Cheryl's new car

Used car lots do not open on a Sunday here, however, all of them are accessible. We went out for a drive on a sunny, Sunday evening to look for a car. We drove along Lindberg Bvld which seems to have a lot of dealers fairly close together. You could drive around most of the car lots, & despite there being no gates or anything, most of the cheaper cars were left unlocked.

Cheryl sat in quite a few cars & decided that she would quite like a Ford Focus. I found a hatchback at a dealership on Manchester Road, so the next night we went to have a look at it. It was a bright yellow 3-door which Cheryl initially thought wouldn't be that practical as Beth isn't old enough to legally sit in the front seat. The salesperson pointed out a silver 4-door sedan that was the same price & had come in at the same time. We took it out for a test-drive & it was quite nice. Just as a comparison we also test drove the 3-door. This had a sportier interior & seemed to drive better. It was also obvious that Cheryl preferred this car, but she was still convinced that the silver car would be more practical.

It didn't take to to convince Cheryl that as she preferred the 3-door, that was the car that we should get. As soon as she said yes, I put I deposit on the car. We went back on the Friday afternoon to pick it up, so now Cheryl has her own set of wheels - hooray!

It's raining............rain!

When we arrived at Chuck E Cheese's it was a really hot, sunny day with not much humidity & no clouds in the sky. After being there for about two hours, it suddenly came over really dark. Then the rain started, followed by the wind, & then a huge bang (just as the lights went out) & the power cables in front of the restaurant blew down. The rain lasted for about another hour (on & off) & then it started to brighten up. The skies didn't really clear, though.

After we left the restaurant we stopped at a local used car lot to look at a new car for Cheryl. As I didn't really get much of a choice with my lease car (coupled with my love for American Cars) I had been dropping hints to Cheryl that she needed something sporty with a big V8. Beth has been seeing a private tutor & a trip in her convertible Mustang had convinced Beth that we had to have a convertible.

We looked at a white convertible Mustang that Cheryl liked, but it didn't have a V8 & so I wasn't so impressed. Anyway, the salesman insisted that I take it out for a test drive, which I did. In the meantime, the skies really darkened & I'm sure that I saw a funnel cloud (potentially the beginning of a Tornado). I had the keys to our car & so Cheryl & Beth were left standing on the lot under ever darkening skies waiting for me to return. There wasn't much rain this time & soon the skies cleared, paving the way for more thunder storms during the night.

She drives me cra-yay-zee!

After working some extra hours at work, I was able to get home a bit earlier than usual one Friday morning. There were quite a few activities that Cheryl thought Beth might enjoy during the upcoming summer months, but none of them were really close enough to get to without driving.

We had briefly discussed Cheryl taking the rest of her driving test (i.e. the practical section), but getting in early gave me the incentive to take her to the 'local' test centre. We went to the same test centre that I took my test at & when I was there I was told that appointments were not required. Anyway, when we got there, the place was absolutely packed & when we said that we didn't have an appointment we were told that we should have booked. Of course, I then asked for an appointment later that day but was told that they don't accept same day bookings. We were welcome to wait, but they couldn't guarantee that we would get a 'walk-in'. However, after waiting about two hours Cheryl's name was called & it was now the moment of truth.

I was confident that Cheryl would pass first time as she is a good driver. After having watched someone take a good three attempts at the parallel parking (& still not get it right), & overhearing people in the waiting room saying that their son/daughter was on his/her third driving test (if you fail more than three times you have to get written permission to take more tests & have additional tuition), I think Cheryl was feeling the pressure.

Anyway, after about 20 minutes, she drove back into the test centre & absolutely aced the parallel park (she managed to park the car in well under 1.5 lengths, & yes, I was impressed).

So, she now had a full licence & just needed a car!

Chuck E Cheese's (again)

Our next door neigbour's niece was staying with them & they kindly invited Beth & Cheryl out during the week. At the weekend, they invited all of us to Chuck E Cheese's (this time at the South County location which is closer to our house). Beth had a great time playing with Megan, & Cheryl spent most of the time chatting with Sandy (Megan's Auntie). I entertained myself by playing on the games with Beth & winning loads of tokens (Cheryl mentioned that I seemed to be having more fun than any of the kids). This was a really busy day as Beth had a swimming lesson first thing, followed by Kids Club at Michaels.

After spending about four hours in Chuck E Cheese's (more on why later), we briefly looked at a potential new car for Cheryl & then went to Phil & Steve's World Cup party at their appartment in downtown St Louis. Our journey home involved a detour along Route 66 (now historic Route 66, & yes the very same as mentioned in the famous song) via Ted Drewes frozen custard, which is a St louis tradition!

