Nicki needed to make a trip to the St. Louis Children’s hospital for an appointment with Matthew. When she asked us to tag along…I couldn’t say no to a road trip! Especially when we haven’t gone anywhere this summer as we save for our big vacation coming up next week. She bribed me with a trip up the Arch.
(One of the items on my bucket list is to go up the Arch. I know, some people want to go see the Pyramids or Israel, but mine is pretty simple with the Arch, zip-lining and Hawaii.)
We started with the appointment. There were so many people with walking aids and wheelchairs here that I finally didn’t feel like I stood out as different at all. Mac even told me, “Hey, Mom. When it’s time for you to get a wheelchair, we can come here!” 🙂 I fit right in!!
The boys did a great job as we waited.
Then it was off for the fun! We found a great (read: cheaper than what we thought!) parking spot between a lunch spot and the Arch. As we got lunch at the Arch View Cafe, we realized that this hot day was just going to get hotter. The boys started out a little grouchy with my pictures at only shot number 2…I’m not sure if it was my shouting, “Look at me! Smile!” or “Look at Meme!! Smile! Now me! Look at me! Smile!” We were trying to get the shots in between people walking behind, in front of, between us and didn’t have much time. They didn’t seem to get the importance of the stop, turn, smile all in a second. Here was one of our first attempts of a kids only shot. First, Patrick had a meltdown because Mac hurt him (tried to turn him toward the camera) then that offended Mac and so he took off grumpy and refused to smile. Thankfully, a helicopter flew right over us distracting them and then they smiled for the camera. Here’s what we ended up with:
All that was just in the first hour! But then it definitely got better and I ended up with so many great group shots that I can’t even post them all on this post. You’ll have to check out the photo album to see them all.
Approaching the Arch was very exciting for me. I kept trying to get great shots of it, then realized that they were all cool. It’s such a neat thing to look at to me. From a distance, I judged it to be made out of stone. I was quite surprised to walk up to it and see that it’s silver! We learned in our video that the material it’s made out of actually creates quite a few different ‘looks’ for it depending on the time of day and the way the sun hits it.
Excited to board the capsule! (We lovingly named ours the Party Pod as you’ll learn later in the post.)
The elevator up the Arch was quite a surprise. It put each of the boys on nervous edge on the way up. At one point, I thought we might lose Matthew to tears of fear, but he pulled through nicely and even relaxed enough to enjoy a little of it…maybe.
Once at the top, each of the boys had a blast. Here are a few of my favorite shots.
The trip down the elevator was quite different as they knew what to expect and were much more relaxed. They even dared to stand to do a little dance while it was moving!
He proved he wasn’t afraid anymore by standing while it was moving.
Not to be outdone, Matthew joined him.
And since you’re standing, why not break out in dance?! Party in the Pod!!
It was a great day. Hot and exhausting, but so much fun. The boys did a great job overall and Nicki and I got to spend one of our last days of summer together in a memorable way.