Camels, Peacocks, PEOPLE, and more

Friday was such a beautiful 70 degree day that we decided to go to the zoo. So did everyone else in St. Louis. The place was PACKED. It took us nearly 45 minutes to find a parking spot.

Before we could drive to the zoo, we had to load up the truck. The Broadbent-Mobile seats 8, and we had 8 people plus two strollers to cram in there. I spent half an hour puzzling, lifting, heave-hoing, and wriggling the strollers into the vehicle. I had to remove the wheels frome our stroller so it would fit in the trunk. Next came the children, which took nearly as long. We didn’t pull out of the driveway till 11am.

Waffles!

Sticks!

Strollers!

We call Rose our little Rose Bud too.

We really couldn’t have pulled this off without Dani. She was such a fun, patient aunt to have at the zoo.

I know most people don’t go to the zoo to see camels, but LOOK at this guy. Isn’t he sick?

Ugh, covered in spit, matted hair, and standing over his own excrement. What got me was how he stood there proudly like he was saying, “Admire me.” He literally did not move an inch the whole time we watched him.

And then we saw a peacock with his lady. It was sweet! I brought my binoculars and I think I could spend all day watching animals through them.

After 3 hours, everyone started getting tired so we doubled up to power walk out of there.

Jay and Rose get so goofy when they’re tired. They were squealing and giggling away a little too loudly.

In spite of the tired state of our children, we HAD to stop at Ted Drew’s while we were in St. Louis. Ignoring the motherly conscience that told us ice cream at 4:30pm was a bad idea, we got some cool creamy frozen custard scandalously close to dinnertime.

Em held Steve’s cone so he could take this picture for us. Not bad for a 5 year old. Oh, that caramel-doused sweet cold custard. My mouth is watering as I type.

A free zoo and 60 cent ice cream cones? Pure extravagance.

Starring: Chase Randall Broadbent

Sunday was Chase’s baby blessing at church. Dani (my sister-in-law) and Grampa Charley (aka Tall Grampa) flew out for the weekend, so Chase had a nice sized family gathering in his honor. After church, Em, Dani, and I threw together dinner and we all ate before Dad and Dani left for the airport. As always, family time is favorite time (and picture time).

The man of the moment looking all dapper for church.

My Dad with all five of his grandkids.

I can’t believe my sister has THREE KIDS.

I’m so glad to be here for this.

And this.

Hanging out

We’ve been here in Missouri for a week and a day now. It’s so fun to just hang out with the family members that we don’t get to see as often as we’d like. Em and I have been lounging and watching a funky spy show called Chuck, baking treats, chatting, and adoring baby Chase. The KIDS have been playing with Legos, watching My Little Pony and superhero cartoons (Rose converted the boys to My Little Pony, and it’s awesome), jumping on the trampoline, eating snacks, having epic battles with weapons, and playing up a storm. We haven’t gone anywhere all together except church and Target, but it’s been such a pleasant, peaceful hang-out here at the Broadbent house (minus the inevitable wrestling matches and weapons wars). I wasted a whole two days here by finally catching the sickness that EVERYONE else has had, but thankfully we still have another week to hang out together before we leave.

Mac n cheese lunch!

A pile of boys. What could be better? Rose wisely bowed out of the trampoline ultimate fighter free-for-all.

Steve is such a good big cousin to Rose. He lets her tackle him and he gets her snacks from the pantry. It’s pretty cute.

Legos are awesome. Jay has a new love.

Auntie-heaven. LOVE.

Ahhhh his little limbs!

Jay, Rose, and I visited my Grama Brown (aka Grama Great) on Monday. She let them throw her playing cards all over the living room. They loved it.

Steve and Dan showed Jay Nintendo DS games.

Jay showed Steve and Dan the Kindle Fire games.

Last night we had a cousin sleepover. Jay and Rose have been sleeping in a room with me, but they’ve been dying to have a sleepover with everyone. So we tried it. Rose didn’t want to sleep out there and came in to our room, but the boys slept all together.

