Hometown History, Accidental Heroines and What NEVER to Wear

Here she is, the Diva of Department Stores, or as Jesse calls her, "Flamingo Lady!"

(Val) Monday was my daughter’s 18th birthday, and as is our family tradition, we took the day off to go out and do whatever she chose to do. It’s always fun with Jesse, because we just never know what she’s going to pick. This year was definitely one of my favorites.

For starters, we hit the St. Louis Galleria and did a little shopping. We didn’t buy much, but we did have a good time looking around and just goofing off. I think everybody’s favorite store had to be The Sharper Image, where we found all kinds of really cool gadgets.

When we had seen all we needed to see of the mall, we headed out to the truck and prepared to head down town for a trip into history. Before we could leave the parking lot, we caught site of an amazing example of a major Fashion Don’t! As you can see in the photo, this woman was dressed to the nines in pink and green to an unprecedented degree of coordination. I couldn’t help but laugh as my husband waited for her to cross in front of us, but I did my best not to let her see. Besides the top and matching skirt you see here, she also sported a pair of matching pink pumps and her make-up would make Tammy Faye Bakker green with envy.

Honestly, I know I’m no fashion plate, in fact, I’m not even a fashion saucer, but oh my goodness! And to be fair, I couldn’t help but think that when she left the house that morning, she probably did so with an air of utter confidence that she was really styling and would be the envy of all the other elderly ladies at the mall. Lucky for her, it seems as if her hubby didn’t object to her sense of fashion, because he was right there next to her carrying her shopping bags. I can only imagine what was in there!

Inside the beautiful dome of St. Louis' Old Courthouse.

After getting our kicks via the Galleria Gal, we made our way downtown to St. Louis’ Old Courthouse, whose claim to fame is that this is where the famous Dred Scott case took place. This was my favorite stop of the day, as I love history, and to walk through the doorway, and on into the rotunda literally took my breath away. A giant American Flag hung from the beautifully frescoed dome, and red, white and blue bunting was everywhere. It was absolutely gorgeous.

We enjoyed exploring the building, looking at all of the artifacts housed there, and reading the stories of our ancestors. A friendly National Parks worker even told us some little-known history about the courthouse. It seems that the Dred Scott anti-slavery case was only one of over 250 such cases heard in the St. Louis courts. There is an ongoing project to tabulate all of these cases, because of the idea that the Dred Scott case was unique. It has garnered attention as being the case that was the final straw that started the Civil War, but it was certainly not the only case of its kind.

We all took turns shooting pictures inside and out, and really enjoyed ourselves. It’s hard to believe that I was born and raised in the area, yet had never been there before. Thanks to Jesse for changing that!

My baby, on her 18th birthday doing her famous pose in front of the waterfall at the Zoo.

Because Jesse’s birthday falls at the height of summer, we have often found ourselves at the zoo on that day. We have our own little tradition of taking Jesse’s picture next to a waterfall at the south entrance. Since we were on our way home, and had other plans, we just made a quick stop to take the photo before continuing on our way.

We girls hopped out of the truck and made our way into the Zoo, one of the only FREE zoos in the United States, by the way, and over to the waterfall. After snapping a couple of pictures, we headed toward the exit, which seemed to be in a state of chaos.

Let me preface this next paragraph by saying that, as you may have seen on the news, St. Louis got hit by two major storms last week, which knocked out electricity to over half a million people. There are still people waiting for their power to come back on today. I think that we, as a nation, are pretty spoiled by all of our modern conveniences, such as those auto-flush potties, self-checkouts, and power doors. It was this last item that caused such a problem as we tried to leave the zoo.

The zoo has those automatic doors that are supposed to open as you approach. For some reason, the door appeared to be stuck closed, and there were no other places to exit. People were milling all around, and I heard one say to the other something to the effect of, “There’s supposed to be an exit here somewhere but I guess we’re going to have to find another one.”

This is Jesse's 18th birthday cake. Yes, we are both total Cars nuts!

People were literally starting to get into a frenzy because they could not find a way out of the zoo. It would have been funny if it weren’t for the fact that it was SO INCREDIBLY SAD!

Instead of turning away like the rest of the Chicken Littles in the crowd, I walked through their midst, grabbed the edge of the door, and slid it open MANUALLY. Jesse and I walked through, trying to contain our giggles, but joking the whole time about Super Girl and Wonder Mom and how we saved the zoo patrons.

Scott and Brenden had no idea what was so funny but when we got into the truck, and looked back at the mass exodus from the zoo, we explained what happened and had everyone in stitches. It looked as if someone had released the flood gates, and we wondered just how long those people would have stayed in there if we hadn’t come to their rescue!

Brenden crashed out in the backseat of the truck on the way home from our last stop, Dave & Buster's.

It was a really great day, and along with these adventures, we also stopped for a look around Grand Prix Speedways, had lattes at Picaso’s and wound up at Dave & Buster’s for games and dinner. It was a very long day, as you can see from the picture of Brenden, but I think we all had a pretty good time.

Happy Birthday to my baby! Sniff.