Made it!

After a 24-hour delay, we made it to St. Louis. Having lost the first day of our vacation to travel woes meant we lost our scheduled day of unwinding and went straight into activities. Friday evening was still pretty laid back and apart from accumulated sleep deprivation, Saturday was fine. The kids had fun in the pool/water park in Arnold, MO. Then in the evening we spend about three hours at Six Flags which was, but the kids reckoning, too short (of course). Jonathan went with me on the Screaming Eagle, a wooden roller coaster which opened in 1976 and which I last rode around 1979-80. It has a top speed of about 70 mph. Matthew was more content with the older Mine Train which is still a fun roller coaster.

We’re now in Cape Girardeau which is supposedly "the world’s only inland cape." The boys did a little fishing this morning, but the fish weren’t biting so they mostly ran around trying to catch grasshoppers and butterflies. Matthew actually did catch one small perch which flopped off his hook as he lifted it from the water.

We took a little tour of Cape Girardeau including a walk along the water front (and a grocery stop). I don’t think the boys were sufficiently impressed with the Mississippi river; they’ve grown up next to the ocean and the Hudson and the East River look pretty big around Manhattan even if it’s really a tidal river at that point. The don’t realize most rivers are pretty small compared to the Mississippi.

We finished the day by having dinner with my Grandpa Otto Roberts and brief visit to his "new" home. He started going through some old photos he’d found. We absconded with them to get them scanned and hopefully put into the family tree with appropriate documentation.

Tomorrow we’ll be crawfish hunting in the local creek, taking a trip to the local nature center where we’ll also do a little more fishing (maybe) and take a little hike. Sometime in the next couple of days, we’ve got to get back to visit with Grandpa Otto again, see Uncle Charlie and Aunt Barb, then try to get over to Marble Hill to see Aunt Jane and Uncle Jerry. And keep the boys out of the worst of the chigger-ridden weeds and poison ivy.