton Abbey! EECCK! Well, maybe I should say I enjoyed it. We are still catching up to Season 3. We watched a few of the last episodes of Season 2. Once it hid midnight, I figured we’d better call it a night.

Monday morning we took our eldest to school, (he was quick to tell us that school makes him miss all the fun) then headed off to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Travis had never been to one and it’s almost a requirement when coming to the mid-west! (At least in our opinion.) We headed to Jilly’s cupcake bar after that. Crystal has a deep love for tasting cupcakes and Jilly’s was the winner of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars a few seasons back. Let me tell you, we were all so sad when we pulled up and saw that there was a note on the door saying they were closed for the day! (Even though the neon “Open” sign was lit up….) We were so sad. It was getting late but I was determined to find my friend a cupcake shop. And I know there are other fun ones around here. So we looked on line and found one called The Cup in the Central West End.

It was so yummy! Crystal and Jeremy felt like we were pushing our time line a bit. But I mean, when do you regret stopping to get cupcakes? Um, never! And these didn’t disappoint. Once we had collected our treats, we headed back to our place. Poor Cecelia was tired and very mad at this point. She cried the whole way home…well, until about 2 minutes before we got home. Poor baby. She conked out and was asleep for the rest of the afternoon. The boys hung here and Crystal and I took advantage of nap time to go to another place she doesn’t get to frequent: Hobby Lobby. Ah, the beloved store. She said after we’d been there for 45 minutes that she couldn’t understand why I didn’t live in that store/go there constantly. I laughed and reminded her we have a budget. 😉

I did however, find many things to swoon over. We made a few purchases and headed back home to pack up and shove off. It was time for them to go home. 😦 We picked Cooper up from school a bit early and then made our trek to the airport. I’m usually pretty good at savoring every.last.drop of something or someone I love. So I wasn’t super sad. I had so much fun with them while they were here. Jeremy and I commented on how it felt like nothing had changed even though Jeremy hadn’t seen Travis in 2 years! We all picked up right where we left off in our friendship. We laughed and played silly jokes on each other and stayed up late enjoying Nevcalfe time together. It made us long for old times.

We said our good byes and they were off. The next day though, that’s when my sadness hit. So I cried half the day and just wallowed in my sadness. You have to give yourself time to feel sad sometimes. 2 days out and I feel a bit better. The Metcalfe family will always be in our lives and we will always be in theirs. I pray for many more trips to come. We dream of vacations together to tropical places. Sigh….

We love you Metcalfes!

My entire house has been de-Christmased for 24 hours now. But the fun that was had and the joy of the season is still super fresh. We had so much fun!

My parents got into town last Wednesday in the late afternoon.

Christmas2010GpaGma 007 — Cooper was so excited to see them drive up that he sat outside waiting for them. Sorry for the blurriness.

Christmas2010GpaGma 009 — Chase waited by the back door and was very excited too, though I don't know if he understood why there was such excitement.

Jeremy and I ate dinner with them and then rushed out to a small group conglomerate party from our church, Renovo, sans children! It was so great to just be there and not worry about the kids. They enjoyed some fun times with Gma and Papa and we enjoyed time to talk in the car uninterrupted. It was HEAVEN!

We went shopping for some last minute items here and there the rest of the week. On Thursday night, we went to Bellevue to witness the Snowflake Lane parade and festivities at the Square. That was super fun! Every night at 7:00 pm at Bellevue Square, it “snows” and there are people dressed up like little toy drummer boys and girls. There are purple sugar plum fairies and church mice roaming about as well. I believe Chase had the opportunity of being totally terrified by a person dressed in a polar bear costume who tried to give him a high five. It was hilarious! Are we the only parents who think it is tremendously funny when that kind of stuff freaks our kids out?

For some reason I can’t find the pictures of that night, so you’ll just have to trust me. But the “snow” was really fun and maybe one of the best parts. It was really just foamy bubbles, but what a cute idea. Cooper was laughing hysterically at the scenes.

Christmas Eve we tried something new that I have to think about some more before we decide to repeat it; we watched the Nativity Story movie with the kiddos. I wasn’t totally sure about it because there are some rough scenes in the beginning. There’s no blood or anything like that, but hey, the story of Jesus’s birth really is scandalous and has some sad and violent parts to it. The movie didn’t leave out the part where Herod had all the male babies in Bethlehem killed. We tried to explain things to Cooper and just move on. I think it helped him get a picture of all that really went on and the depth of the story. We also did a thing we do just for fun…we had Coop leave treats for Santa.

For the record, we’ve told Cooper who the real Saint Nicholas was and we let him be imaginative and fun with the rest. We don’t make a big deal of it and he thinks it’s just an extra piece of Christmas fun. So do we.

Christmas2010GpaGma 013 — Posing next to the note he wrote.

Christmas morning, we tortured my parents with our traditions. (Which was great fun because I think they were more excited than even we were!) We all got up and said Merry Christmas to each other, got some coffee and popped our traditional home-made cinnamon rolls in the oven. While they cooked, we read the story of Jesus’s birth from the Bible and prayed.

Christmas2010GpaGma 031 — Reading the account of Jesus's birth

When the cinnamon rolls were done, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, blew out the candles and dug in.

Christmas2010GpaGma 041 — Hurray for cinnamon rolls!

I think my parents could hardly stand it. Finally, we finished with all that stuff and dove into the stockings and presents.

Christmas2010GpaGma 011 — The scene Christmas morning

Christmas2010GpaGma 032 — Chase playing with his new toy grill

Christmas2010GpaGma 022 — Cooper playing with his remote controlled race car

We left some toys out for the boys so that they’d have something to play with while we all took turns watching each other open something. We were all showered with presents. Jeremy got a movie-theater popcorn maker! We got some sanity for our drive to St. Louis in the form of a portable dvd player with 2 screens for the car. We even got a wii! I can’t wait to get Zumba for it because I’ve heard it is a blast!

All in all, it was great fun to be together and enjoy a fun and quiet Christmas morning. The boys are so cute and funny. Kids really do make Christmas even more fun and magical. They are so precious!