Learning By The Way » Travel

Moriah’s first decade celebration and trip, part 1

Theresa — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 19:58:35 +0000

Moriah had her 10th birthday on Valentine’s Day. To celebrate her first decade of life, we took a trip to St. Louis, just the two of us. First stop was a teahouse, The Enchanted Rose, in Lebanon, IL. We had their Mom and Me tea with some yummy Apple Butter Chai Rooibos, and little tea sandwiches. We dressed up and had a wonderful time. I know, because Moriah said about a dozen times “I just LOVE this place!”

Moriah’s first decade celebration and trip, part 2

Theresa — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 19:58:35 +0000

From the tea room, we went to our hotel in Collinsville. We swam in the pool and stayed up way too late seeing if the wounded duck which was rescued on Animal Cops: Detroit lived. (She did). The next morning, we went to Cahokia Mounds Museum, where they have excavated several mounds. Then it was on to St. Louis, where we had lunch at Fitz’s and watched them bottle cream soda while we ate. (Of course, we did make a little detour at a bookstore on the way there- I bought a book about restoring old windows).

Moriah’s first decade celebration and trip, part 3

Theresa — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 19:58:36 +0000

After lunch, we went to the St. Louis Art Museum. It was grand. Now, I have to tell you, when we were planning where to go on this trip, Moriah wanted to go to Chicago to see Degas’ Little Dancer. After researching though, we discovered that the Little Dancer was in the Louvre. I told her that wasn’t an option! So we settled on St. Louis. Well, unbeknownst to us, the Art Museum there has a cast of the Little Dancer taken from Degas’ original work in 1920. Moriah was ecstatic. We saw Monets, Van Goghs, and made lots of new discoveries. The ancient Egypt section with its mummys and really, truly canopic jars was a special hit with Moriah as we had just been studying that.

Moriah’s first decade celebration and trip, part last

Theresa — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 19:58:36 +0000

After the art museum, we walked down to the zoo for our last stop in St. Louis. While early in the day it had been beautiful and sunny, the skies turned grey, and a stiff breeze started to blow. Sure enough, partway through the zoo, it started to pour down rain. We took refuge in the monkey building. When the sky cleared, we took a jaunt through the African animal display, and then headed home. We had a glorious time, and were thankful for the safe trip and the time we could spend together.