My parents and Hannah came in from Kansas City to visit for the weekend. Like all visits, we spend lots of time in the house talking and catching up on each other’s lives.The came a few days before the weekend so Danelle and I still had to work.
On the first evening they arrived, Mom had to pick up Brawndo. He’s grown a bit since she first met him the day we picked him up from the breeder. See if you can tell which is the before and the after!
Hannah spent time playing with our cats.
We also styled my dad’s hair.
We visited the confluence sunflower patch. Hannah jumped right in for some great shots.
If mom looks concerned here, its because she it. Mom is not a fan of any insect with a stinger and there were many large bees here. They wanted nothing to do with us since these huge sunflowers were here begging for their attention.
Mom was distracted long enough to get a great shot with dad!
Mom and Hannah walked up a ramp and mom also isn’t a fan of heights, we’re always pushing her limits 🙂
After the confluence, we went for dinner in Alton, IL. Hannah and Dad got some small drinks to hold them over.
After dinner we went to Danelle’s work at National Great Rivers Research and Education Center for Neighbor Nights.This is where they show off the work that has been done at the center and engage with the community. Tonight, they were focused on the research from the summer interns. We all had a great time learning about the research being done and my parents enjoyed seeing the building and equipment where Danelle works.
All of the evening activities were great and we had a bigger Saturday planned! Dad wanted to visit the new(ish) St. Louis Aquarium. We drove down to Union Station to get tickets. The soonest we could get tickets was for about 4 hours later than we were at the time. Instead of giving up or going home, we decided to make a day of it. We started by checking out the show where they put fire and lights to music on the hour! I think I still feel the heat from the flames below!
We worked our way over to the Ferris Wheel and got a ride around!
Its interesting to look at the exposed parts keeping us from falling to our doom.
Sonora looking like the adorable daughter that she is!
I managed to get all three ladies in one shot.
With the ride out of the way, we went to a completely forgettable restaurant nearby for lunch. Eventually it was nearly time to go into the aquarium.
Here I’m torn vs the rest of the group. I wasn’t a huge fan of the aquarium. Most of the group thought it was great. It probably started when we were ushered into a fake trolley car where the windows were computer screens. There they told a story while zooming images down all the windows. I get easily motion sick and quickly had to close my eyes and wait it out. I didn’t go to the aquarium to watch a video. Eventually we got into displays of fish and it was okay. I won’t let that ruin an amazing day with family.
All in all it was a fantastic time to bond with my parents and Hannah and I would gladly repeat this same weekend to be with some of my favorite people!
Hogan Haake
Fantastic story! Your dad needs more alcohol!