Labor Day 2012-4 Hands Brewery

Since Annheuser Busch was bought by InBev, the craft beer industry in St. Louis has exploded.  For the past 2 years, I've enjoyed sampling the local fruits of the area.  Recently, a friend of DiCarlo's, Kevin, opened 4 Hands Brewery a couple of blocks from Busch Stadi​um.  Kevin and I met at a Widespread Panic concert several years back but it'd be a miracle if either of us could pick the other from a police lineup.

After the museum we decided to have some snacks and libations so we stopped.  Thanks to Kevin for opening the brewery up to us to explore.  The beer was excellent and he should be very proud of creations.

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Labor Day 2012-City Museum

For the second straight Labor Day weekend, we traveled northeast to St. Louis to visit the DiCarlos.  We left after work and arrived late but there was no time to catch up on rest as we were off this morning to the City Museum in downtown St. Louis.  It was one of the best museums ever for children.  There were multiple levels both indoors and out.  The rooftop was closed due to rain so no ferris wheel and crazy bus hanging off the building.  The place is highly recommended.  You can tell by the pictures, I was in charge of Noah.  You've never lived until you've tried to scale 40-50 foot scaffolding holding a camera and chasing a fearless 6 year old. ​

P.S. This is the type of post that made me change the website again.  I love the idea of a gallery within a post instead of making so many stand alone galleries. Enjoy!​

Another year, another new web architecture...

The site is all new.  Parts look the same but the backend is totally different...again.  The new site is written fully in html 5 so it should be more future proof and it will render properly on all modern browsers and those cool phones we all carry around these days.​ I'm sure I'll have some broken links now but I'm sure there's an omelet/egg metaphor that'll fit. Hopefully all the pains of moving will be over seen.  If something doesn't work right, just let me know.

I wish I had a cool haiku or limerick to mark the occasion but it's taken me a lot of tinkering to get the galleries to work properly so I'll just bid you adieu.​

So much trouble

I'm not sure how she gets so much...girlier every week. Cam has now taken to caring a purse with her everywhere "like Belle!"
This morning I dropped her off and she sashayed into Stephanie's house showing off her purse. Stephanie asked her if anything was in it and she whispered behind her hand "I got paper towels in it" then dropped her hand and smiled big at sharing her secret.

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First Grade!

Noah has been pretty low key about moving up to the first grade.  In fact, until last night he didn't seem to even notice it's arrival.  His teacher this year is Mrs. Collier.  I know her pretty well having had students in her classroom each year since the school has been open.  At the open house she sent home a really nice poem.  Noah wasn't allowed to open it until bedtime last night.  It was very cute and it came with magic confetti to put under his pillow to help him get a good night of sleep.  It kind of had the opposite of the intended effect.  He suddenly got super excited and was telling us all the kids he couldn't wait to see tomorrow.  He was also pumped about all the science he will learn.  He wants to be a marine biologist in case you haven't heard.  This morning he was ready to go.  His mom had to fix the cowlick he couldn't fix himself.  A big breakfast he was set.  Jenna was pretty ok with everything.  She decided to not walk him in the building this year so her emotional time was last night.  This morning though, it was Cam who talked the most about Noah's first day at school.  She followed him everywhere and just had that look on her face.  I think I captured what both of them were feeling perfectly.

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Leader in Yellow

Noah graduated to his yellow belt Saturday morning. Even more exciting was being invited into the leadership class. Ever since he began Taekwondo he has cast an envious eye towards the kids in the leadership class. Each graduation 1 or 2 students are recognized and are issued an invitation to a separate more advanced class.

During the orange belt level 1 cycle one of the monthly lessons was Goals. Noah told us he was setting a goal to work hard and be invited into leadership. The leadership class has different lessons beyond form and technique. Most importantly (to Noah) is weapons training and contact sparring.

