Last Hurrah

For our last hurrah before we headed back to Chicago to fly back to France, Amanda, Chris, and I took the kids to the elementary school playground. My old elementary school, but not the same playground as when I was a kid. 

We're glad we took them to the playground, so they could play... with the tree.

Trip to the Beach - in St Louis

Who knew land-locked St Louis had a beach? And so close to my parents' house? We went with Amanda, Chris, and their girls to Castlewood State Park for a couple of hours. 

Benjamin took a little nap.

Noah was in his element.

Visiting

We like to visit with my 8th grade science teacher, Mrs Uccello, when we are in St Louis. She recently moved, so we went over to see her new place. We went on a tour of the residence, then on a short walk, and after a restaurant-style lunch, the boys went swimming. 

The most fun part for them was when she let them go through her rock collection and choose some to take home.

Chicago

My boss decided that since I was coming to the US in the summer, we ought to take the opportunity to have a work retreat. We all work remotely, so other than my boss, I had never met any of my coworkers in person before. 

So I left the boys with my parents, aunt, and uncle, and flew up to Chicago. We did some work, some sight-seeing, and some volunteering, and one of my teammates took headshots of each of us for our website. 

Saint Louis: Pottery and Eclipse

My Aunt Claire and Uncle Curtis came up to St Louis for the eclipse. Aunt Claire had found the time to fire the boys' pottery they had made at her house, so she brought it and the glazes up so they could get them ready for firing again with the glaze. We can't wait to see the finished products! 

And then we watched the eclipse from my parents' deck. It was amazing. We were in the path of the total eclipse, and got to take our glasses off to see the corona. It wasn't as dark as night, but looked like dusk, and the cicadas started chirping as though it was evening.