Zoe and her Uncle Rob

Rob loves his niece- that's an understatement.  While we were home the first time to check on Rob's mom, my sister, Jessica, brought Zoe and Momma down to surprise Rob.  They played at the park for a few minutes before we went to the world's best pizza place- Roma's! Then when we went home a few days later to take care of Rob's mom's memorial we took a day and went up to see my family for a reprieve from the "stuff."  These are a few photos from Uncle Rob's time with the world's most adorable niece.

"Look Uncle Rob."

Rude, Uncle Rob!

She must have known her Uncle Rob needed love.

She did NOT like wearing Uncle Rob's hat!

"Here Uncle Rob, you have a drink."

"That's enough now!"

Playing with Uncle Rob on Grandma & Papa's floor.

"My Aunt Beka, what HUGE feet you have!"

My sister, Jessica, and Zoe waving bye to us as we go back

Daddy's Fishing Place

Our daddy used to go fishing a lot. He spent a lot of time in the Mississippi River, and I remember our family going to this place with him. I loved this place. Rob took me back there before we left Illinois so I could get some photos.



When I was a little girl, I used to play on the sandbar while Daddy fished and I would pretend that there was a princess locked away in these "castles" by an evil witch. :)

Low Water Dam- This is a really rocky area- goes all the way across the river- normally and has a lot of rapids, but there was a lot of rain while we were home and it was underwater a few days later when we returned with the camera.

Chain of Rocks Bridge- this old bridge was closed to traffic when I was very young.  Rob remembers it being open, but I was just a toddler then.  It is open for foot/bike traffic now, and we walked across to get some photos.

That's St. Louis in the background.

a log floating down the river- here in Central NC, there are no big rivers of any kind of size- was hoping my students could get an idea how big the river is with this picture

Goodbye Daddy.  Thanks for some good memories. :)

Where I Come From

Rob and I took a lot of photos when we were back in the St. Louis area.  I am sure it was the circumstances, but we were both reminiscing a lot about our childhoods and memories-good and bad.  A few of these photos were taken for my students who can't quite understand what it is like "where I am from."   I didn't honestly have time when we got back to do anything but try to get caught up and I didn't feel up to looking through my photos either, but am going to try to do so today. 

This is where I come from- the Midwest, home of the mighty Mississippi River, flat land, and cornfields as far as you can see.

Sunrise and fog as we leave Illinois to head back to NC

winter wheat fields

snow fence in front and a wind farm in the back (sorry for the dirty window picture)

flat land, farms as far as you can see



crossing the Mississippi River into St. Louis



Rob waving hello to my students. :)

me being silly :)

This is where the flood of '93 was measured.

flood walls and measuring tool

Watching a barge moving upriver before we left the landing.

Landscaping work in Progress (for Momma and Pop)

I know these are nothing spectacular to look at, but I promised my Momma I'd share some photos for her and Pop so they can see what we are up to.  So here goes.  Robert and I took out the dying boxwood bushes in front of our house; we have left the firebushes for now anyway.  We have replaced the bushes with some ornamental grasses, delphinium, coreopsis, shasta daisy, and English daisy and left the small blooming grass that was here up front between the little daisies.

 I wish my camera could catch the real shade of blue on this!  It is GORGEOUS- so much prettier then the camera/computer shows!

English Daisies- I love these too!

 Can't see the flowers much, but the house looks so different without those big bushes in front now!

I bought cheap brick-like stones to try to keep the yard out of the bed and the mulch out of the yard.  Hopefully I can add to this as we go.

 A side view

 The side of the house- these hostas came from Illinois with my parents one year when they came to visit us.  Pop dug them up from his flower beds.  They lived at our old rental home and when we bought our 1st home, Matthew and I dug them up again and brought them with us. :)  They are starting to really take off and get bigger now.

 Just loved these flower pots- and of course had to make them St. Louis Blues colors for Rob.  I love gerbera daisies and these also fit the Blues color theme, so voila. :)