Where the White Things Are: Missouri: a visit

Jay's one and only birthday present was a trip to visit his cousin Steve before Steve leaves on his mission to Mexico City in a few weeks. The last time Steve and Jay saw each other was last summer at our family reunion, so without this trip they would not have seen each other for four or more years, thanks to overlapping missions! Since Steve is 18 months older than Jay, they won't see each other for three or more years after this visit. It was a sweet "last visit of childhood" for these cousin friends. I feel a little nostalgic thinking about it all, because my sister Em and I used to get our kids together every year when the kids were little. Visiting when our oldest sons were on the verge of leaving the nest was bittersweet!

Jay was originally going to fly to St. Louis alone, but my sister used her airline points and got me a ticket too! It was so sweet of her, and I loved being there with her. We visited from Friday, May 29 to Wednesday, June 3rd. Jay was not sad to miss a few days of school in exchange for some cousin time! We didn't DO much while we were there, but we had lots of quality time together. We saw Steve run in his state track meet and get 3rd place in the 800 final!

After that, we mostly stayed home and hung out. I tagged along with Em while she drove and picked up various kids from sports camps and even a swim meet (it's already summer break for them). I went on daily runs in the hilly humidity of Missouri. The boys played lots of videogames. Em and I watched a whole season of Alias, picking up in season 3 where we left off after our last visit 2 years ago. The boys went mini golfing (it was Jay's first time) and had Raising Cane's fried chicken one afternoon. Another day they went to Steak n Shake. On the way to the airport, we ate at a barbecue restaurant. Jay had a well-rounded heartland dining experience. I think he liked Raising Cane's chicken the best, but the barbecue was ranked high too. He rated Steak n Shake thin and dry--proof that it hasn't changed in the 20+ years since I ate there.

The best part of the visit wasn't the things we DID, it was the actual visit. We love our family!

At the airport, embarking on our trip!

I wore all of my comfiest clothes at once and felt a little ridiculous when I saw myself in the airport bathroom, haha. Loose dress, compression socks, tall purple running shoes: check.

Most of the pictures I took in Missouri were during my lovely rolling runs there. Washington, MO might be the closest place I have to a hometown. My grandparents lived there for the first 30 years of my life, and my sister has lived there for over 20 years. I have visited that town possibly more frequently than any other single town in the world! It felt so familiar and new all at once, since it had been 7 years since my last visit which made me notice all the changes.

My favorite road to run on in Washington, MO is Bieker Road, right outside my sister's neighborhood. It's peaceful, rolling, and green. I got a Strava segment "Queen of the Mountain" crown on that hill curving up in this picture.

Washington, MO is a small town 45 minutes outside of St. Louis that is surrounded by countryside--hay fields, livestock, etc. This picture captures that mix well: sprawling suburban neighborhood on the horizon, hay field in the foreground.

I can almost feel that hot humid air drenching my skin just by looking at this picture. Since my body was used to Pacific time, waking up before 7am to run when the sun was lower was not in the cards. Even waking up at 7am was super hard, because it felt like 5am! I usually didn't manage to run until 8am most days, which was plenty of time for the temperature to rise.

I came all the way to Missouri from Washington state, only to end up in another Washington.

These country roads were enchanting. And no dogs tried to dismember me, physically or emotionally. I think I heard one dog bark once during the entire 5 days we were there.

My sister lives on the side of a hill. That's her house on the left behind the tree. This hill made starting my morning runs extra daunting.

The MO state track meet was held at Jefferson City High School, whose mascot is the Jays. I had to take a picture of Jeff's son Jay with the Jefferson City Jay logo. It was too good to pass up. Also, don't let Jay's pants and long sleeves deceive you: it was warm and muggy. Jay just assumed that he needed long pants and sleeves based on his track meet experience in WA, haha.

I made us Go Steve t-shirts to be extra nerdy supporters!

Steve on the homestretch of his 800m final at state: that's him in the blue shorts on the inside lane of the chase pack behind the leader out front. He got 3rd place with a 1:56.91.

Yeah Steve! He was disappointed in his 3rd place finish because he ran even splits in an 800, which is kind of crazy. Usually in the best paced 800m races, the second lap is 2 seconds slower than the first lap. So Steve felt like he had/should have had more to give. We were all deeply impressed with his race, finish, and time!

