Off to St. Louis

Last weekend we took our first family vacation in a very long time.  We decided it was time to go back to St. Louis. We had a great time. We stayed downtown.
Evelyn LOVED sleeping in the “Little Mermaid Princess Bed” which is the best way to describe how fluffy the beds were.
We had perfect weather. We went to the zoo in Forest Park. On the way we drove past St. Louis Children’s Hospital. It was Rowan’s home for nearly half of his life. Evelyn recognized the building and immediately said “I think there are babies in there! Like Baby Rowan!” Doc had a wonderful conversation with her in the car. She talked about how she wanted Rowan to be her friend and get big like her. She said he was her best friend. We talked about how nice it would have been if Rowan could be big like her and how much we all wanted that. Halfway through the conversation I started crying – and Doc kept it going. He did such a beautiful job talking through the thoughts and feelings seeing the hospital brought up in all of us.
By the time we made it to the zoo, we were ready to have a beautiful day. The zoo is fantastic. They habitats in STL put the ones in Tulsa and Oklahoma City to shame. It was a lot of walking, but we had a fantastic time.
We went on to spend some time at the arch and the Westward Expansion Museum. When we got up to the arch, Doc pointed to the top and asked Evelyn if she’d like to go up there. Evelyn gave him a shocked look and said, “NOO!” as if she was saying, “Who in their right mind would ever want to do something so stupid!?!?” – So we didn’t ride to the top, but we walked around, enjoyed taffy on the steps, and then went on a carriage ride along the river. This was Evelyn’s favorite part on the trip. She felt like a princess.
We walked around downtown and ate dinner with some of our good friends who live in St. Louis. It was a cool place at a statuary garden. Then we walked back (past lots of princess horses). The next morning we ate at the hotel restaurant and my amazing daughter actually asked the waitress to bring her “chocolate milk in a coffee cup” for her drink. The waitress not only did that, but put whipped cream on top. She was in “fancy” heaven.
We had a wonderful time together. It reminded us how much we love St. Louis and how much we might want to live there one day. It was nice to be back.
We are doing really well overall.  Everyone has moments. Sometimes we struggle with the way people are acting around us. We struggle with things other people say or what it seems people expect of us. Little things happen that remind us of Rowan.
I saw a pack of wolves at the OKC zoo a while ago. Every movement, every step towards us, the looks at one another, how quietly they moved…they just reminded me of him.