Ian surprised me towards the beginning of the month by says that he was going to share a birthday present early with me. he used to be so strict about opening gifts on the day off my i think my general overall enthusiasm towards gift giving and receiving has really begun to wear on him. naturally it was a simple envelope addressed to me in his handwriting. inside held a map & hotel reservations for a place in saint louis, missouri. i was beyond thrilled. it is a city i have never been and some where i had talked about wanting to explore.
the weekend and week leading up to my birthday were incredible. the weekend prior to the trip ian's family stopped by to wish me a happy early birthday. my lovely little sister made cookies. which were very quickly consumed. i even shared some with jon who was actually celebrating a birthday that weekend. my family came up to celebrate on sunday. my mom even got 26 gifts people! and no birthday is complete without a little DQ ice cream cake! here are a few photos i have not yet shared on the blog:
[what little was left after just one day]
[dennis couldn't wait he need cake immediately following lunch and had to literally carve the cake]
during the week of my birthday i received two separate gifts from ian. each wonderful and sweet.
gift 1: opera glasses - to represent attending the symphony
gift 2: amazing picnic basket - to use on our travels
[when i opened it we literally matched]
[isn't it the most adorable picnic basket you have ever seen?]
thursday night was spent with ian's family. sadly evan wasn't able to join us - but it was great to spend more time with collin. i got two wonderful scarves and a gift card to home depot [when in doubt.... perfect gift] and kyle made a wonderful family recipe. a czech dish of chicken and parsley over a knedliky bread, similar to dumplings. delicious!! and some type of cream based raspberry dessert!
the gift of a trip was so much more meaningful and memorable. it was our first trip as a married couple and it felt wonderful to tell our cab drivers and waiters who asked if we were dating - oooooo nope we are married.
on friday, we left cedar rapids around 11 am. prior to this ian ran errands in the morning including picking up the food for our picnic. and although we didn't get to enjoy it on an actual picnic he did a fabulous job: meat, cheese, and crackers, fresh cut fruit, pasta salad and some lambic beer.
[finished packing the car and heading out of town]
we drove 4.5 hours almost straight through to the STL. once we arrived at the hotel i changed and we were headed for a night out on the town. we cabbed to DT and headed for Leclede Landing. Ian did his research and this was right along the riverfront, literally a few blocks from the arch. and i would recommend it to anyone.
[the sign for leclede's landing behind me]
we ate dinner at a resturant called fat daddy's. it was wonderful. we hit up happy hour got plenty of drinks and ate a variety of appetizers for dinner.
after dinner we walked down the street to a few shops. and ended up at morgan's brewery to watch the celtics/knicks game. it didn't end well for my team. but alcohol helped heal some of my wounds.
from there we went to a local casino - where i gambled for practically the first time ever. i was up about 40 bucks at one point in the night but ended up cashing out with about 10 extra dollas. heck ya... winning. my jackpot helped us purchase a few drinks at the big bang piano bar. where we ended our night before catching a cab to the hotel.
saturday was a crazy busy day. it was cloudy, foggy, and misting/spitting rain all day. but it was PERFECT! we go ready and headed out to forest park. it is a beautiful 1,300 acre park that is home to a planetarium, science center, art museum, zoo, greenhouse, history museum, park grounds, and jogging/bike paths. due to the rain our picnic and zoo trips were cut out of the itinerary. but we did still visit the art museum and planetarium. the art museum was AM-AZ-ING!!! i snagged up quite a few pictures of our favorite exhibits. the planetarium was completely over run with screaming, uncontrolled children. since i work with kids and am pretty much obsessed with them it surprised me how much these crazy kiddos deterred me from wanting to explore the planetarium. we stuck around for some of the nasa history museums but then jetted out to explore dt again and see the arch.
[leaving to explore the city on saturday morning]
[in front of the fountains outside the art museum]
[taking a rest breaks & some selfies]
[my fave from inside the museum]
[obsessed with this pattern]
[wishing i could have it in my kitchen]
[amazing statue of virigin mary and child made out of limestone]
our favorite drawings/paintings: rembrandt, monet, & a painting of basilica st petersburg
[in love with the layout of the floor & our cute shoes]
[at the planetarium]
[ian enjoying our GPS's navigation skills]
[waiting in line to go up in the arch]
[standing in line]
[we got our tickets to ride]
[up in the center of the arch]
[another view from the riverfront]
after visiting the arch we headed back to the hotel to change in our "formal wear" for a magical evening out on the town. we first drove to a romantic dinner at Charlie Gitto's On The Hill. it was top of line. wonderful service, great wine, incredible food - including a complimentary birthday desert. following dinner we headed to powell hall to watch the saint louis symphony. it wasn't until we were standing inside and i asked where our seats were that i realized we had box seats. ian purchased special seats for us to enjoy the symphony in somewhat seclusion. we were even allowed to listen to a per-concert lecture from a professor at saint louis university. the music was the best i have ever heard. it was an all motzart concert that lasted nearly 2 hours. it featured the clarinet concerto in A major, and Scott Andrews was featured on the clarinet.
[leaving the hotel]
[i should mention that when i requested a modification to a dish they recommended not to do that because it would change the flavoring and instead made a dish completely from scratch that wasn't offered on their menu]
[standing in powell hall with our tickets after realizing we have box seats]
[pre-concert lecture]
[grabbing a picture in the lobby]
[a view from our amazing seats]
we ended our night snuggled up in bed watching the end of an NBA finals game. the prefect end to a perfect day.
on sunday we slept in again and hit up cracker barrel on our way out of town. we had plans to stop for a picnic on the way home. but lack of a nice park and the desire to get home [and out of the car] prevented us from using our picnic basket. on sunday night the flynn clan and jon came over from some pizza and games. it was beautiful weather. the first day of the year we opened EVERY window in the house. can't wait for more sunshine so we can enjoy our backyard even more. and get the fire pit ready!
No comments:
Post a Comment