St. Louis Trip

Mike's Grandma Laura is turning 100 in a few weeks, so his whole family (Mike's parents, his two sisters and their families, and us four) planned to make the trip out to St. Louis together to celebrate with her. She made the trip out to see us after Oliver and his cousin Savannah were born and she LOVES those two, so we were very excited to reunite them and to introduce her to Liam. When she saw a photo of him, she said there was something special about him and that she thought he would be president (or Pope) some day :)

Oliver said the highlight of the trip was the plane rides...and he really did an awesome job.  The airplane shaped crackers they gave out didn't hurt either! One of my highlights was getting to spend so much time with my niece.  Seeing her and Oliver really play together for the first time was so sweet.  I can't wait to meet the next Withrow and to see him/her grow up with Liam.

Oliver loved meeting everyone (and all the junk food they gave him!) and getting so much Grandma Jo time. I didn't get pictures of a few notable parts of the trips though... one was going to see Mike's mom's childhood home (which was bought by one of her childhood friends) and getting a tour of Grandma Laura's retirement community. I really wish I had brought my camera for that because she loaded Oliver and Savannah onto her walker and pushed them around for half an hour!  It wasn't really clear if they were terrified or having fun...;) 

I created this post shortly after we went on this trip, but it is now two years later...Grandma Lala passed away later that year.  I am so glad that she got to meet Liam and celebrate her 100th birthday with her adoring family.  She is so greatly missed.

Smith Tower 2011

Oliver has a thing for tall buildings and can identify Smith Tower, Columbia Tower, the Space Needle and Harborview from all over town.  So when I saw a groupon for Smith Tower, I snapped it up and we all headed downtown for a morning of fun in the city.  Of course the view was amazing and Oliver loved the elevator ride up to the top.  As he has been saying, it was the tallest building on the west coast when it was built in 1912...We took the light rail downtown and decided to stay for lunch before heading home.  We walked through pioneer square and down to the waterfront for some fish and chips.  It was a super touristy day but we all had a great time.