3 Years

Almost 2 months after the date, Alan and I decided that we could not miss celebrating our 3rd anniversary with our traditional dinner at The Melting Pot. We were excited to find out that St. Louis actually has 2 locations, and we went to the one in Town & Country. They had a brand new Big Night Out menu highlighting French cuisine: it was wonderful! Even though we have had the chance to do a lot of fun things together since our "real" anniversary in July, taking a night just to celebrate 3 years of marriage was really special for us both. It was also fun to see how we have grown over the past 3 years and see where God has brought us individually and as a couple. I am continuously amazed and humbled by God's graciousness to us.

Glow!

Alan and I went to Forest Park to see the Balloon Glow. It is a beautiful scene of inflated hot air balloons lighted by their burners. We had to walk quite a ways since traffic was so bad, but getting to Central Field and walking through all the beautiful balloons was awesome! Every 5 minutes or so, an air-horn would sound and all the balloons would light up in unison. Tomorrow, Energizer presents the 38th Annual Great Forest Park Balloon Race. All the hot air balloon contestants will "chase" the Energizer bunny balloon. We will not be at the race since we will be cheering on the Vols, but still-it sounds pretty cool! After the Glow, Alan and I wandered through the Central West End and had a wonderful dinner on the patio of the Drunken Fish, a great Sushi place! The variety of great activities in St. Louis amazes me!

Alan's 27th Birthday!

Alan and I began celebrating his birthday on Friday night with dinner at Hacienda's. It's a great little Mexican place that Alan found about 5 minutes from our house, and we enjoyed dinner, a few coronas, and a fried ice-cream birthday treat!

On Saturday, the festivities continued with breakfast at Companion Bread which it a cute place in Clayton that had wonderful egg quiches and breakfast sandwiches. From there we explored the Clayton Farmer's Market and then headed to the annual St. Louis Art Fair in downtown Clayton. It was really fun to walk through all the tents and see the art. They had everything! I think Alan's favorite part was smelling all the good food, and peeking into the little bars that lined some of the streets to check in on the football games (does that really surprise you...) That afternoon, we headed to Chesterfield which is about 30 minutes west of where we live to watch a Polo match. Sadly, when we got there we found out that the match had been cancelled due to the rain the night before. Hopefully we'll be able to make it to a match at some point this fall. Saturday night we stayed in to cheer on the Vols from our couch. I surprised Alan with a cookie cake, but his excitement was not enough to bring home a win for the volunteers. We are keeping our fingers crossed for next week when they play Florida!

Sunday was ALAN'S BIRTHDAY! We started the day off right with donuts from a local donut shop called Ray's, and then headed to church at The Kirk of the Hills. This was our second Sunday visiting this church, and we think that this is where we'll settle. We have met several great couples there and we are going to visit a Small Group this Thursday night. After church, we celebrated some more with lunch at Whole Foods Market (thanks Patrick and Elizabeth for the tip) It was really good, the only problem was there were so many good things we both had trouble deciding what we wanted to eat. When we got home, Alan opened up his cards and presents! We then spent the remainder of the afternoon watching football and spending some time out by the pool. All in all it was a pretty successful weekend, the only thing that could have been better is if we got to share the day with all of you! Love from St. Louis- we miss y'all!

Labor Day in Chicago

With Alan and I both having a 3-Day weekend for Labor Day, we thought it would be a great opportunity to take a quick road trip. We considered going home for the first UT football game, and then decided that it would be fun to do something a little bit closer to St. Louis. So, we decided to visit Chicago: The Windy City!

The weather could not have been better! We arrived on Saturday afternoon after a 4 hour drive, checked into our hotel, and headed out to explore the city. Our first stop was Millennium Park where we had fun taking pictures of the big "bean" :) We then went to Navy Pier where we ate lunch, had a drink at the Beer Garden, and just walked around people watching. In the Family Pavilion, Alan spotted one of his favorite things...Garrett Popcorn! We waited in a 20 minute line to get the famous "Chicago Mix" of cheese and caramel popcorn-it was worth the wait! We then headed to Grant Park where the annual Jazz Festival was taking place this weekend. We also stopped by some of the major sites in Chicago: Buckingham Fountain, Field Museum, and Shedd Aquarium. Next we headed back to our hotel to get ready for our dinner reservation!

