The Lindenbergs

This blog posting is a little late (sorry Dad).



For the August 16th weekend, we went out to Omaha to see may Dad and his girlfriend (Mary). Despite earlier weather forecasts of dire weather, we had the perfect weekend. The three hour drive to Omaha took close to 3.5 hours -turns out there was a lot of construction on I29. But the ride went relatively quickly and painlessly.

We met for dinner at Friday's (Pierce's suggestion) then spent a few hours at my Dad's apartment catching up. Dad and Mary look great (of course) and seem to be doing well. We wound up fairly early, it was a long day and Nora and I were just as ready for bed as the kids.

Saturday started with breakfast at Dad and Mary's. Mary outdid herself serving pancakes, waffles, fruit, bagels and more. Every spring, Dad plants a variety of flower and produce plants in pots on his back balcony. This year's crop was truly a bumper one. It was like walking into a mini-jungle. Vegetables included peppers, multiple types of tomatoes, and cucumbers (I'm sure I'm forgetting others).


The morning and part of the afternoon were spent at the Henry Doorly Zoo. Its one of the mid-west's largest zoos and draws patrons from all over the country. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time or energy to do the whole zoo. We spent most of our time in the rainforest (Anna's pet interest)





and at the aquarium (which has to be seen to be believed).





After a quick, but expensive lunch, we headed back to Dad's place to do some swimming at their apartment pool. Dad and Mary came out to watch Pierce and Anna swim. Both kids were in their usual top form and really showed off (we're so proud). We ended the day by going to our favorite family-friendly restaurant, The Amazing Pizza Machine.

A bit like a Chuckie Cheese's on steroids (to quote Nora), the Pizza Machine features a decent buffet, arcade games, ticket games, bowling, go carts, bumper cars and more. After we all pigged out ate, Nora took Anna to play ticket games (and boy did she win tickets), and Pierce and I hit the go-carts. The track has cars that accommodate a driver and passenger. Pierce isn't quite tall enough to drive yet, but unlike last time we were there, Pierce was egging me on to go faster. It was a blast. Mary is also a huge fan of the ticket games, and used our visit as an excuse to go crazy. Between her ticket wins, Anna's massive ticket acquisitions, and Pierce's token wins, Pierce and Anna were able to cash out their tickets for the nicest crap we've ever gotten from one of those ticket redemption stores.

Sunday was a shortened day. In the morning, after a quick Burger King breakfast, we headed to the local air force base for an air show. None of us had ever been to one before and this one was massive. It featured planes from almost every era, from bi-planes to stealth fighters. The sky was constantly full of some sort of activity: parachutists, stunt fliers, WWII mustangs, modern-day cargo and surveillance planes. It was definitely a feast for the eyes.

We ended our visit with lunch at Dad and Mary's. Then, with a grocery bag full of tomatoes, we got on the road for home, with a detour to Nora's parents house for a belated birthday dinner for Nora. One of her presents, was an electronic version of Monopoly. Nora, her nephews, her sister-in-law, and Pierce and Anna all played. It was hilarious. I think Pierce was the big winner before we had to wrap up and head for home.

-Eric (Dad)

Nora and I took Friday off and piled the family in the car for a long weekend in St. Louis.


A cousin of Nora's was getting married Friday night. The wedding and reception were fairly small and low key. This was the first wedding that Pierce and Anna have been to that they'll actually remember. Both were very excited, mostly at the prospect of getting wedding cake.


The drive from Kansas City is about 4 hours. We used my new Garmin GPS (the kids call it Lola) and it made the drive a snap. Nora, not needing to act as navigator, snoozed and read a book. Pierce and Anna periodically checked our onscreen location to make sure we hadn't gone awry. We arrived at the hotel early enough that we were able to spend about an hour in the pool before getting ready for the wedding.

The wedding was held at a small church and probably set the record for fastest ceremony. I think once it started the entire thing lasted about 10 minutes. The bride's father acted as the videographer and it was fascinating to watch someone else do the type of job Nora and I do. I'm sure they'll enjoy the video he shot for many years to come.

The reception was Pierce and Anna's shining moment; they came to dance. After a reasonably tasty (and late) buffet dinner, the two of them danced with each other and Nora and me. Anna even showed Pierce how to do a slow dance.

Saturday, we headed in to St. Louis proper to see the Arch. Despite the number of times Nora and I have been to St. Louis to see her extended family, we've never made it to the Arch (despite a great deal of begging on my part). I'd have to say the experience surpassed expectations.

