It's already mid-May. What on earth happened to April? I didn't even post anything! Looks like I have so much to catch up. Perhaps I am working too much! Anyway, here's the posting from our Spring Break back in March:
We decided on St. Louis for this Spring Break. We were suppose to head West towards Galena but the weather was going to be just as bad, so we figured heading south would be better.
Didn't take long for us to hit a Raising Canes for a quick snack. Ha!
We decided to stop over in Springfield - just to looksie, looksie.
There was definitely a lot of Lincoln things to see - murals and what not.
Bobby had to go pee so we decided to stop at a small cafe. But it was like a wine & coffee spot. OMG, these wine bottles are not cheap!
What do you call these... like speakeasy rooms? Of course it has a portrait of Lincoln on the wall!
The restaurant across the street opened up in 1884!!
Awww,...
Lincoln worked as a lawyer here back between 1841 and 1855.
Pretty neat!
Okay, back on the road:
I see the arch!
Pretty impressive at night:
Managed to find a pretty yummy pizza spot for dinner:
Graham managed to find my old camera. Guess it's better than them being on their phones!
Yummy dinner! I love finding these little spots with great food:
Oh wait, back on their phones!
OMG, what on earth happened to Graham. Drone, plus camera, plus who knows what else. Ha!
The next day, we are just visiting a few things around the area. The poor flowers - doesn't seem like they are able to fully bloom. Weather has been so weird lately!
We're approaching the "Jewel Box" building. Too bad the lily ponds are still drained from winter :-/
Here's the Jewel Box. Pretty building - art deco from the 1930s:
So many palm trees and ferns!
We-fie!
Daddy had to work in the hotel room, so it's just the 3 of us in the morning. We decided to check out the Saint Louis Art Museum. What lovely green space! Graham is enjoying airplane spotting:
Lovely building! And entry is free - AMAZING!!
I'm glad the boys are still letting me drag them around to art museums :-)
O.M.G.... Saint Louis is a like a saint named Louis. How did I not put 2 and 2 together?!
It's actually a portrayal of King Louis IX of France:
Spring seems to be out here in St. Louis. Everything is still so bare back home:
We're in. Doesn't take long for me to start admiring the lovely ceiling:
Othello:
Okay, this was super weird installation. I should have taken a photo of the name of it!
Ha ha, Charlie being Charlie :-)
These are some cool tiles:
These were actually floor tiles from Syria, c. 526-540. Wow!
So intricate! I wouldn't have the patience to put those little squares, let alone make it look so pretty!
The boys are working on their map reading :-)
Oh gosh, they have a Rothko!!
Rothko's Orange, Red, Yellow (1961) sold at Christie's for $86.9 million. YIKES! I wonder how much this one is worth!
This one, we're calling... Daddy's hairy arms. LOL!
Of course, the usual stop into the gift shop. We couldn't help it but take a photo of this book. Ha!
Okay, biggest plug ever!
We went to play golf at Forest Park Golf Course in the afternoon. Unfortunately, my phone died on me! So I'll have to dig up some photos that the boys had sent. In the meantime, Bobby and Charlie went to play 9 more holes, while Graham and I went to check out the university town nearby.
Found this in a window display, thought it was pretty funny because this is Bobby's answer to a lot of things. LOL!
I was really hoping for noodles tonight, but this was a rather "strange" neighborhood!
Cool murals:
I love flowers and birds!
It would be so cool do so something big like this - like for our town's water tank. Maybe one day!
Bought a set of drawing pencils for Charlie. With all these pencils, you'd think they would include some paper in it:
In any case, it's a pretty neat. Looks at all the different... what would you call it, "darkness"?! I have no idea what the technical word it!
I hope Charlie keeps at it!
Later in the evening, after another lovely meal at a yummy Italian restaurant - we check out the arch. Love this photo!
Church across the parking lot:
Arch is pretty cool!!
Another angle:
Boys will be boys, running around:
If you get a chance to look up how they built this, you really should. It's pretty amazing architecture!
Looks like Bobby is on towel duty!
The next day, we are on our way home. Quick stopover for some acai. This one was so yummy!
Oh, Bobby had to take a work call. And so we find a library in this random small town on McLean:
Windshield duty:
We find this old train station and actually we later find out that this was moved from the train tracks near by. Ha!
We find an arcade center next to the library. Talk about another random thing!
I'm surprised the boys didn't actually play in any of them. Graham did sit in this one, but again - no one put any coins in. Ha!
Quite the place - love how they have these labels of old arcade games on display:
It was a great short little trip! Would have loved to play some more golf, but again - it was great to just all be together as a family. Can't believe that both boys will be in high school next year. Aaaahhh..!!!
Daddy managed to get some things off his wishlist at the last minute. A cat shirt:
Japanese Anime - Demon slayer?! I have no idea what this kid is up to these days. Ha ha!
And more Japanese Anime items but in the form of plushies??
Graham actually bought these for himself:
And the big surprise for Graham was refurbishing his Great, Great Grandfather's old violin!
Graham's orchestra instructor had mentioned it more than once about getting an instrument that is slightly better than a regular student (starter) violin. And so, a golf student of mine actually recommended a place in Skokie. I brought the old violin in and they were able to do some work to it, to get it to a fair sounding violin. So happy we were able to do this!
Charlie wasn't around because he was on a Band road-trip in Wisconsin! And since we couldn't pick him up, Charlie was also going to have a sleep-over at a friend's. So glad we have come to know some nice families!
Glad that Graham still doesn't mind hanging out with me and Bobby. This kid hangs out so much in his "virtual world" of VR Goggles. Who knows what this kid will get into next. As long as he stays out of trouble and improve on his grades at school!! 
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