St. Louis the Awesome

The past couple of years St. Louis has been ranked #1 for being the most dangerous city. Granted, like all statistics, this label was a little unfair. It was mostly unfair because they calculated crime within the actual city limits of St. Louis, which really isn't all that huge. (79 neighborhoods in all) Instead they should have looked at the entire metropolitan area and given us a more fair shake. I guess I should mention that St. Louis has dropped to #4 on the list, but that would give meaning to a list that is questionable in the first place.

I have lived other places, and I have to say there is no place like the 'Lou. Maybe I'm a little biased because I spent my childhood here, but I have to say that people are usually pleasantly surprised when they pay us a visit.

Here is my humble list of why St. Louis is the best place on the planet (in no particular order):

1. The St. Louis Cardinals: Okay so maybe this is number 1 for a reason. I've been to other cities for games--including a Yankees game--and there really is no comparison. We are baseball's greatest fans for a reason. We know the game and love the game to the core. Where else would the home crowd applaud an opposing team for making an outstanding play? (except maybe if it was the Cubs) Here is two words for you: "Pu" and "jols"

2. St. Louis food and beverage: This topic is so fantastic that it needs its own post.
A. St. Louis style pizza: thin crust with provel and provolone cheese, with a mound of toppings. Better than Chicago or New York any day. My personal favorite is Cecil Whittaker's, but in close second is Pyronne's, then Imo's.
B. Porksteaks: If you don't live here, you may be wondering "What the heck is a porksteak?" Shame on you. It's only the most delectable hunk of meat ever barbecued.
C. Toasted Ravioli: Last time I checked you could only buy toasted ravioli in the St. Louis area, but I heard that Olive Garden put this treasure on their menu. heaven + marinara sauce = toasted ravioli
D. Foods invented/introduced at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis: Crab rangoon, waffle cones, Dr. Pepper, iced tea, hot dogs, hamburgers, peanut butter, and cotton candy. I'll just go ahead and say, "You're welcome."
E. Frozen custard: this is NOT ice cream. It is more smooth and creamy, and overall just more delicious. My personal favorites: Fritz's, then Ted Drewe's.
F. Root Beer: No one bottles a better root beer than Fitz's. Made from real cane sugar and brewed right here.
G. Beer: Okay, so right now this topic is a little bitter to all St. Louisans at the moment. We treasure our Anheuser-Busch history, but now that the Belgians have taken over and cut many community ties we're upset. Now most of our support goes to our local microbreweries.

3. The weather: we have the best of 4 worlds! (Most often experienced in the span of 24 hours) What you will hear on the street: "it's not the heat, it's the humidity!" I think I actually used a knife to cut the air once.

4. Hardcore music scene: I have not personally experienced this, but stories are legendary amongst my friends. Apparently during a show in Chicago the floor cleared for my husband and his friends when rumor had it they were from St. Louis. Maybe the whole "most dangerous city" thing caught on.

5. St. Louis Zoo: one of the few free zoos left in the country, and reknown for high quality. We love our zoo!! It's nice to have a free place to go on a whim.

6. Higher Education: I am humbled to say that Robbie's cancer treatment took place at the Washington University Center for Advanced Medicine. Not to discount the many other top-notch universities in the area, but WashU is an incredible place where advances in science and technology are astounding.

7. Conservation and Nature: Missouri is proud of our geography and natural resources, and we invest a lot of time and money to preserve it. We love our caves, rivers, lakes, prairies, woodlands, and every creature in them.

8. Friendliness: we don't boast "southern hospitality" (which I've yet to experience in my many adventures to the south, sorry). Need directions? Want to know the best place to eat? Want to know what the Loop is? Just ask and we'll show ya a good time.

This post is feeling more and more like a paid advertisement from the Missouri division of tourism. So I'll stop there.

I just wanted to let the world know that St. Louis is awesome.

We are those neighbors

Drumroll please: we have internet at our home now!!!!!

Oh how we missed surfing the web from the comfort of our pajamas. Gone are the days of driving to get to the outside world of YouTube and Facebook. We lovingly call our new hobby "getting on the interweb" as it shows how long it took us to have a 21st century home. The biggest bonus to it all is that Robbie says he is going to try to post things himself (instead of his secretary: a.k.a me). He has quite the perspective on life that is rather amazing.

I also must apologize to our neighbors. We are totally those neighbors who haven't cut their grass yet this year. Fortunately our front yard isn't quite atrocious, but it's getting there. Our back yard is a jungle! I am not at all embellishing when I say that our grass is a foot long in some spots. Our poor dog has grass up to her chest.

It's not that we don't want to cut our grass. It's been a vicious cycle of lots of rain and very little sunshine to dry out the grass. And of course--the longer the grass grows, the longer it takes to dry out. I think we're just gonna have to attack it with one of those grim reaper blades.

So to all of our elderly neighbors who probably shake their heads and raise their fists at us, we're sorry.

Little Kid-isms

Everyone knows that kids say the funniest things, but I have to brag on my students because they are the coolest kids in town. Here is just a teeeensie smeeeeeensie sample of what I hear daily:

"Ms. Jenni they should have named the Panama Canal the "Snorth Canal". It makes more sense because it's where North and South America meet."

The other day I brought it some old things to play with in our Imagination center. One of them was an old phone I used to have in my room that looked like this:

I heard 2 comments that made me feel old (I'm only in my mid-twenties!):
"Ms. Jenni, why is there a cord?"
"Ms. Jenni--I didn't know you could text with this phone!!" (this was a great lesson on why you can call numbers like 1-800-I'm-old)

And the award for the most bizarre thing I've heard to date:
Me: "Why are my students scattered in the hallway and not in a line?"
Student: "Because the school is a giant pancake and we are the syrup."

Not the Iditarod...but maybe someday?

Ray and Belle! Ray visited for the weekend while his mom and dad were in Seattle.

We've been wanting to introduce our Belle to sled pulling (mushing) for a little while now. Doing some research on how to do it properly, we are excited to learn that it really doesn't take very expensive equipment to get started. We are also looking to see if we can join an area dog sled organization to meet people who can help us make it the best situation for Belle.

From what we've learned, we will probably start out with a basic harness and a 3-wheel sled. It looks something like this:

Not that we would ever compete in the Iditarod, but Belle loves to run. Loooooooooves to run! During our last big snow, we took her out on a 2 mile hike, and she was in heaven. So hopefully you will see us rolling down the street soon!