The Dinoquest Continues

I'm not sure how far I can get, since I still need to go to church and head over to the kindergarten reunion in Foster City, but I unloaded my toys at Uncle Tom's, and we went to visit Grandma. I brought my new tiger to see her, too. We took her for a short walk with her walker, then we went to the noon mass at the New Cathedral/Basilica. Uncle Bill and Aunt Judy invited us over to their house for a barbeque, which Grandma really enjoyed. The ribs were great, and I had fun chasing the dogs around the yard. It's too bad Alex and Carson weren't there, but they were able to visit a few weeks after us. We took the dogs for a walk to the park, but in the alley on the way back I tripped over some sticks and Ellie dragged me along, so I got a scratch on my tummy. Daddy was busy moving the van into the alley to pick up Grandma when it happened, so he was surprised to see me crying. Anyway, he had to back out and come around from the other side, because a neighbor was washing his shiny red cruiser in the alley, which Ate pretended to drive for her photo shoot. Mommy pretended to be the papa, papa, paparazzi, then we loaded Grandma and tucked her in at Ackert Park, then drove down to the Arch to see the fireworks. It looked like everyone was having a good time at Mike Shannon's, but we were stuck in traffic with a big building blocking our view of the fireworks. We were more successful the following night with Uncle Don. We found a parking garage a little north of the Arch, and walked over to watch the show. The view wasn't bad from on top of my dad's shoulders. Earlier that day, we took Grandma to All Saints, where she was able to chit-chat a little with some old friends. Daddy's old school building is still there, but the school closed after he finished 3rd grade with Sister Emily, aka Sister Enemy, back in '68. We wer hoping to bring Grandma and Uncle Tom (famous from Daddy's Mom & Tom series of comics) with us to see the hidden dinosaurs at the Missouri Botanical Gardens (aka Shaw's Gardens back in the old days), but they decided to spend the afternoon at the old homestead on Crest reminiscing about the good old days when we used to walk up to Wash U. to watch the fireworks on the 4th of July. Meanwhile, Uncle Don and we rode the tram at the gardens, then we got off and entered the climatron, where most of the dinosaurs were hiding in the jungle. I have a few photos, I think, on Picasa (just search for Cellphone2010). After the Climatron and a few photos with the raccoons, Ate Dee and I chased some ducks around over in the tranquil Japanese tea garden. We weren't as fast as Mommy, however, when she saw the garden snake slithering through the stone sculpture over at the Chinese garden! Daddy picked up some garden bookmarks in the air-conditioned garden information center. After we finished the gift shop, we took Grandma back to the nursing home, hugged her good-bye, and promised to write and send pictures. Before we left town in the morning, Uncle Don gave me a golf club and a golf ball, and he told me to play like Tiger (on the golf course, not off!). Then we packed up the van, said farewell, and we started driving. Day 6 of driving! I'm off to Our Lady of Mercy. Back soon and very soon!