Meet Me In St. Louis

The Dragon and I have returned from the Midwest and our first annual "Meet Me In St. Louis" Extravaganza. Much fun was had by all--so much that there's no way I could retell it all. So, here's the very long and not-so-short of it.

We got into Mtn Home late the 14th and discovered early on the 15th that Audrey thought she might die if she wasn't constantly attached to my person. This, of course, did not stop Grandma G. and Auntie Em (or Emba) from doing forced immersion experiments to make Audrey realize she not only wouldn't perish when out of my presence, but she would also be given ice cream and cookies. It still took a while. By the time we got up to St. Louis to meet the Aunts and Uncles, Audrey would've welcomed abduction by pirates as long as they had a substantial supply of pastries and ice cream on their ship. This, of course, means that their experiment was successful and that Audrey ingested more than her fair share of desserts this week.

While we were in Mtn Home, we visited with the Gamelin Fam every day; this translates to really good food and lots of it. We also made homemade soap, glazed pottery, went to the park, learned our colors and how to read and write, attended the MHHS Band's annual pancake supper, gave Audrey a tour of our old stomping grounds and much, much more. For pictures of the much, much more, go here.

We left good 'ole Mtn. Home for St. Louis on the 2oth and met up with Uncle Joe and "The Grands" (a.k.a. Jeanne, Jim, Chris and Dick). All in all, Audrey had an entourage of nine (count 'em--Nine!) adoring relatives for the weekend to escort her to downtown St. Charles, the Saint Louis Zoo and Ted Drewes for ice cream. How Audrey has survived the past 24 hours without a sugar fix, I'll never know. She's been hiding the symptoms of withdrawal quite well.

Sunday morning, we packed our bags and headed back to the West Coast (aka The Best Coast. Seriously. You should move here. Now.) John was meeting us in the airport in Seattle, so we only had a four hour direct flight to get home, but a sudden case of air sickness made it feel more like a 10 hour flight. I literally had to draw inspiration from my breathing techniques during labor to keep from throwing up on the jam-packed plane. Yet another glorious moment in parenting.

Contrary to my belief during the last half hour of the flight, we did eventually make it home alive and man, does it feel good! Even though Audrey didn't sleep very well last night, I still got to sleep in my own bed and hang out with my husband, who also miraculously survived a week without us.

Well, I should be folding mounds of laundry and being productive, so I'll just leave you with some parting thoughts that wouldn't fit anywhere in the main body of my post without making it into a novel. Enjoy!

• We expect a hefty increase in attendance for next year's Meet Me In St. Louis Extravaganza, including someone who will be even younger than Audrey--you know who you are!
• Audrey's favorite animals are officially giraffes and monkeys
• I no longer have bad sushi Karma
• Someone needs to bring back the phrase "to cast up one's accounts" as a reference to vomiting.
• Air travel and the scent of orange soap being made both make me want to cast up my accounts.
• "That was never there" was the number one phrase used last week
• "I'm not arguing that with you" came in as a close second
• I will admit Mom won settlers, but she cheats.
• I will take back the last statement if mom bribes me with pottery
• Everyone should go here and buy pottery from my mother. But beware, it is addicting.