Okay - I left off at Friday evening...
We went out to eat at Stir Crazy, where Jack learned to use chopsticks and the thrill of watching chefs light food on fire. Ryker learned about edamame. He also tried to convince Chuck and me to share our wasabi salmon and curried chicken. The kid will eat anything.
Saturday was the big engagement party for Beth and Nik. It started with a bus tour through St. Louis (Ryker and I missed the festivities, as he napped through it). Jack and Chuck had their first trip to the top of the St. Louis Arch, and Jack experienced his first Ted Drewes' frozen custard (an StL tradition).
That night we had a fantastic dinner at ~Scape in the Central West End. Jack and Ryker donned button-up shirts, which Jack referred to as "work shirts" and had the best mac n' cheese of their lives. Seriously, it was amazing. Our food was great too, and the company was even better. Nik's family is so much fun and we had a good time getting to know each other.
The next morning brought brunch at BJ and Charlie's (aka Gaga and Papa's) house. The Karlsson clan watched in amazement as we ate our body weight in Gooey Butter Coffee Cake. Then the highlight of the weekend - Nik and Beth had put together a 15 minute slide show of pictures of both of them growing up and their time together in LA. It was amazing and brought most of us to tears. It paid tribute to those who aren't with us anymore and brought us closer to the future in-laws by sharing a glimpse of what it was like growing up a Karlsson (looked like fun!).
That night we brought Pasta House in to my mom's house and tired out Gaga, Papa and Beth with our crazy kids.
We decided to do the trip back in one day, not wanting to prolong the agony of road trips with really, really...ummm...vocal and expressive children. It was a huge success, and I'm not even being sarcastic. We stopped at a rest area that had a barn, which Jack was convinced would sell cows.
When we got home Jack ran in and exclaimed over and over "it is soooo gooood to be hoooome!" Ryker immediately grabbed the kitty's tail and exclaimed over and over "want DIIIISSSSS!"
It's good to be home and I'm so looking forward to seeing the whole crew together again next summer at the wedding.
P.S. Pics from the adventures are up on Flickr, link to the right.
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