We’re here for the week for a family reunion with the Thraps. We’re staying at a pretty nice place–we even have a kitchen in our room and we just discovered that the fridge has an ice-maker! Woohoo! Today is our first full day here. The hotel offers a breakfast buffet with a nice variety of options, I had eggs, sausage, a belgian waffle with blueberry compote and cranberry juice this morning. I was tempted by the donuts, maybe I’ll have one of those tomorrow with some oatmeal… Anyway, we went to the Meramec Caverns today. I tried to approach the experience as “Josh Bernstein” as possible with all the kids. Actually, they were all pretty well behaved, and seemed to enjoy the hour and a half long personal tour that our group was given. It was pretty cool. Literally. The temp in the caves is around 60o F yearound. Luckily, I was prepared with sweatshirts for the kids. After the caves we got some lunch which didn’t go as smoothly as we’d hoped so when we passed a White Castle (where neither Josh or I have ever eaten) we felt compelled to see what all the hype was about so we tried a cheeseburger. Thankfully, I had convinced Josh that since we’d just eaten and I only had enough change to buy one burger that one was all we needed to get a taste. NASTY!!! OMIGOLLY, it was foul! I had one bite and thought I was going to have a reversal (like Elise had earlier during our actual lunch)! Josh managed a couple bites, but even he tossed the sandwich remains back in the sack and tried to wash the taste out of his mouth with a whole cup full of water. Continuing on our way back to the hotel, we were nearly run off the road and smashed into a couple of times–for some reason these drivers seem to lack basic merging skills. Very tension-causing. Safely back at the hotel we agreed to take the kids to the pool. We swam for about an hour before it was time to get dressed for dinner. This hotel has what it calls “social hour.” Basically it is a continental dinner in the commons area. Tonights menu included french fries and chicken fries, salad, and Pepsi (beer and wine also available, red and white). When they ran out of chicken fries they substituted toasted raviolis, and apparently when those also ran out the kitchen lady ran across the parking lot and picked up a bunch of Big-N-Tasty’s from McDonalds. This evening we caravaned out to a park near a lake and held the 2nd Thrap Olympics. I was told that they would not require any athleticism or running. I was lied to. Basically it was a series of relay races and the teams were predetermined so I couldn’t really NOT participate and I didn’t want to let my team down. Thankfully, I think I was placed on a pretty laid back team. Of course we didn’t win. Cameron’s team won and he got a trophy, which I’m sure he’ll enjoy, but at the time he was more interested in blowing bubbles. I think I only got two new bug bites at the park, so that was good (considering I got like six last night at dinner outside the hotel). So, now we’ll probably watch Shark Week on Discovery until we fall asleep and tomorrow we are headed to the zoo. I know some people dislike when blog posts are just like little travelogues, but hey, it’s what’s going on in our lives right now so…I won’t be able to post pictures until we get home in like two weeks, but I’m trying to get some fun shots so if any turn out I’ll share them here. G’night.
Archive for July, 2007
I am picky about the kinds of history that interest me. For example, my dad has always been interested in the Civil War and more recently has become obsessed some might say about geneology. While I agree that both are important both historically and as lessons to the present and future, they bore me. Not my thing. In seventh grade, we didn’t specifically have History class, it was still called Social Studies, but it covered some History. I found my teacher (who will remain unnamed here) to be a gigantic dork and I couldn’t stand listening to him or watching him. I went to visit the nurse during his class more than is probably appropriate. You may be thinking to yourself…”ok, but are you sure the real problem wasn’t just that you were a bratty preteen?” Touche. But, at the same time I had other classes with teachers who kept me engaged so, no, ultimately I do not think the problem was me. Of course seventh grade turned me off to a lot about school and I floated through as much of high school as possible, but luckily for me I had an AWESOME history teacher my first semester of college. And then, when we had to move to Ames for Josh’s education and I stayed at home with three kids in the 700ft married student housing with free cable I discovered the History Channel. Wow. I love the History Channel. Initially it sucked me in with shows like Modern Marvels, Histories Mysteries, Wrath of God and Decoding the Past, and now, almost five years later, it keeps me rivoted with shows like Digging for the Truth, Ancient Discoveries, Cities of the Underworld, and all the specialty shows like Star Wars Legacy Revealed. And what’s even better about it is that Jacob enjoys watching the shows with me. I know my kids watch a lot of tv, but at least some of it is educational! This week for example Jacob and I have learned about the ancient Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut and how they found her mummy, and about the underground cities of Cappadocia and how the early Christians used the tunnels to survive attack. Fascinating.
Now you’re just like the rest of us! Ha ha! Seriously, have an AWESOME day–can’t wait to see you guys on the weekend!
Last Monday Grandma Thrap took the kids & I and Big Elise & Charley to Adventureland! It was quite warm, but not overwhelmingly hot, and I was actually quite surprised by the number of rides that even the two little girls were able to go on as long as they were companied by an adult. Of course I don’t have pictures from those rides because I was riding them! But here are a couple of the shots I did get. I had just written a nice long thing here about the kids favorite rides etc, and then Elena came by and swatted at the keyboard and it all disappeared! I’m a little too frustrated now to try to rewrite it, so I’ll post this for now and maybe I’ll add more later. Long story short–the kids enjoyed Adventureland.
I am a Nerd. From my previous post and now this one I am certified and teaching classes!
I saw Transformers in DLP on Monday night 8:00 show with Matt Strum, Tom Wolbers, and my brother Jason. It was intense. The down side was the 23 minutes of previews (half of which were for TV shows or product commercials. They had to find a way for us to not DVR all the commercials out.)
The movie was more than I expected. I was originally bummed since they changed Bumblebee from a VW Bug to a Camaro, but He looks awesome. The movie is comedy, action and childhood memories all wrapped up in one.
I could not get it out of my mind, and constantly talked about it to the point that Kate and Becca let Chris and I take the kids to go see it on Friday afternoon. It yet again exceeded my expectations. Jacob, Michael and Elise loved it. Audrey were entertained. Cameron was cold, but It will be a future DVD in our home. I can’t hardly wait to see the behind the scenes extras!!!!
www.Lego.com just added 2 Amazing Sets. One Jedi Starfighter with Hyper Drive Booster Ring Episode II and III and the upgraded new and improved MTT
from Episode I. I am excited. I know it sounds slightly or completely insane, but they are both sets I have been waiting for.