Apple Picking with the Mohrs

This weekend we got to partake in another wonderful fall tradition--apple picking! We headed out to Eckert's (a local farm) with the Mohrs on Saturday on a gorgeous sunny day. We had a great time watching Eliot enjoy what we were doing! We now have plenty of apples for making yummy fall treats!

On the wagon heading out to the pickable apples

Keri with one of the few apples she could reach

Eliot testing what we had picked so far

Keri looking for more apples she could reach

The Mohr Family

Weekend Fun

Though weekday life continues to be tiring for Keri and largely unknown yet for C.J. (he has yet to start his research lab rotation and teaching for his GK 12 program, so we still don't know what a normal week looks like), we have had some chances to have some fun on the weekends. Last weekend we drove up to MI to see Keri's parents and other family. We spent a rainy day Saturday at the cottage, but still managed to have fun! We put on rain gear and took a long walk in the rain, and even got to swim in the lake. It was warmer than when we were there in August!

This weekend we were able to take advantage of a few of St. Louis' fun, free things to do. Every year they have a hot air balloon festival at Forest Park. They do a "Balloon Glow" on Friday night and light up all of the balloons, and then they have a race on Saturday. We didn't attend on Friday night due to C.J's dislike of the parking situation and large crowds, but we went with our friend Katie Mohr and her son Eliot to see the beginning of the race.

C.J. and Eliot playing before the launch

Even though we were just standing in a random field to see the balloons, two of the balloons actually had something go wrong after take-off and landed right in front of us!

After the balloons, we headed over to the Loop. Our friend Russ Mohr's band, The Fundamental Elements, was playing in "Play STL," an event where 99 bands come to the Loop to play. He played on the free outdoor stage. Great music, good friends, and a great way to spend a Saturday!

Tour de Lafayette

Friday night, our community got some excitement when the Tour de Lafayette came to Lafayette Square. The Gateway Cup is an all-weekend series of road bike races in the St. Louis area. Friday night was the Tour de Lafayette, a bike race around our 1-mile Lafayette Park. It was crazy! There were several different races for different speeds and levels of racers. It all ended with a 60-minute + 5 lap race of professional cyclists (the 2nd place winner was on Tour de France). Though there were several crashes, on the corner C.J. and I sat, the biggest excitement was when one of the biker's water bottle flew off him and skidded and hit C.J. in the foot :) It was a fun time and so fun that with how crowded it was down here, we could just walk the block up to the park to watch! Oh, and I forgot to post two of the family pictures we took on vacation, so those are below.

The best picture we could get of racers flying by

Sunset and the motorcyle light with racers coming towards our corner

Uncle C.J. and Aunt Keri with the boys

The family (minus Ryan and Kelly)