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We had a full house this weekend, and we loved every minute of it. Our daughter came home on Wednesday for a long weekend to attend a friend's college graduation party. On Thursday my cousin from Chicago arrived, picked up by his sister at the Megabus stop. She had traveled from Cincinnati. Late Friday night the Chicago cousin's roommate got here. The Chicagoans were here for a wedding, while the Cincinnatian came to hang with me. (And maybe see her brother.) Since our daughter was the last one to make reservations at our B & B, she spent Friday and Saturday nights with a friend who lives here in town.

water lily at the Missouri Botanical Garden

During the day on Friday we went to the Missouri Botanical Garden then hit one of their favorite restaurants, Crazy Bowls and Wraps, for lunch. Then we set off for the zoo. And was it ever a zoo! The place was packed, though we did manage to score a decent parking spot in one of the Art Museum's free lots. We got sprinkled on a couple times, but at least the temperature was decent.

That night my cousins and I went to The Shaved Duck for dinner. As this restaurant had been featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, we were eager to check it out. After a 45 minute wait, we were led to our table for three. The appetizer of Smothered Fries was amazing, even if it did look a bit disgusting. The French fries are covered with shredded rib meat and a cheese sauce. Tasty! I split a pulled pork sandwich and order of mac and cheese with my cousin, and she ordered a side of corn bread for us to share. We knew we were stopping at Ted Drewe's on the way home, so we didn't want to overload ourselves.

The Shaved Duck restaurant

Smothered Fries

breakfast at the Boardwalk Cafe

Saturday we were all able to go out to breakfast together before everyone headed out for their activities. A couple of us went to The Hill to do some shopping at the Italian markets there. I had never been and it was a wonderful experience. I picked up some garlic flavored linguine, which I am eager to try with some shrimp. In the evening we dropped the wedding-goers off at 9th Street Abbey for the reception and the rest of us ate at McGurks. It was a beautiful night for outdoor dining, and we had a glass of wine at the house on the deck when we got home.

Most of the guests left this morning, and our daughter heads out tomorrow night. It was great to be surrounded by young people with all their hopes and ambitions ahead of them. And yet I find myself very content with this phase of my own life.

Saturday Jim and I went to a family picnic at the St. Louis Zoo, courtesy of the general contractor on the new sea lion exhibit. All of the subcontractors who worked on the project were invited to bring their families for the day. We arrived a little after 8:00 a.m. while it was still fairly cool outside. We were given special brown arm bands, which allowed us to get into the paid activities at the zoo and also into the lunch tent. Having the band was great because normally we don't go into any parts of the zoo that charge an entry fee.

Sea lion exhibit

We began the morning at the sea lion exhibit, because we knew how crowded it would get later in the day. It is so awesome! First of all the new outdoor area is so much nicer than what they had before. But the indoor water tunnel is just great! It was fun to listen to the exclamations of the little kids. They also have a huge glass wall outside where you can watch the sea lions as well.

After seeing the sea lions, we passed some time in the flight cage while waiting for the 4D motion simulator ride to open at 9:00. The plant material in the flight cage sure has grown since it was remodeled back in 1996.

Happy Feet, the motion simulator, was another one of the attractions we were allowed to enter for no charge, so we decided to see what that was all about. There were only two other people in there with us, and I think it would be more fun when filled so you could catch the excitement of everyone else. We still had a good time as our seats twisted and turned, wind blew in our faces, and things touched our ankles and the back of our heads. And there was some water spraying in our faces at times as well as we watched the movie.

Next up we rode the carousel and then stopped in to see the penguins. One of the little devils took his flipper and sprayed me right in the face. Let alone having the stinky water dripping from my hair, my mascara immediately began to run into my eyes and down my face. Of course I had no tissues in my camera bag, so we had to beg a food vendor for some napkins to try and repair the damage. I had been a little worried about having b.o. since it was getting so hot out. No worries - I simply smelled like rotting fish instead!

stingrays

Since I had already had a close encounter of the smelly kind with ocean dwelling creatures, we went to the stingray pool next. You can put your hand in their holding tanks and touch them on their backs. There are sharks in there as well, but you are only supposed to touch them if they touch you first. The smaller stingrays felt kind of slimy, but the big ones felt like velvet. They also have a separate pool for baby stingrays, where you could look but not touch. Those little suckers are really fast swimmers!

We then entered the children's zoo, and found this guy sunning himself on the rocks. He certainly was very content. After that it was time for the sea lion show. Our assigned time was 11:00, and we were told to be there 30 minutes early. They had reserved an area for our group at this show and the 1:30 show, but those seats would be released 10 minutes before the show began. I was grateful we got the first show before it got too hot, and getting to the seats early ensured that we got a place in the shade.
I have not been to a sea lion show in years, and this one was pretty good.

 The show finished up in time for us to head to the food tent, where they had a buffet lunch set up for us. Everything was quite tasty, which is hard to pull off when you are feeding a large group of people - especially outside.

The last thing we wanted to do before heading home was to ride the train. I think the last train ride we took there was with my brother and his kids quite a few years ago. It almost made me want to go to Six Flags. Almost. All in all, we had a great time, and everyone who worked on the new exhibit should be very proud of the way it turned out.

My brother and his two daughters are visiting from Boulder for a week. His 18 year old son stayed home to take care of the 2 dogs, 2 cats and rat - purportedly. They flew in Monday afternoon and will leave next Monday night, taking my great-niece Molly back home with them for a couple of weeks. This afternoon Joe, Stephie and I went to the zoo. I had not been there for quite a while. In fact, the last time may have been the re-dedication of the Flight Cage, which Jim's company had worked on. I parked in the parking lot as I could not find any spots along the street. $11.00 to park!!! Unreal! I guess that's what you get when admission to the zoo is "free". Inside the zoo it really was not as crowded as I expected. Though it was warm out today, it was not overly oppressive like it can be in St. Louis. I don't know about the rest of them, but I had a great time snapping pictures with my new lens. Man, does it capture the moment!

Tomorrow the girls and I will go to Cahokia and pick up Molly and her sister Cordy from their last day of school. They get done at 11:00, and after that I'll take them to lunch and then swimming at the Lodge at Des Peres. My back-up plan is to take them to either the City Museum or the Magic House if it rains. My brother will go with us if we decide on either of the museums, but he is not interested in the pool scene. I think he is considering that a house with no kids in it sounds pretty good to him. Molly will spend the night here with us, but Julie (my niece) will come and take Cordy back home with her. My limit is three teenage girls at once. I'm hoping for no rain as laying at the pool with a book sounds less stressful than a trip to the museum with 4 girls.