Thanksgiving 2014

This year a lot of people were in St. Louis for the holiday.  We did the usual: ate, drank, played games.  Dee Dee also organized a "demolition ball" game out in St. Charles.  Afterward, we went back to JoAnn's and celebrated Celia's birthday.  It was a nice time, and it was good to see everyone!

Here is a link to a few photos from this year's Thanksgiving.

Lauren's Birthday

Went to the Boathouse.  It was Lauren's 26th.  Had some food and good company. 

++Here is a video of her birthday ice cream.++

Drew's13th Birthday

Today the family celebrated Drew's13th birthday.  The weather was nice, and we had some drinks and BBQ.  Of course there were presents and cake.

After lunch, there was badminton and ping pong.

Here is a video of the birthday action.

Suzanne's Shower

Suzanne and Deepak came in for a surprise baby shower this weekend.

The day of the shower, Lauren took them to Schlafly Bottleworks for a tour of the brewery, giving us time to prepare for their party.

When it was time to boogie down, Suzanne was brought into the basement for her surprise.  There were drinks and disco music, inspiring JoAnn to do some dancing from time to time.  In the meantime, Lauren and Chris were behind the bar, mixing up champagne drinks and a special recipe from Imbibe Magazine.

Joyce took over next as the game-master, keeping us entertained with several shower games and prizes.  My personal favorite was the name game, since Deepak came up with the name Quinellope, which is now my choice for the baby's name.

After the games, Mom and Ken served some barbeque and good food.  Marta was fascinated with Deepak's Jeopardy appearance.

When dinner was over, it was time for presents.  Suzanne and Deepak got several nice things, which were, in turn, passed around as we "pumped up the jams".

Dessert followed the presents, and two types of cupcakes along with Ted Drewes were offered.  Some people went outside to play the badminton game that Dee Dee set up in the back yard.

One of the highlights of the night was Ken and Drew playing with the dry ice from the Ted Drewes.  Here is a video of their escapades.  I guess this is what you get when you invite guys to a baby shower.

The night ended with fireworks and the last innings of the baseball game.  It was a fun night, and hopefully we've gotten the wee baby off on the right foot.

Here are some pictures of the day (email me any of your pictures if you would like me to add them to the album)

Memorial Golf Tournament

 Everything finally came together for the Bob Mattler Memorial Golf Tournament.  Several people came in town for the tournament, and it was a nice day and a fun tournament.

Besides the golf, the family got together for several activities which included dinner at Rigazzi's, a baseball game, zombie related events, and lunch at a Mexican restaurant.

Here are some photos of the day's events:

https://plus.google.com/photos/114462102441110623955/albums/5898564389343098417?banner=pwa

Dee Dee's 50th Birthday

We started the day with champagne brunch, then drove out to the wineries.  It was a beautiful day at Mount Pleasant in Augusta.  Afterward, we had a picnic at Klondike Park, and then went to iTap for some drinks.  Some 70's music helped to pass the time as we picked up Drew and went back home for dinner and presents.  We finished the night with some bowling.

Here's a link to the pictures.

https://plus.google.com/photos/114462102441110623955/albums/5869315299317933217?authkey=CMLLmo2o0dau_AE

Here's the video of Happy Birthday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCRzOdYVUOc&feature=youtu.be

Spring Break 2011

We decided to catch some rays for spring break this year, so we headed down to Orange Beach, AL for the first part of our trip. (It's right next to Gulf Shores if that rings a bell.)

Orange Beach has really nice beaches. They're wide and flat with white sand that ends in dunes. We rented a condo, so it was nice to have a place with a kitchen and all the comforts of home. We spent a lot of time on the beach, and went back to the condo for the occasional snack or daiquiri. Outside of the beach, it's really touristy, with a lot of tee shirt shops and mini golf and the like. You can get an idea of the place by the big, purple octopus picture.

The weather was really nice - in the high 70's and sunny - so we were able to lie on the beach all day. I only got in the water a few times; however, since it was pretty cold.

After three days on the beach, we headed over to New Orleans. We stayed in the Quarter again, and went to a lot of our favorite places, but we always try new things when we go down there too. This time we went for a carriage ride which took us on a cemetery tour. We saw Marie Laveu's tomb, but the best part of the tour was just slowly clip-clopping through the Quarter, imagining what the city felt like a few hundred years earlier, and sipping on a bloody Mary from Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop.

We tried a few restaurants when we were down there, notably Antoine's and Galatoire's. Both are really old places. Antoine's was founded in 1840 and they're famous for oysters Rockefeller, and a few other recipes. Again, it had that old New Orleans charm of a time that has long past. I could imagine getting off of a steamboat, and stopping into a place like that for dinner.

A lot of the last set of photos is from the St. Patrick's Day parade. We encountered it by accident last year, and it was so much fun we decided to catch it again this year. New Orleans has so many facets to it. This wasn't the genteel Southern facet, but rather the rowdy Bourbon Street facet.

That's what I like so much about that city. One minute you can be having a quiet drink at Hermes, and a block away, you can step into a mini Mardi Gras with beads flying and music blaring.

It was fun...here are some pictures of the trip.

+++ Click here for some photos of our trip +++