The Arch is absolutely beautiful. Its size, graceful curve, mirror-like surface, and twisting, ribbon-like angles are breath-taking. The Arch sits in a park-like setting surrounded by trees and lush grass. To enter the Arch you go underground; which is when you realize that under the park is an entire complex complete with museum, gift shop, movie theater and more. When you buy tickets to go to the top of the Arch, they're time-stamped so you don't have to stand in line. You just show up at your designated time and up you go. Our time was about 45 minutes after our ticket purchase, so we perused the museum. The animatronic characters that recited the history of the 'opening of the west' were the biggest hit with Pierce and Anna.

You get to the top of the Arch by climbing into a small 'pod" that can accommodate up to 5 people -its shaped like a marble and sounds like a roller coaster as you start up the Arch. The pod's elevator-like doors have windows so you can see the inner architecture of the Arch (cool!). The top of the Arch would be almost roomy if it weren't completely crowded with visitors. Its about 8 feet wide with viewing windows on both sides. The Arch is so high the view is reminiscent of that from an airplane. I'm told that you can usually feel the Arch swaying from the winds, but it was completely still while we were up there.

Saturday night we had dinner with Nora's cousins. Grilled burgers, dogs and sausages. They have older boys who generously spent time with Pierce and Anna. We don't see them often and we were all sorry that the evening came to a close so quickly.

Sunday was scheduled for a visit to Grant's Farm (established by the family that founded Bud/Bush beer) and a visit to a classic car museum. Unfortunately, the car museum did not have Sunday hours (oops), but Pierce took the situation with good grace. Grant's Farm is like a petting zoo on steroids and Anna loved every minute of it. The Farm has live elephants with regular shows. There was also a Tram ride with an accompanying history of the farm that took you to the Farm's interior.

Sunday was also Nora's birthday. We celebrated by going to the downtown Hard Rock Cafe for lunch (Nora collects Hard Rock pins). The Cafe is in the St. Louis Union (train) Station. The lunch was pretty good and, at my prompting, the waiter brought Nora an ice cream Sunday. He also had the entire restaurant sing 'I'm a little teapot' to her while she stood on a pedestal and danced (badly) the appropriate moves to the song. I think I almost pooped myself it was so funny.

As an olive branch to Pierce, we went into the Union Station proper and walked through their train exhibit. Honestly, the display was pretty un-impressive. But Pierce enjoyed it.

-Eric (Dad)

After a relative cool spell, our Kansas summer is in full swing. This last weekend was in the high 90s and exceptionally humid. Not good outdoor weather.

On Saturday, I spent the day at Pamona Lake windsurfing with a friend. The winds were very light, which worked well for me, but not much good to anyone who's actually proficient at the sport. It was so hot out, even the water was warm. Yuck. But I had a good time.

While I was gone, Pierce and Anna attended a birthday party at our next door neighbors. The party was outside and took place in bathing suits. There was volleyball, a water slide and other water-based activities. Pierce and Anna went with Nora to the store to pick out a birthday present and I think they picked out a good one. We were going to go see Titanic at Theater in the Park Saturday evening, but Nora said it was so unpleasant outside during the party that none of the family had any interest in going. Maybe next year...

Sunday was a mixed bag for us. Pierce was invited to another outdoor/water-based birthday party. After dropping him off, Anna and I went to the pool. Both kids had fun, but the sun was so intense I could practically feel my skin sizzling. Nora was a lot smarter, she and a friend went to a beaded-jewelry class.

On the jewelry front, Nora and Lizz (from across the street) took some pictures of Nora's jewelry in preparation for building a web business for selling some of Nora's pieces. Hopefully we'll have her website up soon. Nora's still trying to settle on the perfect name for her effort. Feel free to respond to this blog with some suggestions.

Pierce and Anna completed their last session of swim lessons last week. Their progress this year, particularly Anna's, has been impressive. Pierce is able to do the butterfly stroke about half-way across our pool. Anna's natural buoyancy prevents her from diving to the bottom of the deeper end of the pool, but she loves swimming underwater.

The weekend before last we had our bi-annual block party. We had a little bit of rain in the midst of the activities, but not enough to seriously hamper the event. Aside from some great food, we had a visit from the fire department (complete with the pumper truck spraying the kids with water), lots of games including an egg toss, balloon toss, shoe toss, and a frozen t-shirt contest (don't ask).

I rigged up our driveway movie screen and setup an arcade game, so people could wander over and play a game of Pacman or Galaga on an 8-foot screen. You can watch a short video of the event by clicking here.

-Eric (Dad)

Labels: block party homestead woods swim lessons arcade pacman galaga wind surfing pamona