Time to go home

All good things must end, so we headed back home so we would have a couple of days to buy school supplies before school started.

 

A few more days in St. Louis

With a few days left,we squeezed in a few last bits of goodness. Including the mineral and gem show with Mrs. Uccello. The boys picked out some of their favorites to bring home.

Cards with friends Chris and Amanda

And Ted Drewes, of course!

 

Columbia

We had a little extra time, so we went to Columbia for a day to hang out with Jordan and family - and new puppy, Toph.

Cousins bonding on Wii

The girl who finally got her dog!

A rousing game of Unstable Unicorns

 

Auburn University

 Aunt Ruth took Benjamin and me to look around Auburn University. The atmosphere was very different than at UT-Austin since classes had started - students everywhere! 

The Farm

 After Texas, we headed to Aunt Ruth and Uncle Mark's house in Alabama.

The boys always enjoy driving Aunt Ruth's buggy

Benjamin channeling his inner farmer

Grandma Crowe

More Texas

Visiting J.L. and Emily is always a treat when we go through Austin. This time, we met up at a park for dinner. And forgot to take any pictures until it got dark.

Noah, Zach, Quinn, and Benjamin

The next day, Aunt Claire and Uncle Curtis took Benjamin, Noah, and their cousin, Kyra, to the lake to swim.

 Back at the house, the boys did a little bit of pottery.

University of Texas in Austin

We took advantage of this trip to visit some college campuses with Benjamin. Uncle Curtis showed us around UT at Austin since he was familiar with the campus.

Architecture building

Benjamin's favorite part: the turtle pond

 

Swimming pool

Rush, Arkansas

 On our way from St. Louis to Georgetown, we stopped overnight in Arkansas. We visited Rush, a former zinc carbonate ore mining town, now deserted. 

Missouri Botanical Gardens

The weather in St. Louis was steamy, too, but we braved it and ventured out to the Botanical Gardens. I hadn't ever taken the boys there, and I don't think I'd been since I was little.

Me, Noah, my mom, Benjamin

Noah, my mom, Benjamin, my dad

Checking out the koi

the Climatron

me and Noah

Noah, me, and Benjamin