Day 6: A Little R & R in Castle Rock

The first and foremost goal of today was to make sure that Dane had a place to watch the US World Cup game at 8:00 in the morning and since Erika does not have cable, this became a dangerous task. After leaving the house at 7:00 am, a sufficient sports bar was found by 7:45 and the game was on. After 30 minutes Dane was ready to leave, but stuck it out for the tie (although did yell at the TV when we were robbed of our game winning goal.) It is hard for your day to get much better when you have had french toast and three pints by 10:00 am.

The rest of the day was a great opportunity for Emma and Jake to meet their new cousins Hunter (11) and Tyler (7). The kids had a blast and Emma is following Tyler around like a puppy. It was nice to catch up on some rest with a nap and some lounging around on the coach and in the beautiful garden patio at Erika and Steve's house.

The coupe of the day was getting a pair of Rockies vs. Red Sox tickets for Dane and Jake on Tuesday night.

Ended the night with a great taco dinner as Aunt Liz and Uncle Jerry rolled in with Heather. Lots planned for weekend as we have the big wedding party for Erika and Steve on Saturday and the lake on Sunday for all the dads.

Link to Today's Pictures:

June 18

Day 5: Onward to Colorado!

Well, we loaded up the van and drove out of St. Louis at 6:40 am.  At approximately 6:55 we hit a torrential rain storm that lasted for no less than 1 hour...  Dane was white-knuckled, and happy to give up the wheel when the skies cleared.  Our first stop was an unplanned one...  We saw a sign for Emma, Missouri, and we just had to stop!

We drove to Kansas City, MO to make two stops:  1st stop was at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.  We enjoyed it quite a bit, but the kids were tired and hungry.  2nd stop was at Fritz's Restaurant, which was very cool.  After you sat down at your table, you ordered your food by using the phone at the table.  Your food was brought to your table via train...  Needless to say, Jake was in heaven!!  **There's a video of it on the Picasa website which you can get to by using the link at then end of today's post...  I couldn't figure out how to upload it to the site...

And then we hit Kansas...  Oh sweet Lord, what a long state...  Definitely an easy drive, but definitely long...  We stopped to play a little "Goony Golf" ...and thank God we did, because there was not much else to see or do!  Dane was very sorry to see that Prairie Dog Town (home of the 6-legged steer, etc) was already closed for the evening...

We crossed the Colorado border around 8:00 pm, and around two hours later, we were at Erika's!  We've gone a grand total of 1,880 miles!

Link to today's pictures:

June17

Leave A Comment!

We've had some questions about how to post comments...  I think you just have to click at the bottom of each post where it says "0 comments" or "1 comment" --then it will take you to a box where you can type in whatever you want to say!!

Hope this helps!  If it doesn't, please email us at jenperry2003@gmail.com and we'll try to figure it out!!

Jen & Dane

Day 4- Last Day in St. Louis

Today was awesome! We started out at a place called The Magic House.This was by far the coolest childrens' museum we have every seen. It had a bank, grocery store, electrical plant, crime scene, train station, garden, construction site, plus many more things for the kids to interact in and play. Jake was all about the construction site and sitting in the real life bulldozer on display, while Emma couldn't get enough of climbing the giant beanstalk.We spent over 3 1/2 hours inside and could have stayed for another three and not run out of things to do.

After lunch we wrapped up St. Louis with a trip to the Purina Farms. This is Purina's national headquarters. We got to see and pet all kinds of farm animals and dogs, along with a tractor ride to tour the facilities. However, the coolest part was the dog show. This is the same arena that hosts the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge (frisbees, jumping, obstacle courses, etc) ever year. We got to watch a 30 minute show that included the frisbee tricks and the long jump into the pool. The two jumping dogs were amazing and covered 25-28 feet before they landed. The kids and parents were amazed at this one.

St. Louis has been awesome- on to Colorado tomorrow.

Link to Today's Pictures:

June 16

Day Three--St. Louis

Day three and still kickin'. We started of the day with a trip to the Saint Louis Transportation Museum. Any of you who know Jake, know that this was the day for him. The kids got to work a steam engine train and took plenty of pictures on the various displays. Jake was so excited to get a chance to ring the bell on a real train. The real excitement came when the thunderstorm rolled in as we were all the way at the top of the exhibit hill. We got stuck under a tin roofed shed holding about 20 trains (at least there was something to occupy the kids). It rained like I have never seen before, but it was kind of neat to listen to the thunder and rain on the roof.

The highlight of the day for the adults was definitely the Gateway Arch. It was so much more interesting than I would have thought. We road an extremely small tram (see pictures) all the way to the top and got some beautiful pictures of the St. Louis skyline. The ride was a little nerve wracking since you were in a small capsule but the results were well worth it.

We ended the day with a rousing game of Yahtzee Jr!













Lots of exciting things planned for tomorrow, our final day in St. Louis.

**For those of you who have tried to post comments...  I think we've fixed the problem!

Link to the photo album:

June 15

Day Two--St. Louis

 The Perry Dogs

Today was all about the St. Louis Zoo. Lots of fun things for the kids to do. We started with a sea lion show and then Emma and Jake both got to try to feed a giraffe. The biggest mistake was probably the 3D Dinosour Hunt simulator. Lets just say we had two little ones in tears after that one. You would think that with that there might have been a warning about the violence in the show.Emma has decided her favorite thing for the day was petting the guinea pigs (no we will not be getting one), and Jake, although interested in the animals, was most taken with the train that kept going around the zoo. By the end of the day with all te heat and humidity, I just wanted to join the lion in his shady tree.

After the zoo we tried the world famous Imo's Pizza. Definitely different from what we are used to down south, but not bad.

Day 1

**We will add more pictures later today!!

We got off to a great start this morning, heading out of Huntersville by 6:40 a.m.The first leg was a breeze as we rolled into Huntington,WV for lunch at around 11:45

This is where the fun begins. Lunch was at an amazing little place called, Hillbilly Hot Dogs. As we pulled up, we were a little apprehensive as we looked at the three trailers and two buses welded together to form a restaurant. You must look at all the photos of this establishment to get a true feel for the ambiance and decor. The food was awesome. Dane had a pizza dog, Jen had a corn dog and we were all amazed with the fried MACARONI AND CHEESE. The highlight of lunch had to be watching a guy order the Homewrecker which consisted of a one pound all beef hot dog deep fried and covered with anything you can imagine. Photos may not do it justice as it was bigger than my forearm.

From here we rolled into Lexington, KY. for the much anticipated round of Bible Golf. This course features three separate 18 hole layouts (The Old Testament, The New Testament, and The Miracles). Due to the heat we were forced to choose only one course and naturally, we went with The Miracles. Dane was dominate on the day with three hole-in-ones, crushing Jen by a score of 44-55. Obviously we know who is living right and who is not. Jake even managed a hole-in-one (completely on his own), which is a feat if you have ever watched him use a golf club.

The big letdown of the day was when we rolled up to the Louisville Slugger Baseball Museum at 5:05 and they closed at 5:00. I think Dane was more disappointed than Jake, who had no idea what he was missing inside and was fine with the four story baseball bat out front. To break the heat, we spent a little time at Waterfront Park in Louisville to cool off. This is definitely a city I could see returning to for an extended stay, very pretty and lots to do.

Not much to say about Indiana and Illinois on the final leg of the day. The highlight was dinner in an oddly obsessive place called Santa Claus, IN. The kids loved it and took photos with the giant Santa

In the end we rolled into St. Louis about 11:30 p.m. EST. What a gorgeous site the Gateway Arch is lit up against the skyline of St. Louis.

Click on the following picture to see all of our pictures!!

June 13