It's much easier to blog day-by-day as things happen. So much has been going on that by the time I sit down to blog, it's midnight every night (our time). It's been over a week since I last blogged, so I have lots to catch up on...
So here it goes. :)
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Refrigerator Hunting and An Old-Fashioned Dairy
Tonight was a really fun night. We headed to Sears to continue our refrigerator search, and found one with little hassle and in not that much time at all (yay!). :) (I was happy because the one mom ended up liking and getting was the one I had suggested in the first place.) :)
We have some Fitz's root beer in the fridge (in our opinion, the best root beer ever- from a small bottling company in University City, where we used to live here in St. Louis before we lived in FL), so we wanted to stop and get some ice cream to make root beer floats. We missed the turn for Dierberg's (one of two main grocery stores here- the other is Schnuck's), so when I saw a sign for a small ice cream shop, I suggested we turn in and buy some vanilla ice cream there.
When we headed inside to Oberweis Dairy, we found that it was a small, family-owned dairy that sells milk in glass bottles and is a lot like some of the dairies my mom grew up with in Ohio. They didn't have a tub of ice cream small enough for us to eat in one night (we still don't have a freezer until tomorrow at the earliest), so we decided to wait on the root beer floats and get a treat there.
The man who greeted us at the counter was a perfect example of a Midwestern gentleman. He was so welcoming and friendly, and even gave us a free half-gallon of their skim milk in the glass bottle for us to try. Then, he gave Ben and I each a $5 coupon to spend in the store on anything we wanted. He said he wanted to make sure that we would be returning customers, and wanted us to stop drinking "the artificial milk that's always tainted by the plastic bottles nowadays". :) You can even have their milk and other products delivered to your doorstep, which is what my mom's family had when they were younger.
After ordering our dessert, we sat down at a little table near the front window of the store. When our order came out, our ice cream was served in the classic glass dishes that make you think of sweet shoppes like the one in The Music Man.
Mom's chocolate shake was in a similar old fashioned glass. After tasting it, she said it was definitely a family-made shake, made with milk just like she used to drink when she was a girl. My brownie twist ice cream, Ben's birthday cake ice cream, and Dad's black cherry ice cream were all equally delicious, and we will definitely be going back to Oberweis any time we're in the mood for ice cream. :)
Another exciting part of today was that Dad was mentioned in an article in the St. Louis Business Journal. St. John's Mercy Hospital, where he works, just announced today that they will be replacing the current Washington, MO hospital with a brand new one in the next few years. Many new doctors will be hired, and when they mentioned that some had already been hired, Dad was the only doctor listed in the article. He was pretty excited, and we were all so proud of him. He's really enjoying his new job, and it's given him many new opportunities to expand the program there and teach some of the others new techniques and care skills.
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2011/07/01/mercy-to-spend-236m-on-new-washington.html
So today was another great day getting settled into our new life up here. :)
We have some Fitz's root beer in the fridge (in our opinion, the best root beer ever- from a small bottling company in University City, where we used to live here in St. Louis before we lived in FL), so we wanted to stop and get some ice cream to make root beer floats. We missed the turn for Dierberg's (one of two main grocery stores here- the other is Schnuck's), so when I saw a sign for a small ice cream shop, I suggested we turn in and buy some vanilla ice cream there.
When we headed inside to Oberweis Dairy, we found that it was a small, family-owned dairy that sells milk in glass bottles and is a lot like some of the dairies my mom grew up with in Ohio. They didn't have a tub of ice cream small enough for us to eat in one night (we still don't have a freezer until tomorrow at the earliest), so we decided to wait on the root beer floats and get a treat there. |
| Old-fashioned glass dishes :) |
The man who greeted us at the counter was a perfect example of a Midwestern gentleman. He was so welcoming and friendly, and even gave us a free half-gallon of their skim milk in the glass bottle for us to try. Then, he gave Ben and I each a $5 coupon to spend in the store on anything we wanted. He said he wanted to make sure that we would be returning customers, and wanted us to stop drinking "the artificial milk that's always tainted by the plastic bottles nowadays". :) You can even have their milk and other products delivered to your doorstep, which is what my mom's family had when they were younger. |
| You can't read their captions, but the first picture is the family farm in Aurora, IL in the early 1900's. The second is the first home delivery team in the early 1900's. The third is the first Oberweis dairy plant in Aurora, IL. |
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| The glass to the right of the mint chocolate chip cone is what mom's chocolate shake was :) |
Another exciting part of today was that Dad was mentioned in an article in the St. Louis Business Journal. St. John's Mercy Hospital, where he works, just announced today that they will be replacing the current Washington, MO hospital with a brand new one in the next few years. Many new doctors will be hired, and when they mentioned that some had already been hired, Dad was the only doctor listed in the article. He was pretty excited, and we were all so proud of him. He's really enjoying his new job, and it's given him many new opportunities to expand the program there and teach some of the others new techniques and care skills.
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2011/07/01/mercy-to-spend-236m-on-new-washington.html
So today was another great day getting settled into our new life up here. :)
Thursday, June 30, 2011
St. Charles and Friendly Neighbors
The St. Johns brought us a homemade meal of ham and potatoes au gratin, salad, green beans, roll, and cherry cheesecake tonight. We're getting to know them a little better, and their hospitality and warm welcomes have made it easier to begin settling in here. After dinner, we took a very long drive out to Saint Charles in search of a refrigerator. The appliance outlet we thought we were going to turned out to be a tiny, hole-in-the-wall shop filled with the smell of cigarettes, broken tiles on the floor, and two grungy guys who we weren't even sure noticed we were there. Life never stops being an adventure in the Moore family! After walking around for a grand total of 2 minutes, we quickly slipped out, checking the Premium Appliance store off on our list of places never to visit again. On our way home, we decided to drive through the quaint town of St. Charles.
