St. Louis and Silver Falls

About a month ago, Angie and I went back to St. Louis to visit my family. We were only there for the weekend, so we had a lot to do in a short amount of time. We spent some quality time with my family, Ang and I went to a Cardinals game (of course), ate at our favorite places, and saw some old friends.
It was good to see my niece. She looks exactly like her mom! I had the priviledge of blessing her at church. I can't wait until I get to do the same thing for my own child! I also enjoyed the time spent with my family. My sister and her spouse flew in from San Francisco, so all of us were gathered together as a family for the first time.

As some of you may know, my stepmom was involved in a serious automobile accident last September and when I last saw her (later that month), she was laid up in a hospital bed full of machines and tubes hooked up to her. I'm happy to say that she is doing a lot better now! I knew she had made great strides since then (such as re-learning how to walk, speak, etc.) but it was good to visit with her and see the progress for myself. If you met her today, you couldn't even tell that she was hit by a semi-truck on the freeway. Amazing.

We didn't take many pictures on this trip, but here are some of the highlights (I took some random pictures with my phone and uploaded them to Facebook, so you can catch them there under the "Mobile Uploads" folder):

Angie and I chillin' at Busch Stadium (aka-my Graceland)

They even have fireworks, too! (at least when the Cards hit a home run)

Ordering out of the back window at the White Castle drive thru...because that's how we roll when we're in St. Louis!

Me doing my best impression of Buddy the elf on the escalator.


Me and my niece. See, she's already looking up to me (well, up at me, at least)!

How about this: Judas Priest and Whitesnake performing at the FAMILY Arena? Really?

And speaking of trips from a month ago, Ang and I went with our friends Blake and Kristin to Silver Falls State Park at the end of May and had a great time! We chose to do the five mile hike around the park and we saw a total of seven waterfalls. It was amazing to see all of these beautiful waterfalls and their plush, green surroundings. Blake was told by one of the park rangers that he should be fine to walk the trail with a stroller (instead of using that baby backpack thing they have). After helping Blake carry the stroller up and down many steps on some winding paths, I came to the conclusion that the park ranger must not have any children. Anyway, we had a memorable time and went on a beautiful day!

Us at one of the falls.

One of the falls.

Come to think of it, couldn't this post have been broken up into two? Yes, it could've. Just consider it a "packaged deal" of rewards for you, the reader, in response for the lack of postings lately.

Oh, and one more thing...

IN YOUR FACE!