We had dinner Saturday night at The Signature Room which is on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building. Even with a reservation, we had to wait an hour for a window table, but if you're going to eat at The Signature Room- you must have a window table! We both got the surf n turf which was excellent!

On Sunday, our main plan for the day was to go to the Chicago Cubs game. I asked Alan if I could get a Cubs t-shirt at one of the little places selling them in Wrigleyville, and his response was, "Erica, wearing a Cubs shirt is worse than wearing a Florida Gators shirt!" So needless to say, we remained neutral in white that day. Alan and I met up with my friend, Lindsey, and her boyfriend, Cody, at Cubby Bear which is a little bar in Wrigleyville and had a few drinks before the game. We then went to the game which was a lot of fun! Wrigley Field is one of the oldest stadiums in the country, so it was really cool being at a place that had so much character. The Cubs lost (which Alan was happy about) and we had a terrific time.

That night we met up with Lindsey and Cody again and had traditional deep dish Chicago style pizza at Giordano's. It was really good, but Alan and I agree that we both like Stefano's in Knoxville better. After eating way to much pizza, we took a walk down by the riverwalk and the Magnificent Mile and window shopped all the designer stores. I think Alan was relieved that they were all closed so I didn't have the option to drag him into them and shop, but it was fun just to look and see everything. Monday morning Alan took a run and ran to Soldier Field to see it, and then we headed back to St. Louis. It was a quick trip, but a really fun time to get away for a couple days and see a really great city.

Wine Country

Alan and I have been so pleasantly surprised by all the things to do in St. Louis. A guy that Alan met at Wash U recommended the St. Charles Wineries for us to go see, so a couple of weekends ago that is just what we did. We headed out around 11:00am and about an hour later (after getting lost twice) we arrived at our first stop. The first winery we visited was Augusta Winery which is one of the oldest wineries in the area. We tried several different wines here and ended up getting a bottle of the Norton which is a somewhat famous wine in the area and was featured on the Today Show. The next stop was Mount Pleasant Winery which was probably the most "touristy" of all the wineries but still very fun. The next winery was Montelle which has the same owners as Augusta, and it is beautifully situated on a hillside overlooking the vineyards. We ate lunch at a cafe here, and relaxed while listening to live music and enjoying the sunshine. Our next stop was Sugar Creek Winery which was a little more laid back, and not quite so much going on. The last stop of our little tour was Chandler Hill which is a newer winery in the area, and overlooks a lake on the property. We really enjoyed the tastings here, but were not able to stay as long as we probably would have liked because the place was being set up for a wedding reception. One thing that we thought was interesting was that there were a lot of Bachelorette entourages out at the different wineries. While bachelorettes go out at night in Knoxville, apparently visiting the wineries on a Saturday afternoon is the thing to do in St. Louis. In addition to tasting good wines, Alan and I really enjoyed driving through the countryside and just seeing more of the area around us.

Cardinal Baseball Curse

Whether it is the fact that Erica and I went to our first Cardinal baseball game or the fact that Sean Daigle came to visit us in St.Louis while training to fly a new plane, the fact remains that the Cardinals have not won since those things happened.

This past Saturday Erica and I went to our first Cardinal baseball game together. They played the Cubs and Chris Carpenter pitched. Before the game began, I made Erica go and watch batting practice with high hopes of getting a baseball. About halfway through the Cubs taking BP a ball was hit about 20 feet from where we were and almost hit a few fans. I, being the observant one, was watching the fans fight over the ball, when all of a sudden I hear Erica yell and a thump. As it turns out a ball went about a foot from my face and landed right at my foot. It is for this reason that Erica and I are holding a ball with shocked faces.

However, the rest of the game didn't turn out so great and the Cardinals did not come out on top. After they lost the next day and then their next game against the Brewers, I decided that I MUST go back to reverse the curse. Adam Wainwright was pitching in a day game and I was certain they would win against an average Brewer team. However, they were not able to hit until the 9th inning and in the end it just was not enough to win. So although we have had a great time at the ballpark, I'm scared to go to any more games. However, I can guarantee that will not happen...

