Minnesota Visits Missouri

Old Glory

Jim's aunt and uncle, along with one of their daughters, visited us over the weekend. They had a long drive from Minnesota, and arrived on Sunday. Normally when we have visitors they come on Friday or Saturday, so having an extra day to prepare the house was unusual for us. We were all ready for them by just after noon, with the dessert made and in the freezer, the salad and lasagna all put together, and I even had my overnight breakfast casserole for Monday morning prepared and waiting in the downstairs refrigerator. Since we were ready so early, I kept thinking we had missed something. But no, we were just extremely organized for a change.

Cardinals game

Monday following breakfast and clean up, we headed downtown for the Cardinals baseball game. Jim and I were sorry to miss the Webster Groves July 4th parade as it is always quite good, but we needed to go to the game early to grab a good parking spot for the elderly relatives, and so that we could watch batting practice. Best laid plans... It began to rain and the field was covered by a tarp. Warm-up took place downstairs out of sight. The 1:15 game was delayed first to 1:45 and then to 2:30. I enjoy going to the games, but they are certainly long enough without adding a late start to the equation. As it ended up, we would have had plenty of time to enjoy the parade and still make it downtown in time for the delayed game start time. Oh well. It was a competitive game, though the Cardinals did not win. We had a nice time anyway. As we didn't get home until nearly 6:30, it was a good thing that I had thrown a roast into the crockpot before we left. It didn't take too long to put the rest of dinner together.

We talked about walking down to the end of our street to watch the fireworks, but everyone was pretty tired. That ended up to be fortuitous, because they had a mishap with our municipal fireworks display. Normally on the 4th the fireworks show is around 20 minutes long. I was standing on our front porch to catch a little glimpse of them, and all of a sudden the noise and sounds were deafening! The whole show lasted about 6 minutes. There was a lot of chatter about the abbreviated show on our local Facebook page, and I was eager to hear what the "official" word would be. It turns out that one of the ground displays got away from them and lit the finale display. Boom! There was no way for the operators to stop it at that point. So I guess it was premature ignitulation - ha!

After breakfast Tuesday morning, our company packed up to head home, and Jim took off for work. I tackled the dishes, four loads of sheets and towels, and put the guest bedrooms back in order. The party was officially over.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Each year since the St. Louis Cardinals opened their new stadium they have had a Founders Day at the ballpark. Jim and I have been lucky enough to go to three of the events. Since we share our group of four season tickets it is not always easy to score admission to this. Hot dogs, brats, nachos, pretzels, popcorn, ice cream and soda are all free. You can take a tour of the team locker room and dugouts, have your picture taken with the World Series trophy, get autographs from retired players, and other fun things.

David Evans & Patrick Renna

This year in honor of the 20th anniversary of the movie The Sandlot (and how can that possibly be?), the director of the movie and one of the stars were at the stadium. They answered questions from the fans and later signed movies and posters that were available for sale that night. But best of all they played the movie on the giant screen in the stadium! You could sit in the seats or take a spot on the grass in the outfield. What a great evening! We have many fond memories of watching that movie with our son, who was playing ball himself at the time. How wonderful that a whole new group of children is being introduced to this family film. The weather was perfect, the company was exceptional, and we all cheered at the happy ending. Play ball!