Steve and Jay. This was the only picture we got of just the two of them. Now that I'm putting these pictures together, I wish we had taken a picture of these two guys after church on Sunday when they were a bit more dressed up. Actually, maybe not--I remember deciding not to do that because Jay forgot his nice pants and ended up borrowing a pair that was too short and a little tight (Jay is a 32x34, and he wore a slim cut 30x32).

Raising Cane's fried chicken really was super good. This is Jay and Dan on the way home from the state track meet--Steve rode the van home with his team. We measured everyone while we were together, and as of June 2nd, 2026 the height order stands thus: Jay (6'2''), Dan (6'1''), Shaina (5'11 7/8''), Steve (5'11.5''). That was pretty fun.

On one of my runs, I made a pilgrimage to my grandparents' old house at 9 Wenona Drive, just around the corner from Em's house. Grama and Grampa Brown lived there for over 30 years before the moved to assisted living. It was sweet to run past their house and remember visiting them there. When my kids were little I remember it was a bit stressful to visit my grandparents because little kids like to dismantle everything in sight, plus Grama's dog was a bit of an ankle biter. I do remember (before I had kids), going to Grama and Grampa's house sometimes to eat Grama's lasagna on Sunday night.

On my last run of this visit, my legs were begging me for something flat. So I made my way across town to the Riverfront Pathway. It was so much better than I remembered! Last time I saw this path, it was after some serious storms and flooding so it was brown, tangled, and destroyed.

I was unexpectedly delighted at the lush shady green tree tunnel that I discovered on this run. It looked like this for nearly 2 miles!

The best of all worlds: running on a firm dependable smooth paved path through thick gorgeous trees. The birdsong alone was enough to make this run amazing, but this pathway was divine.

The pathway plays peek-a-boo with the Missouri River.

Heading under the bridge. I thought I would be able to exit the path at any point along it, but I was wrong--the path was completely closed off by trees from the beginning all the way past the bridge to downtown Washington. So my run extended about 2 miles farther than expected and I ended up calling Em for a rescue mission pickup. I felt bad sitting my humidity-drenched sweaty body in her car!

I love a good bridge picture.

Washington's iconic downtown riverfront skyline. The river was pretty high.

Missouri River pilgrimage: complete. I didn't touch the muddy water; this was close enough and I was already wet enough.

This was our zone at home between drop-off and pick-up excursions: couch talk and watch sessions! Our favorite sister activity!

I love my sister! We are getting old! My hair was doing its own thing in that humidity!

Barbecue on the way to the airport with Em, Steve, and Dan.

Sunset outside Salt Lake City on the journey home.

My randomly assigned seat on the connecting flight from Salt Lake City to Pasco had extra legroom! I have never sat in this seat on an airplane before, and it was luxuriously roomy!

Now for a nostalgia album from our past visits. I tallied it up: Starting in 2012, my kids and I visited our Missouri family 7 different years, and our Missouri family visited us one year. That's 8 visits over our kids' lifetimes! (not counting summer family reunions.) We visited almost every year until both Covid and high school schedules slowed us down. I spent nearly an hour going through old pictures and finding a few classic cousin circus memories to share. Blogger loaded them out of order:

Seven kids in one Target cart.

Seven kids in one minivan.

Seven kids with the gorilla statue at the zoo.

One of the reasons we visited them more than they visited us was because St. Louis has the most free kid-friendly activities to do. Also, I had less kids so it was cheaper for me to travel there.

Six kids on the Riverfront Pathway after/during some major flooding back in 2016.

This is how I remembered the riverfront path! Brown and barren! But cute cute kids.

Seven kids under the Arch!

Seven kids inside the top of the Arch!

Cousin-brothers Steve and Jay.

Steve, Dan and Jay.

The four boys: Jay, Steve, baby Chase, and Dan.

The original four: Dan, Jay, Steve, and Rose.

At Shaw Nature Reserve in 2016.

Another year, another trip to the St. Louis Zoo.

Looking at these pictures made me extra impressed with our past super mom selves. I wondered, how did we do it? Then I found this picture. This is how we survived. Cookies the size of our faces and other forms of sweet treats.