Sunday, August 3, 2008

Friday's Fond Memory
trip to St. Louis
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As we drove down old I-70 this weekend to take the girls to St. Louis, I couldn't help but remember our family trip to St. Louis about 1993. Nine months prior my dad had sat us all down for a family meeting. He proposed that if we did well the following school year, behaved, helped around the house, etc. he and my mom would take us on a family trip to St. Louis. He even promised a train ride to get there. Being geographically challenged, we thought this was as good as Paris or Tokyo for all we knew. We were thrilled, and motivated though I don't recollect how long it took for the motivation to wear-off (I'm thinking hours, maybe just minutes). Nevertheless we must have behaved well-enough, because an early morning the following summer Grandma dropped us at the old train depot and we headed down the track. The picture above was taken as we were waiting for the train at the station...we were SO excited. As I recall the trip was a blast, better than Paris! We hit the Magic House and the Science Museum - and the best part was my mom harrassing the attendant at the top of the Arch because she could feel the arch swaying and it was FREAKING her out (how she survived the trip to the top in the Mork-and-Mindy pod was shocking). Besides learning about science, and how to deal with irrational customers at the top of high-swaying arches, the lesson I found most valuable from the experience was the power of a good bribe, which is why we're dangling Disney over C's head like a carrot in front of a hungry donkey.

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