I know I always start my posts by saying how much we love living in St. Louis, but honestly that is the only way I can think to start my posts. So here goes, We love life in St. Louis! One of the things we love is how many free things there are to do. The weekend before last we checked out the science center. Totally awesome and you guessed it, it is FREE. I have a dream of Naomi playing the harp someday, so I could not resist snapping a picture of her playing the laser harp. Such a beautiful instrument

Levi had fun checking out toy space craft while Naomi entertained herself with gear magnets(okay so that part of the center was not free, but still worth it).

The best part of our visit was when the 4 of us built the arch out of foam blocks. It was a balancing act and it took each of us to make it work. So much fun!!!

After building a pretend arch, it was time the next day to pick up our first house guests Richard's sister Katie and baby Mila from the airport, and go to the real arch.

Baby Mila is so sweet. I loved having here here.

Levi is very fascinated by the arch. He has made us promise we will never go there with out him.

Naomi likes nothing more than open space to plan her escape. The arch park was the perfect setting for her to run around.

Here is a rare picture of me alone, not having to chase my children.

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon to picnic in the park with family.

All of us enjoyed having baby Mila visit us, but Naomi was especially happy. Naomi would offer to "change baby dydy". I so badly wanted to tell Naomi that she was born last year and has no business changing diapers. Naomi had no shortage of love for baby Mila.

And just because I have a weird obsession with dressing like twins, Katie and I bought the girls matching dresses.

This last weekend was the St. Louis annual hot air balloon race. The race begins at Forest park and ends which ever direction the wind leads the balloons. The first balloon to be released is the Engerizer Bunny. It is the worlds largest "Hot Hare balloon". The bunny is 166 feet tall and it went right over my back yard. I refuse to admit how long I spent Saturday night learning about the character of the bunny, lets just say I may have been able to get through a whole episode of Dateline. Few things hold my attention that long.

There are something like 76 balloons that enter the race. I am pretty sure a majority of the balloons passed over us.

The balloons were landing all over our neighborhood. Most of our neighbors were out watching and chasing the balloon landings. I through the kids in the stroller and we went in search of seeing a balloon land. We had no luck, but we had a lot of fun trying.

And finally here is a picture I love of Richy and the kids from the firework show the night before.

Saint Louis is still treating us well. Levi is loving school and Richard is managing school. Naomi and I are Going on long walks every morning, often with my friend Kate and her two kids. I LOVE going for walking in the morning. The sun shines through the tree lined streets. Many people are out walking their dogs or children to school etc. Although we live in a condo complex we are surrounded by BIG beautiful houses. Many houses have tennis courts (why anyone would want to play tennis in this climate is beyond me). I want to take pictures of some of the homes, because the architecture is so different from Oregon, it has a different charm. Somehow I feel super creepy just thinking about taking pictures of the houses in my neighborhood. However I did take many pictures of houses in The Dalles as noted in a post a couple months ago. The threshold of acceptable creepy behavior was much different in The Dalles, here I am trying to distance myself from the creepy factor I openly embraced while living in The Dalles. After all I would like to work for the city here at some point. Levi has made a new friend at school named William. I talked to William's dad to invite William over for a play date. He happily accepted, saying his boys would love to come over. I later ask Levi why he did not tell me William has a twin brother. Levi said he wanted to surprise me that "there are two Williams". Yesterday the twins came over and Levi screamed after school to the whole school "IT IS MY LUCKY DAY" over and over. Levi is afraid of dogs and since the twins have a dog Levi has let us know he is not interested in going over to their house. While the twins were at our house I gave the 3 boys a snack. The conversation at the table was based around the twins trying to convince Levi that their dog was not too bad. They used reasons such as he will play with you and he eats your left over food, and he does not bark too loud. To every reason they represented, Levi had a come back as to how Naomi is just like their dog. Mean while Naomi is going around the table from person to person begging for their food.Naomi was not helping her case! College football season kicked off last weekend. I love college football, mostly the Beavers, but I have been known to watch a variety of match ups. This is the first year in a few years that we have not bought season tickets. This is the down side to living in Missouri no Reser stadium. Going to the games has been so much fun for Richard and I. The Fall usually looks something like this. We go out to eat with Richy's parents and sister before the game. Each of us is cloaked in our orange and black. The energy and excitement in Corvallis on game is one of my favorite things. The Beavers have had a rough go the last couple years, bit still I found pleasure in cheering them on. I love Oregon State University, I am not a fair weather fan. Speaking of weather, the Beavers were unable to play their season opener last weekend because of the weather in Louisiana where there opponent would have come from. I am excited to represent the Beavs here in Missouri. I will forever love the memories we have with family at the Beaver games. I cannot wait to be back in Reser cheering on my favorite team.

Notice my sister and niece. They claim to be Duck fans yet there they are at a Beaver game both smiling ear to ear like a buffon!

A good game can make a girl tired!