But that wasn't all we did this past weekend. As it turns out, Erica has a cousin, Sean Daigle, who is the son of Erica's mother's brother. Sean is a pilot for Colgan Air who you know as Continental Connection, United Express, and US Airways Express. Sean has been in St. Louis the past 2 weeks training to fly a bigger plane. Over the weekend we got the privilege of having him stay with us and between Sean and Mom and Dad Rockwell, we have now had as many guests as we had in 3 years at our old apartment.

On Saturday Night, we took him to eat at Ozzie's restaurant and, like the Rockwells, we walked around the Arch and riverfront. On Sunday we visited Covenant Presbyterian. That afternoon we visited the Budweiser Brewery then went to Ted Drewes for some frozen custard. Having Sean here was great, he told us all about flying, his fiancé, and updated us on his family. If only all our guests are as interesting as Sean, then living in St. Louis will be quite the adventure.

School is getting closer and Erica is getting more responsibility and excitement in her job everyday. Keep praying for us and please, come and visit!

St. Louisans or still Tourists?

We have now lived in St. Louis for 2 weeks and I think it is high time we call ourselves St. Louisans, but there is only one problem: we are still acting like tourists!

After we settled in and our family left, we stayed at home for a few days and unpacked. I quickly found a sports radio station that talked about Cardinal Baseball all day and that became my best friend. And although most of you thought the next sentence would be that talk radio only lasts for so long, that is not how this story goes. In fact, with school not starting for another few weeks, I have grown to enjoy listening to all the interviews (as well as the whining and complaining) about a professional sports team where they can really criticize as opposed to the college stuff I was used to in Knoxville.

However, my radio interests will not carry you all through the rest of this, so I will move on. Erica and I quickly found the Brentwood Public Library and checked out some books and movies to entertain ourselves. We also got internet and cable and we were officially "moved in."

Erica and I began to research the city and find out what we could do here to entertain ourselves. It didn't take long to realize there would be plenty to do. Last Friday night, Erica and I went out to eat at Pappy's. Pappy's is a Memphis style Bar-B-Q place that we attempted to eat at when the Rockwells were in town, but were not able to since it was closed due to selling out of food. We later learned that it is so popular that they often sell out of pork and are forced to close, so if you want to go there, you have to go early! It was worth it.

Our night did not end there as we finished our date by going to the City Museum. I'm not normally one for a museum full of art, but this is not normal art. In 1997, the city bought an old building that housed the International Shoe Company and went out and got a bunch of old "junk". They then used the junk to make a huge adult playground of cages, slides, and tunnels. Included is an old airplane, school bus, the world's largest pencil, and a mini circus. After being on our hands and knees for about 3 hours climbing, sliding, and exploring we didn't even have to pay for souvenirs to say we had gone as we clearly had the bruises, scrapes, and aches to prove it.

Over the past week, Erica has gotten settled into her new job, and I have now read 2 books and watched several movies (oh how I will miss these days in a few years when I'm working all the time...). Erica and I also discovered Forest Park as a great place to walk. Forest Park is located just outside of WashU and it was the location of the World's Fair in 1904. All but 2 buildings from the Fair were temporary and were torn down, but they converted the rest of the park into one of the Nation's largest urban parks, which happens to be about 500 acres larger than New York's Central Park. Although we have enjoyed it, the heat is as unbearable here as it is anywhere else in the South and the grueling 105 degrees has made it hard to take too long of walks.

After a week of recovery, the following Thursday we went to went to see a play at the Muny. The Muny is a giant outdoor theater located on the grounds of Forest Park. The theater was built in 1917 and when it opened they had a section in the back where the seats were free. Today they still have 1,500 free seats and although they seem about a mile away from the stage, of course I was cheap enough to only want to sit in them. So Erica and I went to see the musical Showboat, which interestingly made it's premier outside of New York at the Muny in 1930. The musical was one neither Erica and I had seen before and so neither of us recognized the songs. Although it might not rank as our favorite, the experience of watching theater at the Muny is very exciting.

This weekend, we are attending our first Cardinal baseball game in the New Busch Stadium, which happens to be Erica's first Cardinal baseball game, and my first Cardinals game when they are playing the evil Cubs. So, as you can see, although we now call ourselves St. Louisans, we are still acting like tourists.