Meet Me In St. Louis

We were off in St. Louis for Memorial day weekend, visiting our old college campus and seeing college friends. For those of you who don't know, Brian and I both went to Washington University, which is convenient for these kind of reunion trips. It was a blast to see everybody and reminisce about good old times while taking in the familiar sights. The original intent of the trip was to meet up with Liz, Lizzie, Jasenka, Esther, Dan, Tyler and their signficant others. In the end, Grandma and Grandpa Koster, Uncle Tony, and Aunt Katie surprised us by driving to St. Louis to see Claire! We aren't even going to pretend that they wanted to see all three of us...we accept the fact that she is cuter than us.

We took Claire to her first baseball game, Cards vs. Royals. She slept from the first pitch all the way through to the fireworks at the end of the game with the Cards winning 5-0.

Grandma and Grandpa snatched her up at the botanical gardens and we had a good chunk of free time! Claire was extremely sociable and in a good mood, despite the sporadic rain showers.

Claire slept through most of our campus tour, which was probably a good thing because it is sooo nice now, she might have cried until we let her go to school there.

Brian was worried the Economy or Compact car we normally get from Priceline wouldn't be big enough so he decided to splurge the $17 a day for a "Premium" car. What they didn't explain to us was that "Premium" actually meant "Your Grandpa's Car". It might be hard to tell from the picture, but we spent the weekend driving around in a Mercury Grand Marquis. Aside from looking like a car you have to be at least 75 to drive, its hood was so big it was hard to see out. Aside from the fact that people we're pointing and laughing when they saw us drive by and we DIDN'T have white hair, the car did have several advantages. First was the ultra-smooth ride, which although it was nice, Claire didn't fall asleep as easy in the car because she didn't feel the normal vibrations of a moving vehicle. The second is the amazing amount of trunk space. This made the car equally good for a mobster as two people fit comfortably. Liz and Lizzie proved it by getting and closing the top. We believe that 4 maybe 5 bodies would fit if you were in a pinch.

We were very impressed with Uncle Tony's baby-holding skills, considering his lack of experience in this area. As you can tell in the picture, Claire demands a standing position more and more these days. She can't talk yet but she lets you know how she wants to be positioned!


We also spent a significant amount of time with the Small's (that's their last name, not any indication of their size). Yet somehow we didn't manage to get any pictures of Tyler or Trish Small... again, not because of their size. I promise that we did see them though. Tyler and Brian went for runs together both Saturday and Sunday and although Brian is significantly out of shape he did manage to chase Tyler around the park, through the University and through Clayton. Tyler was going signficantly slower than his normal 5:40 paced 18-miler on Sunday mornings, but it appeared he had a good time nonetheless. At the very least, Brian is very grateful for Tyler kicking his ass around the old school. The biggest highlight of running around St. Louis was
undoubtedly seeing all of the changes that have happened in the last 9 years. Both the South 40 and the Hilltop Campus (excuse me... the Danforth Campus) have changed significantly but the most shocking change of all is the fact that the old house Brian used to live in on Forsyth was gone. Not just altered, gone. The entire house had been torn down and a brand new one was built in its place. Old the old memories, the tire swing out front, even the big tree holding the tire swing were gone.

Another highlight was seeing the "Festival of Miles" put on by the Big River Running Company yearly and held at St. Louis University High. Apparently a bunch of famous runners have gone to this school but the only one I know is Tim Probst captain of the 1996 Washington University Bears Cross Country team. This year's goal was too gather a sufficiently elite group of runner's such that at least one of them would break the 4 minute mile. Tyler and Brian weren't invited but in the end it was an amazing race in which not 1 but 3 people broke the impressive barrier. (The winner ran 3:55).

If you ask Claire she might tell you the highlight of her trip was going to Ted Drewes for the first and second times. Although she didn't get to consume any tasty concrete's she did get an excellent picture of with one.

A final note... After being depressed that Chuy's was no longer around (apparently they're rebuilding somewhere else), Tyler recommended we go to "Mi Ranchito" which is just off the loop in a less than ideal part of the city, but man is it good food. Next time we visit, we'll definately be consuming more of their tasy fare and washing it all down with Ted Drewes.