San Antonio…revisited

I made my first trip back to San Antonio since my move...it hasn't changed at all. I've never been happier with my decision to leave.

Bands, Hockey & Bars

I went to see a St. Louis band on Friday night. I had ties to the band as the guitar player went to grade school with me. The band, Flash Cassidy, surprised me. I had no idea what I was going to hear when I got to Cruisin' Route 66. The first band that I heard just sounded like a lot of screaming and had me nervous. A little rock and alternative music is what Flash Cassidy brought to the table and I wasn't disappointed to say the least.

[caption id="attachment_40" align="aligncenter" width="217" caption="At Cruisin' Rte 66"][/caption]

 

The St. Louis Blues haven't been playing the best hockey lately but I still wanted to check out a game. We were able to get free tickets to see the Blues take on the Minnesota Wild. The seats were great and the Blues even won ending a 2 game losing streak. Hockey is one sport I missed watching while I lived in Texas.

 

After the hockey game, I finally got to experience Washington Ave. It's a new trendy street in downtown St. Louis full of bars and new Loft apartments. The crowd is a little more dressed but and more young professionals mingling. Over all it was a fun evening to be out and about, anything is better than the below freezing temperatures.

 

Along with the night life I managed to get Reily involved in the holiday fun. I spent a little time at the Birch House on Sunday and took a great picture of Reily. As you can see from the picture she is extactic to be in the picture.

Somewhere in the Middle America…Omaha

Ahh, it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a drive to Omaha. I'm finally feeling like things are getting back to normal. On the busiest travel day of the year I drove to Fariway, KS to meet my cousin and family and continued the drive up to Omaha with them. I was amazed as to how small KC looked. I remember trips to Omaha and my dad saying no stopping until we are through KC. KC is nothing compared to the Dallas or Houston metro areas. Needless to say I was in Kansas in no time.

 

 

The drive to Omaha brought back a lot of memories, like the truck stop in Kingdom City, MO what we stopped at for breakfast every trip and of course Winchell's in St. Joe, MO. I couldn't be happier to be back in the Midwest!

 

The Sheldon family tradition is to meet the Wednesday before Thanksgiving at Johnny Sotino's Pizza for drinks and gossip. This place has not changed in the 11 years since my last visit, except there is no smoking! The video game area still had The Simpson's game, but missing was Mortal Kombat. After beer and pizza, those who could drink moved out to downtown Elkhorn, NE to Clancy's bar.

 

A new Thanksgiving tradition is the Wii. My aunt bought a new Wii so the boys could have things to do. Every other year we fought over the pinball table or air hockey table, this year 4 people could play and then those not watching were entertained. Here are a couple pictures of my cousins having fun!

 

The Wii games!

Dance, Dance, Dance

I've been settling into my new life in St. Louis and have still be fairly busy on the weekends. I was able to get a little babysitting and bond with the Birch children. I was, also, able to celebrate Benton's 13th birthday! The last birthday of his that I attended...he turned 2.

This weekend was Zootini. A social event held at the Living World in the St. Louis Zoo for young zoo members. The theme was Stayin' Alive and a few people took that to heart. The band and DJ were great. Lots of polyester and platform boots to be seem and even a pimp made an appearance. After everyone had a few cocktails in their system they dance floor was packed.

 

 

 

 

 

I finally made it to visit Zia Julie. She attended an auction at St. Ambrose the previous night and came home with a white poodle named Muffy. She is pretty cute and very well trained for a rescue dog. I was able to get a free helping of Risott spend a little time catching up.

Halloween

I spent some of Halloween night in St. Louis Hills handing out candy. There must of been over 250 kids at our door. I always knew this was the neighborhood to go trick or treating in but I can't believe how popular it has become. I heard some good jokes and heard some of the same ones I used to say. Reily was dressed at a dog skelton and everyone seemed to think it was the best costume.

