St. Louis City Museum

On Thursday morning, we enjoyed breakfast at the Benton Park Cafe. It is right across the street from Casey and Jen's old apartment in St. Louis and you can see Anheuser Busch in the background. 

 We spent the day exploring the City Museum

 Camden and Emma scramble through the first tunnel we saw

 Chris pulled himself through it...

 Casey maneuvering around a tight corner

 Down a rabbit hole

 The roof of the City Museum was probably our favorite spot.

Uncle Casey and Camden on the slide

 Camden climbing up the L-O-N-G roof slide

 Chris following him

 Heights and I are not the best of friends.  Put a ferris wheel on top of a 12 story building on a breezy day, and I'll enjoy it with my eyes closed.  To make matters worse, the more Chris laughed at me, the more the ferris wheel seat moved. 

 Emma and Aunt Jen waving to us after their ferris wheel ride

 That's Camden the Brave at the top

 Who's the man in disguise?

Next Stop: St. Louis!

We said good-bye to Amber back in Boston and hopped on a plane to St. Louis. After some delays in both Boston and Chicago, we made it to Casey and Jen's house. 

We began our first day at St. Louis' most iconic site: The Gateway Arch

 Chris and Camden in our elevator capsule to the top

 Emma checking out the Mighty Mississippi River from the top of the arch

 Family photo op under the arch

 Having some fun with Aunt Jen at Forest Park

Emma's determined face in this picture makes me laugh!

 Tour guide Camden lead us through the St. Louis Zoo

 Adorable baby elephant!

 Cooling off at Casey and Jen's house

 Chatting with Uncle Casey in his art studio

 Jen's friend was kind enough to watch the kids so we could have an adult evening out.  We had an incredible dinner at Home.

Popham Beach

Emma and Camden had their first experience in the Atlantic Ocean.  We visited Popham Beach on Monday morning. The overnight rain stopped and the tide was low, so we had a wonderful time playing in the water and walking along the beach!

Camden in Camden

When we first learned we were going to become parents, we started looking for the perfect boy's name.  Chris ran across the name Camden in a baby name book and it immediately reminded him of our favorite little town in Maine.  Since baby #1 was Emma, we kept that name for baby #2.

We were ecstatic to take Camden to the place that inspired his name...

Checking out the boats along the water front

 Family picture time!

 We were on the look out for as many Camden signs as we could find.  

Here are a few of our favorites:

Lunch at Cappy's Chowder House 

A top priority of mine was to eat some lobster in Maine.  Amber, Stepheny, and I feasted on lobster rolls, clam chowder, and fried clams - YUM!!!!!

 

An after lunch treat at Camden Cone

Back to Maine

When Chris started his career in the spring of 1998, he was the Youth Director at Brunswick Naval Air Station. He came back to Brunswick after La Maddalena and we spent our first year as husband and wife in Maine.  We hadn't been back for 10 years, so a stop on the East Coast meant meeting up with old friends and visiting some of our favorite places.

Chris' first apartment on Summer Street in Brunswick

Our first home (left side of the duplex) on David Street in Lisbon Falls 

 The McKeen Street Youth Center

 The remains of the Rec Mall on base.  Chris is standing on the splash pad, the bane of his existence when he worked there.

 Chris' first office at the CDC

 The site of Camp Kasper and Mainerds' Moose Troop Camp

 On Sunday evening we met up with friends at Chris' favorite sports bar, Gippers.

The True family visited us in Italy last May and graciously opened up their house for us during our trip to Maine. Here are Troy and Camden showing their Red Sox pride!

This is what happens to your campers when you leave for 10 years: they grow up!

Stepheny, Chris, and Brian

 The Russell Family: Bob, Debbie, and Jessica

 Chris, Smitty, Camden, Me, Bonnie, Brian, Stepheny, and Emma

 Joyce, Chris, and Lauren

 On Monday, we met some more MWR family for lunch in Freeport