That graduation he was very disappointed when he wasn't invited into leadership. Jenna and I were disappointed too because he wanted it so much. Honestly though it was a good lesson to be learned. I always tell him you learn more from failure than success and it held true here. Yesterday when they called his name Jenna let out a squeal. He was comically stoic as he walked up to accept the invitation. Afterwards he beamed for the rest of the day.

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Swim lessons 2012

Noah did group swim lessons for the first time this year. He was tested the first day and was the youngest kid in his group. This made Jenna both proud and nervous. He was nervous because he was the only kid in his group who couldn't touch where they met. So during instruction he had to tread water.

I'm always amazed how much kids learn from strangers. It's maddening. His lessons corresponded with the Olympics perfectly. At night what he learned was reinforced by seeing the best in the world.
This morning I stopped by for the first time to see him going off the high dive. He is such a good swimmer but I think this is his love.

Office Floor

I haven't posted anything about it but most of you know we are in the midst of a massive remodel at the house.  We've been on a concrete slab for 5 weeks now.  The floor installers are doing concrete work today and will begin putting down the hardwood tomorrow.  When it's all done I'll have pics and such.

The office however is done now.  The office (aka the Blue Room) has been a multifunctional room since we moved in.  We originally were going to put carpet back in the room.  Then we decided to extend the hardwood into there.  Then we decided to extend the hardwood into our bedroom and wanted something different in there.

So.....here we are installing the new cork flooring last weekend.

Paint the Park Pink 2012

The Naturals hold a benefit for Komen every year.  This is the same one a few years back when Jenna threw out the first pitch.  This year she was asked to be part of a group of survivors recognized before the game.  This kids had a great time.  If it hadn't been 12000 degrees we probably wouldv'e stayed past the 5th inning.

Blueclaws go undefeated!!!

I'm sure if we kept score it would've been a successful season but the kids think we were undefeated so that's what we'll go with.  This was Noah's last teeball season as he'll move on to pitching machine next year.  He's definitely ready in batting and his catching/fielding came around big time in the summer league.  It was a fun group of boys.  The summer season was way more crammed in versus the spring season so I don't feel I got to know the boys as well as past teams but they all had fun.  That's the main goal anyways.

Our proud mudskipper

When I was Noah's age I built forts to defend against the bad guys. He builds forts and pretends to be a mudskipper. After the 5th time Campbell tore it down and he got mad at her he brought the problem to me.

I explained the mudskipper's tunnels are flooded every time the tide changes and has to start over clearing out the tunnel of mud. So his sister is just playing the part of the endless cycle of nature and the constant shifting of the tides.

His eyes lit up like you wouldn't believe. He ran to the other room and proclaimed "Cam, that's awesome!"

I don't know if it's the amount of information available to kids the Internet provides today. Possibly it's the amazing videos of Planet Earth or Life. Maybe we just know how to be informative and entertaining. Whatever the reason, our children know more about the world we live in at 6 than I knew at 15. They are able to experience things we either read about in an encyclopedia or were at the mercy of whatever happened to be airing on TV on a Saturday morning. Now we can watch webcams of Eagle nests hatching and how the parents care for them-LIVE! Noah can hold my phone to the sky and it points out planets, constellations, and nebula. When a plane flies overhead an app can tell us where it came from, where it's headed, and what it's carrying.

Jenna was always scared of overexposing Noah to too much information when he was in preschool. She lives in the world of achievement and academics and she (rightfully) feels kids are beat over the head with curriculum from the moment they walk into a kindergarten classroom. She wanted him to just be a kid. The only problem is Noah CONSUMES information like it was his last meal. Maybe I just can't remember what it was like as a kid but what's available today can be overwhelming but our children are so remarkably adaptable they breathe it in and make it part of everyday.

When Noah asks me something I don't know he immediately says "let's look it up." He doesn't mean at some later point when it's possible. He means right now. I hold a button on my phone and ask it aloud for the tide schedule for western Australia (so we can check to see of the mudskipper is currently underwater). Then it tells me. Then he goes right back to playing having totally assimilated the information like it was the most natural thing in the world.