Emily's first road trip...

Last weekend marked a momentous occasion... Emily took her first road trip. We left from Tulsa Friday afternoon for a weekend in St. Louis. Those of you who frequent our blog may recall that we were planning a trip to St. Louis to attend a concert, but we didn't think we were going to be able to make it. Thankfully, Amber, John, and Makayla came to the rescue and volunteered to come along with us and keep Emily for the evening while we went to the concert. While we were in St. Louis, we also went to City Museum... I would highly recommend it. Especially if you have kids with you. It was like a huge playground.

We also went to the arch, of course, and while we were there, we started Emily's passport to all of the National Parks. Basically, it is a book where you can keep track of all of the national parks, reserves, etc. that you have visited. You get a sticker to put in the book and you get to stamp your passport for each place you visit.

The drive was long, but Emily did well. We had a great time. The concert was awesome... and we had fun visiting a city I had never been to before. I think Emily's first road trip was a success.

We passed by the arch on the way to City Museum from our hotel. We decided to walk because we didn't know if we would be able to find parking... the walk there was so long, we decided one way was enough and found a ride back.

Andrew is climbing up this spiral "tube" to a network of tunnels in the ceiling. I couldn't make it up there with Emily, so I had to take the stairs to meet Andrew upstairs.

There were also caves down in the museum that you could wind your way around in. Andrew and Emily just squeezed their way through a tunnel to get deeper in the "cavern."

Emily isn't quite sure what to think of all of this, so she's holding on just in case.

Amber, John, Andrew, and Emily wandering around in the dark maze that keeps getting smaller and smaller. We finally gave up when the openings got so small we couldn't get through them easily.

We also made a quick stop at the "Midwest Spatula Museum"... ok so it was inside City Museum, but we visited it all the same.

When we got back from City Museum, we decided to hang out in the room until it was time for us to leave for the concert. Emily got a little hungry, so she decided to snack on her toes.

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We decided to spring for VIP tickets, so we got to see Dave Matthews and the Black Crowes back stage before the show (from a distance). We also got a "gourmet buffet" and free beer and wine... oh yeah, and we got really cool sparkley pink wrist bands. Very exciting. Here are a few pics from the concert.

The Black Crowes opened, but they only played for about 45 minutes... they played some of their new stuff, and a few old songs. I hadn't heard the old songs they played, but I don't know that many.


Here's the stadium as it is beginning to fill up. This was the first concert at the new Busch Stadium. They covered the outfield with metal panels so the grass wouldn't get damaged.


Dave came on and played for 2 1/2 hours. He put on a great show...


Here we are after the show. It was a long day, but we had a great time.


Meanwhile, in the hotel, Emily and Makayla are hanging out on the bed watching a movie.