It’s not a sleepover without a movie!

Dazed by the movie, and no wonder…Alvin and the Chipmunks puts me in a daze too.

Chase had his own sleepover in the swing. This is blurry because the swing was swinging, but he is such a cute little blue burrito in the swing that I couldn’t resist.

Today we went on our first outing—2 miles down the road to Target. It took us like 30 minutes to load Em’s SUV with FIVE car seats. Then we loaded up the shopping carts with kids.

Rose is worn out…and so am I! This was supposed to be a quick, photos-only update but, as you know, I have issues with bloggy brevity.

Well, when I have such a cute little helper on my lap, no wonder it’s no wonder that this post got so long.

Good ole Defiance

We are living it up here in Missouri. I went on a 5 mile run on Friday and angels practically SANG the whole time. I didn’t hear a single bark or any español. I wasn’t even scared to wave at a single passing car, and most of them waved back AND smiled at me. I started a roadkill possum tally, which is currently at 4 with a possible 5th (but that one may have been a cat). It was awesome.

On Saturday, Jay, Rose and I visited our “old house” in Defiance, MO. For those of you who aren’t as familiar with the details, Jeff and I lived here right after our Europe trip. Jeff was the security guard and I was a tour guide to the historic buildings. I haven’t been there since we pulled out in our Budget truck almost exactly 4 years ago. We met our pal Jan there and went on a little stroll around the Boone Home and Boonesfield Village.

In front of the Boone house. I have wanted this picture for so long. I can’t believe that Jay and Rose had never been here before. It was about time!

Bits and pieces of my old tour script came back in flashes as we walked around. It was a very deja-vu-y feeling. Good times.

Quick flashback. Even though I KNOW that giving those tours for 30 hours per week in historic garb got tiresome after a certain point, I still think that was the coolest job I’ve ever had, and I always think back fondly to that time. Somehow in the 9 months we lived there I never got a picture of myself in my dress in front of the Boone Home. I didn’t take any pictures of the village while we were there on Saturday because Jeff and I have quite the stash of those from 4 years ago. Blog posts from the second half of 2008 have more Booney pictures.

Ok, back to the future…here they are on Mr. Boone’s porch.

 

When I worked here, the only way visitors could see the historic buildings was to take an hour long guided tour. Thankfully, they have added a self-guided tour option since then, so that’s what we did. It felt odd to PAY to go walk around my old domain, but it was fun to see it again.

We discovered that they got some chickens, and on our way back from the coop we ended up in quite the muddy mire. Jay fell down and lost a boot, and Rose tried to follow me when I went back to rescue him, so Jan, who was carrying her own baby girl, picked up Rose too and carried her to safety. We spent the next 15 minutes or so attempting to rid ourselves of the muck.

The stuff was like glue.

The best we could do was to scrape off a few pounds of it. There was plenty left behind, along with the mud Rose’s boots wiped onto my jeans when I carried her around for the rest of the walk. Needless to say, we were quite the spectacle when we went to Chick-Fil-A afterwards. But a little mud could never keep me away from those waffle fries, that chicken, and ohhhh the lemonade.

By our old house, the carriage house gift shop. We lived upstairs. Well, Jay and Rose never did, but I love having a picture of them in front of it.

On our way out, we ran into Lynn, the only lady that I know who still works there. It was good to see her.

Ok, it’s the little things. I was totally excited to see our odometer reach 123456. I was watching for it on my way back from the Boone Home, but I got distracted with finding music and I missed the momentous occasion by 3 stinking miles! I took a picture anyways, but really? How many hours have I spent in this car in the past week? And I still missed this? [I’ve already admitted to my high-speed photography. Yes, I was going 50 when I took this picture]

Well, it’s pretty hard to write a clever blog post while I’m lounging on the couch talking with my sister. Right now I’d rather chat with her than tweak sentences into shape. So you have the facts and the pictures, but not much of the wit.

Anyways, yay for the Boone Home!