Happy 15th Birthday, Evan!

On January 25th, Evan turned 15 years old. It seems like yesterday he was my cute redheaded boy heading off to preschool. Now he is my handsome redheaded high school freshman. He is athletic and good at diving, although it isn't his favorite activity. He would much rather be fishing, hunting deer, playing video games, shed hunting, or hanging with his friends. Evan enjoys riding his scooter, playing basketball, and going out on his boat during nice weather. He is really smart, but mostly enjoys going to school to see his friends. Evan is our free sprit and is always willing to try new things. He manages to be good at just about anything he decides is worthwhile to learn. 

Happy birthday, Evan! We love you so much! We can't wait to see what amazing things you do over the next few years. 

Here are a few pictures from his birthday celebration that we had with Grammy and Granddaddy. He isn't a huge fan of letting me take pictures, so I was grateful that he allowed me the privilege on his birthday. 

 

St. Louis Adventure

While Evan went on his special birthday to Key West, Carl, Preston, and I travelled to St. Louis. We have never been there, but it has been recommended to us many times, so we decided to check it out. I am so glad we did, because we had a great time!

We arrived in the afternoon and headed to Union Station, where we found a great spot for lunch. We bought a pass that let us participate in many of the attractions, so we filled the afternoon with the aquarium, house of mirrors, carousel, St. Louis Wheel, and mini golf. 

The coolest part of the aquarium was seeing how the archerfish used water knock down food that was  above the aquarium. Preston liked the touch tanks and getting to see sharks and rays.

The house of mirrors was hilarious. 

The St. Louis Wheel is a permanent structure, but is similar to the travelling one that was in Louisville a few years ago. It was fun, but also a bit scary at times. I liked the view of the city from the top.

The carousel was fun. We were the only three riders!

Preston declared himself the champion of mini golf, because he had the most holes in one!

On Saturday night, we hung around the hotel and had some happy hour drinks and snacks. I got really good Thai takeout food for me and Carl. The ever picky Preston was happy with having hotel lobby snacks for dinner!

I went to bed soon after dinner, as I was exhausted from getting up very early to take Evan to the airport to go to Key West. Carl and Preston stayed up a bit longer and played Pokemon and enjoyed old music videos. 

The next morning we went to breakfast at Rooster. I am so glad we found it, because the food and drinks were amazing. If we ever go back to St. Louis, I definitely want to go back to eat at Rooster.

We spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon at City Museum. I have heard so much about the museum, but I couldn't believe how amazing it was! There were amazing climbing areas both in the museum and outside of the museum. There was also an amazing cave area, 5 and 10 story slides, and so much more! It was truly incredible! 

We also visited The Gateway Arch, which is actually a National Park. It was super cool. The best part was being at the top of The Arch. We had some amazing views of the city. The ride up and down was a bit weird, because you ride in a small pod and only see the inner part of The Arch. I am so glad we took the time to visit and extra glad we decided to go to the top.

We enjoyed happy hour and snacks at the hotel and Preston went swimming. 

We enjoyed dinner at El Burro Loco and then Preston and Carl went back to City Museum for more fun. Unfortunately, I was to tired to join them. They said it wasn't very crowded and they could do anything they wanted with no wait. 

Preston really enjoyed getting to spend time with just me and Carl. Although we headed back to Louisville on Monday, we let Preston continue his special time, by letting him lead the rest of the day. He chose snuggles and games, which was just what I would have guessed he would choose. 

Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and Shenanigans

Thanksgiving was really nice this year. We hosted for the very first time and it went really well. Grammy and Granddaddy came, but also Linda, Brady and much of their family. We enjoyed good company, good food, and nice weather. 

Christmastime is my favorite time of the year and this year's was amazing. We missed doing some of our usual activities like Lights Under Louisville. New activities happened though, including a neighborhood party at the Bohn's house. Also, after a couple of years of not gathering due to Covid-19, the Keeling family Christmas party was held again. 

Decorating the Christmas tree was fun, but also a total mess this year. Despite the adorable pictures, the decorating also included lots of bickering and ornament breaking. The tree did turn out to be very pretty and I loved it. 

Decorating the gingerbread house was lots of fun. As usual, I think more of the candy was eaten than was used for decorating.

We enjoyed decorating Christmas cookies. I have found a really good recipe for the cookie dough that works well for both baking, decorating, and that also tastes really good. Both the Petrosky and Arkema families came to decorate cookies. We had a great time and the cookies were cute and tasty.

The neighborhood Christmas party for the kids was lots of fun. Preston still enjoys the Christmas magic, so he was excited to get a visit from Santa.

Sir Christmas Pants returned and was full of shenanigans. 

Santa came and the boys received lots of exciting gifts. 

The boys woke up bright and early to open presents!

We went to Grammy and Granddaddy's house for lunch and to exchange presents. It was snowy and Caleb and Evan spent lots of time playing outside.

The temperatures during winter break were so low that the creek and pond froze! We had so much fun playing on the ice!

I can't forget waking up to a beaver in the basement bathroom! With the pond frozen, this destructive cutie was out on ice. When Carl couldn't scare him back down to the creek where he came from, he decided it was a good idea to capture him! He spent the night and then packed his bags to a place where he wouldn't be a bother to anyone. 

Cousin Christmas with the Amshoffs was fun and ended up with an unexpected sleepover!

We had fun together on New Year's Eve. We played games and ate lots of snacks. We also had dinner at Seasoned. 

The Congleton family visited in December and the bog boys created an awesome fort! 

Evan enjoyed fishing during the milder weather. We were quite impressed with this huge catfish that he  caught!