JAG Magic House Event

Although we have been to the Magic House before, JAG (Jacobs Activity Group, the social event organising group at work) got discount tickets. A new musical attraction was also on display, so we took Beth there again.

Pink St Louis

Not to be outdone by Chicago's St Patrick's Day celebrations (the river in Chicago was dyed green), the fountain at Kiener Plaza (downtown St Louis) was dyed pink as part of the recent 'run for life' type race that held to raise money for breast cancer research. This photo doesn't really show the extent of the dye, but when you looked at the water in the fountain 'pond' it was almost red!

Pom & Cheer

Beth has started going to pom & cheer (cheerleading) classes at a local school.

She has been going for a few weeks now & really enjoys it. So far she has learnt all the basic moves & her & the rest of the girls are now starting to do 'stunts' as part of the routine. We went round to one of her friends house who also attends the pom & cheer classes & saw that she has loads of trophies. The teams enter regional competitions & get ribbons & trophies if they win. If they finish within the top two places, they get to go to the finals in Kansas City.

More food!

Just for a change, rather than going for a burger, we thought that we would try something a bit 'lighter'.

One of my first lunches out with the guys at work was to the downtown St Louis Bread Company. As there is a branch of the bread co. just a few minutes from the house I took Cheryl & Beth there for lunch.

Beth had a kids meal, Cheryl had a chicken salad sandwich & I had a turkey panini & bowl of French Onion soup.

The food, as usual, was really good & we finished off by buying a cake each from the bakery part of the store for later on.

Local wildlife

We have considerably more wildlife in our garden here in the US than back in the UK. Squirels & rabbits are regular visitors & we now have a 'pet' rabbit that Beth likes to feed.

We also have a hummingbird feeder. Although the syrup that they feed on is going down at an alarming rate (no, it isn't leaking) we have yet to see a bird at the feeder. The Missouri state bird is bright blue & whilst we haven't seen one of these in the garden yet, we do get regular visits from Cardinals (these are bright red birds that also happen to be the St Louis Baseball team name & mascot).

Stormy weather!

This is how bizzare the weather can be here. A few weeks ago on a really sunny day, a severe weather warning was issued for our area. We made our way down to the basement & waited for the bad weather to arive. The photos were taken from the basement during the middle of the storm. There was really heavy rain & the wind was quite strong, but as you can see it wasn't that bad looking out from the house. However, directly overhead the clouds were really dark - talk about localized weather!

Red Robin - Yummm

If you want a good burger, you can't beat Red Robin!

This is a chain that started in the 1940’s with Sam’s Tavern, a small tavern perched on a Seattle hilltop near the University of Washington campus. The owner, Sam, sang in a barber shop quartet and could frequently be heard singing the song, “When the red robin goes bob bob bobbin’ along…”. He liked the song so much that he changed the name of his tavern to Sam’s Red Robin and soon it just became known as Red Robin.

They now offer over 22 mouth watering gourmet burgers, including the Banzai Burger with grilled pineapple rings, the Pot Roast Burger, & "American classics" like the Red Robin Gourmet Cheeseburger or the Sautéed Mushroom Burger. My favourite is the Royal Red Robin burger that as well as the burger & salad, also includes a fried egg & four bacon strips - Yum!

The other really cool thing about Red Robin, is that not only do you get bottomless sodas, you also get bottomless steak fries. These are just the same as English steak chips & with an endless supply a visit to Red Robin always goes down well!

It's swim time!

Beth has been having swimming lessons at the local recreational centre, Riverchase.

Unlike the in the UK, Beth's lessons are in the outdoor pool. There are a number of different classes, but the one that Beth is in uses the competition pool (this varies from 6 foot to 12 foot deep & is used for swimming & diving). Cheryl & I usually sit on the sun loungers around the pool with the other parents & watch the lessons.

Cheryl & Beth like Riverchase so much that we have taken out a family membership so that they can use the facilities whenever they want. As I am included in the membership, I'll probably make a point of trying to use the gym there & I'm sure that there will be many days when we just chill out by the side of the leisure pool, enjoying the warm sunny weather.

Hot Rod Heaven (Again)

This month I remembered that the local car show was on & so rather than quickly rushing around we were able to take our time. We got there fairly early (about 4:00pm) but already the display area was almost full. Whilst we were there the PA mentioned that they were going too try & make some more space in the coming months to accomodate the 400+ vehicles that attend the event - not bad for a local car show. More cars were arriving all the time which meant that we got to see alot more vehicles in motion (cool). It is obvious that the owners really like their cars as when taking a photo of a car driving into the event, the owners stop to make sure you gat a good photo. As with the previous month, the weather was great - clear skies & very warm, with the Sun really making the custom paint jobs come alive. I'm looking forward to next month already!