There was a fair going on, so Main Street was closed off. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the warm summer air and the yummy smells of carnival food. Although we wanted to park the car and join in on the fun, we decided we would head home and come back another time. We drove past tiny shops, bed-and-breakfasts, and even the old Municipal Water Works building. It's as if the town was frozen in a time period from long ago. We decided that a family weekend stay in St. Charles is on our list of vacations to do. Another unique thing in the town is the trail head of the Katy Trail, a 237 mile trail stretching across most of the state. It used to be a railroad line, and is a scenic trail for hiking, running, biking, and horseback riding. Since I didn't know we'd be seeing such interesting sights on our refrigerator trip, I didn't bring my camera, so the pictures of the Katy Trail are from the official website. :)
On our way home, we stopped at Bed Bath and Beyond and Target for some things for the new house. Ben bought a mountain bike, and he couldn't wait to get home and take it for a test ride around the cul-de-sac. The rest of our evening was uneventful and relaxing. And that was our Thursday here in Missouri. :)
Life In The Couldesac
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| 1406 Ridgetree Trails Drive |
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| The house |
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| Side driveway |
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| More boxes! |
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| Ben... |
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| and Dad playing football in the front yard |
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| Backyard- we're at the base of a small hill |
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| Back of the house- my window is the first one on the second story (to the left) |
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| Back deck and gazebo with walking area, patio, and chiminea underneath |
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| Clover- another Midwestern thing! |
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| Hard to see, but the little white spot in the middle of the picture is a seed from the poplar trees- they're blowing everywhere right now, and they look like tiny cotton balls. :) |
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| The hill behind the driveway that Ben purposefully fell down on his scooter |
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| The St.Johns' house across the street |
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| The St.Claire's house next door |
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| The other neighbors across the street and one house down |
More Exploring
Thursday began with Dad, Ben, and I heading to the YMCA to work out together and then swim for a while. By the time we finished, it was lunchtime, so we headed home to eat with mom.
Just as we pulled into the driveway, our neighbors from across the couldesac, the StJohns, came over to meet us. Scott is a year older than Ben, and happens to have just broken the same bones in his foot (other foot though) that Ben broke a couple of weeks ago, so the similarities couldn't have been closer. :) I think they'll become really good friends. There are two girls, Courtney and Lindsey. Lindsey is currently away on a missions trip, but I'm looking forward to meeting her when she gets back. She'll be a sophomore next year. It was encouraging to meet such sweet neighbors that are Christians too, and i think we'll do lots of things together as families.
More unpacking followed that afternoon, and then out to El Maguey for some mexican food.
After that, we walked the dogs as a family and then headed back to the house for an evening of burning. This may sound a little confusing, but we were going to burn our old house plans. Some reading this know the story of the house, some only know bits and pieces, and some know nothing at all. To make a long story short, our intentions 3 years ago of remodeling our FL house didn't end up working out for certain reasons, and we never moved back into that house. Our journey of moving 5 times and staying in 4 rental houses in the past 3 years has brought us closer together and has even brought us here to Missouri. The plans were a small representation the whole experience that our family has gone through. Since we didn't need them anymore, we wanted to burn them as a small but tangible act of closure, both for our family and for the end of that chapter in our lives.
Conveniently, there's a little chiminea on the back patio of the house, so we grabbed the rolls of plans and the lighter and headed outside as the sky faded. One by one we rolled up the sheets and dropped them in, each taking turns. It was a pleasant, cathartic time, and it was nice to be outside with the smell of the fire and the lightning bugs all around. After we had finished burning the last piece, we all thought s'mores sounded yummy, so we toasted marshmallows over our house-plans fire and all enjoyed the treat. In mom's words, it was "a sweet ending". :)
Just as we pulled into the driveway, our neighbors from across the couldesac, the StJohns, came over to meet us. Scott is a year older than Ben, and happens to have just broken the same bones in his foot (other foot though) that Ben broke a couple of weeks ago, so the similarities couldn't have been closer. :) I think they'll become really good friends. There are two girls, Courtney and Lindsey. Lindsey is currently away on a missions trip, but I'm looking forward to meeting her when she gets back. She'll be a sophomore next year. It was encouraging to meet such sweet neighbors that are Christians too, and i think we'll do lots of things together as families.
More unpacking followed that afternoon, and then out to El Maguey for some mexican food.
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| The plans |
Conveniently, there's a little chiminea on the back patio of the house, so we grabbed the rolls of plans and the lighter and headed outside as the sky faded. One by one we rolled up the sheets and dropped them in, each taking turns. It was a pleasant, cathartic time, and it was nice to be outside with the smell of the fire and the lightning bugs all around. After we had finished burning the last piece, we all thought s'mores sounded yummy, so we toasted marshmallows over our house-plans fire and all enjoyed the treat. In mom's words, it was "a sweet ending". :)
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| Dad lighting the fire |
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| Mom's plans |
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| The part of the plans that shows where my bedroom was |
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| Me burning my room plans |
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| All the ashes blowing across the yard |
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| We all put the last piece of the plans in together |
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| All burnt up :) |
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| Dad and Ben :) |
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| Marshmallows! |
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| The perfect s'more |
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| Ben before he knew I was taking his picture- you can see the lightning bug in front of his face and the other one in the upper right-hand corner |
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| Enjoying his s'more |
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| Mom- the master of the skewers :) |
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| It was the perfect end to our day :) |
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