For my Halloween I went to a bar in South County called Phoenix. It was pretty trashy and only one fight broke out. It was a lot of fun dancing and singing along to the "Metal Studs," the cover band.
I had my first kickball practice on Saturday and I need some help in kicking the ball. After practice my shin was a giant bruise. It was fun to finally meet most of the team members and get over that initial nervousness.

I had dinner at Magiano's in Brentwood with Loreen and her family. I hadn't seen her since the reunion in June and before that was her wedding. It was fun to catch up with her and see her daughter, Alison.

After dinner I met up with Liz, she and I went to grade school together and hung out with a lot of the same people in high school. It took us 4 hours to catch up on all the gossip from the last 10 years. It's amazing to see how after this long people can fall back in the same friendships. I'm learning that these are truly the relationships that are meant to last.

Apple Time!

This weekend was another fun filled two days. I decided to hit the mall Saturday morning to start my search for winter clothes. I was able to find a couple shirts and still need a winter coat. I met up with Ben & Ellen for Elizabeth's soccer game at Tilles Park. Reily joined and had a fun time going for a walk around the park. I was able to catch up with a new people from St. Gabe's.

After the game Reily and I headed over to Ben & Ellen's to let Lily and Reily play. The dogs got along well, thankfully. We then headed over to Hampshire Vetta for Benton's basketball game. On the way I decided it would be ok to join Ellen and the girls to see High School Musical 3. I walked away with such a headache, I was informed that the first one was the best.

On Sunday I went apple picking at Eckert's in Millstadt, Illinois. I didn't remember there being more to do than just picking apples. I was pleasantly surprised to see the pumpkin launcher, shot pumpkins over 100 yards. There was an animal feeding area, spinning apple rides, pig races, and cloggers. The apple pickings were slim by the time we made it to the trees. I managed to take an apple to the nose, thankfully no bruising the next day. We even hit the pumpkin patch on the way back. There was a pretty good selection of 15lb pumpkins. If you look hard through the pumpkin patch you can see the St. Louis Skyline.

After the day at the farm we stopped at Otto's in Millstadt for an early dinner. I'm pretty sure the bar was built in 1900s. I was told they have amazing fish sandwiches, I had an amazing hot dog.

Fall In St. Louis

This past weekend was my first full weekend back in St. Louis. I took full advantage of having different things to do. I now know there are way too many bars in South City. Many more than that few I've driven past or heard other talking about. But every time I visited I never really went out drinking and now knowing where to go out is foreign to me. Thanks to Tom, I now can check off Blackthorn's off Wynoming, for pizza, and can Felix's and Seamus McDaniel's in Dogtown.

I had decided earlier in the week that I was going to take Reily to a dogpark that I found. It was located in Wilmore Park and thought she would love it. I might have been right had I read the signs that it was a member only dog park. I found that I would of had to pay yearly fees of $80 since I'm a non-city resident. We decided to pass on that dog park and just walk Wilmore. Reily didn't seem to mind one bit, even tried to jump in one of two lakes.

I made my first trip to the Missouri wineries. We ventured up to Agusta and went to the Sugar Creek and Montelle wineries. I was surprised to see everyone bringing their own food to Sugar Creek. It was a great day to roll out the blanket, eat and drink to the live music. The only down side was the wine most of us liked was very expensive. I actually ran into the Zenner's from Bentonville, AR at Sugar Creek.

After Sugar Creek we drove down the road to Montelle. What a view from the top! It made the horrible walk to the top well worth it. After an afternoon at the wineries we drove all the way to Soulard, to Big Daddy's, for the Mizzou/UT game. I think most of the bar stopped watching after the first half and I concetrated on the Boston/Tampa baseball game. (Go Rays!)

On Sunday, I went on a Kron family outting to Grant's Farm. I believe the last time I visited I was 12 or even younger. I don't think too many things have actually changed there. The thing that still scared me was the tram ride through the park with live animals. The wild buffalo just inches away from the doorless tram. The thing I enjoyed the most, the free 2 or more cups of any AB product I wanted to try. Those smart AB retirees started to recognize you after your 3 glass. I still think feeding the goats or just letting them eat your clothes is my favorite part.