STL Rams

I was lucky enough to obtain a pair of tickets to see the Rams play at Edward Jones Dome in downtown St Louis, so I took Beth to watch her first American Football game. Although the Rams were doing pretty bad at this point in the season (they fired their head coach after this game) the seats were at Club level which meant that you were reasonably close to the pitch & could actually see what was happening (I had previously only watched the Rams play from the 'nosebleed' seats at the top of the stadium where the match looked like it was being played by teeny, tiny, people). Predictably, the Rams lost (despite two good quarters), but Beth & I enjoyed the game & Beth got to see the Rams' Cheerleaders.

Volleyball

One of Beth's friend's Mum coaches a volleyball team in a local school league, & Beth's friend asked if she wanted to join the team. The league lasted for about 6 weeks, with multiple games being played on a Saturday morning at various local schools. The league comprised 3rd & 4th graders, but Beth's team was mostly 3rd graders who had not played volleyball before, so they were at a significant disadvantage. Beth really enjoyed playing & also got to attend a volleyball clinic at the local high school, which included watching the high school team play & then playing with the team. Beth's ability increased significantly with the regular coaching sessions & she became a high points scorer!

The Great Forest Park Balloon Race (Balloon Glow)

The Great Forest Park Balloon Race is preceded by the Balloon Glow. The race is sponsored by Energizer® (2008 was the 36th anniversary of the Race). The Energizer® Bunny balloon is the first balloon to leave the park with the other 'hound' balloons (72 this year) chasing it. The Balloon Glow takes place the night before the race & starts at about 7:30pm, before it gets dark. The weather was really great this year so the event was absolutely jammed with people (we had a 20 minute walk from the car). You could, however, still get 'up close & personal' with the balloons as they were inflated. By about 8:30pm, all the balloons were up & it was getting dark so you could really begin to see the balloons light up when the burners were turned on. Periodically a horn would sound & all the balloons would turn their burners on at the same time (which looked really cool). Fireworks were scheduled for 9:00pm, but since we thought that the real event was the balloons, we decided to leave early & try to miss the traffic (year, right!). We needn't have worried about the fireworks as the event was shown on the local news just after we got home.