RETRO: Grant's Farm in St. Louis

Last Friday, Mom & Mark took us to see Grant's Farm--80 acres settled by Ulysses S. Grant later purchased and fancied up by the Busch/ Anheyser-Busch family. The Budweiser Clydesdales are raised and trained there, and there are wild animals and farm animals there, too. Me, Mom, Heidi, Abby, & Addie at the entrance to the Clydesdale area.
Addie pet the big horse...
the big horse had a little baby sleeping next to her in the dirt.
Heidi riding the tram with Daddy as we toured the wild animal park...she had more fun making faces at Nana & Papa.

The goats at Grant's Farm are a little aggressive--Daddy led Addie into the yard to feed them.
Heidi stayed outside the fence to feed her baby goat.
Addie fed her baby goat in the yard.
Heidi & Addie in the double stroller...such cuties!
Watching the elephant show...Heidi on Nana's shoulders, Addie on Daddy's. The cute African elephant danced, flapped its ears, showed us its teeth, picked up a dime with its trunk, and blew up a balloon with its trunk!

Me & Addie watching the animal show at Grant's Farm
The gang in front of the pretty Bavarian Beer Garten at Grant's Farm
The beautiful bald eagle in the animal show

Solstice

My Great-Grandma Marie was born on June 21, 1912. She passed away in 1996, but would have been 94 yesterday. I always think of her on the longest, sunniest day of the year.

Four Generations: Grandma Lyn, Gramarie, Me, & Mom

Visiting Gramarie in Pasadena- she and Grandpa always put up this swing for us.

Baby Update

I had my almost-28-week check up yesterday and I got busted! My first BP reading when I arrived was 162/90 (!!), then 142/85. I also lost 3 pounds since my May 30th visit, which added up to some concern. I guess gestational hypertension can slow down baby's growth rate if it's not monitored and treated, so now I am being monitored and treated, just in case (even though I am measuring fine & baby seems to be very active). The first step is an ultrasound next Friday (6/30) to check for growth and general organ health. The next step is monitoring the blood pressure EVERY week now and having about 4 more ultrasounds to monitor growth, too. Actually, the VERY first step is me resting for 2-3 hours a day, about half of that on my left side. As you can imagine, that's not going over well with the girls! Although yesterday I had a good hour nap when Heidi was napping and Addie watched "A Bug's Life." My iron went down this month, too--I was so proud of my "39" hematacrit count--a record high for me--but it's down to 32 now, so I'm back on daily iron--YUMMY!

All of that aside, I feel better than I ever have before in a pregnancy, so even though we're in a potentially dangerous situation, at least have have a little bit of energy to deal with it! And I am not too sick to take my vitamins. Click here to read about baby (I tried to post the imge and text, but blogger images is not cooperating).

The Road Home, part 1: Kansas

The most exciting part of our trip home from Missouri was our first stop in Lindsborg "Little Sweden", Kansas for Midsummer's Fest! After checking in to our hotel--The Swedish Country Inn--at 4:00pm, we caught the tail end of the fair at Swensson Park and walked down Main Street to see all the shops. Our first stop was the world-famous Hemslojd shop, where our girls rode this Dala Horse, and we bought a welcome plaque and some dala Christmas ornaments. Giddyup! Addie & Heidi ride one of Lindsborg's Wild Dalas
Another Dala horse down Main Street.

Two Swedish Dolls! Heidi with a doll at the entrance of the Swedish Country Inn
Addie & the Wild Dala outside our Inn
Dinner at the cookery around the corner from the Inn. The girls had a burger and fries; Rich had Swedish pnacakes with Lingon berries; I had the Swedish sampler with meatballs, dill red potatoes, green beans, rye bread, and a dessert called ostakaka. There was a bakery area full of fantastic-looking pastries, but we got full on our dinner and headed out to raise the maypole!

After dinner, we attended the evening portion of Midsummer's Fest--the raising of the maypole, the sounding of the birch horn, and lots and lots of crazy dancing!
Here you can see Rich & Addie (Heidi is Rich's right) dancing in the inner circle around the maypole.
More dancing (the red arrow points to Rich).
These are the folk dancers visiting from Sweden (Mora Folkdanslag).

After lots of dancing, we took the girls to the adjoining playground and let them run off their last bit of energy before we headed home to the Inn to shower and sleep. What a day! Happy Birthday eve to Daddy Rich, our favorite Swede!

Addie on her bed at the Inn
Heidi showing off the cute TV cabinet in our room at the Inn
Our breakfast table at the Inn
Look at my bedhead! Here we are enjoying our Swedish Breakfast just before heading out to Nebraska on Sunday morning--Happy Birthday AND Father's Day to Rich!!!

The Road Home, part 2: Poor Nebraska

While the state is lovely enough, the drive through Nebraska on Sunday was torture. They should make a killing in speeding tickets--people probably drive 90 miles per hour just to escape the boredom. It was just as bad as East Colorado/West Kansas--ugh!!

Judging from the roadside attractions, there is A LOT of junk in Nebraska.

miles and miles of farm junk

Carhenge, just north of Alliance, Nebraska--dedicated to the preservation and enjoyment of "CAR ART."

The Road Home, part 3: South Dakota

We must thank the Bournazian Family of Buffalo Gap, South Dakota (formerly Emigrant, MT), for welcoming us to crash at their house. It was so nice to see them, even just for a few hours, and we slept so comfortably in the cool country air with the windows open! We were so incredibly sick of being on the road by Monday morning that we regretted having to go to Mt. Rushmore. But the short drive there was so beautiful and the mountain so striking, we were glad we went. I highly recommend it as a destination if you're headed this way--Nearby Keystone is a really fun town, and Rapid City has lots of family attractions. And we are a mere 7 hours west on I-90! We vowed to go back to visit the Black Hills next time we are up for a shorter road trip. Me, Heidi, Addie and the Dead Presidents (Addie kept calling them prophets)...don't ask me what's up with Addie's face here or why my belly is so huge so early this pregnancy!
A striking profile of Washington round the backside of the mountain.
Us again--I tried to take a picture of Rich with the girls right after this, but the camera died and we were in the mood to get outta town.

We saw the Mountain at about 8:30am, then went in to Rapid City to get breakfast and snacks (so we wouldn't have to stop for another meal--lots of yogurt, fruit, trailmix, drinks, and jerky!) and hit the road at about 10am. We wound our way up through Sheridan Wyoming, Billings, Montana, and finally through a beautiful rainstorm to Livingston at 5:00pm. Although the trip was really cool, I have to conclude that I do indeed live in the most beautiful place in the U.S. and the nicest place to spend the summer!