A few months ago, you decided that you REALLY wanted to not only visit the Arch, but go up to the top of it. Since you started mentioning wanting to go to the Arch pretty frequently, I decided that you weren't joking. So, I figured there's no time like the present.
You had a random Monday in late April off of school, so Daddy kept you home in the morning, then brought you to my work for lunch. You and I had lunch with my friend Courtney... then you and I took off for the Arch.
It turned out to be a beautiful day -- the rain finally stopped and it was overcast but not too chilly. And you were EXCITED to see all that the Arch had to offer.
(Who knew that the National Park Service has its own special safety cones?!?!? We just HAD to take a picture with these...)
Luckily, on a random Monday afternoon in April (outside of the Spring Break window), the Arch isn't crowded at 1:30 in the afternoon. So we bought our tickets and headed straight for the dryer pods elevators.
One new thing they do at the Arch is take your picture before you ride to the top, a la Disney. "Nice," I thought. "They'll want to charge me a ton for this at the bottom."
I thought you might get a tiny bit freaked out when you saw how small the panty hose eggs elevators were... but you didn't hesitate.
(You only hesitate a little bit when I didn't follow you in so I could take your picture. You cried, "No, Mommy! You have to come in here with me! You can't send your kid in alone!")
You giggled all the way to the top - especially when the shoebox elevator would adjust back and forth. Then the tiny doors of our pod slide open... and there we were at the top.
The funniest part -- we had just gotten to the top, and were taking photos and looking out the windows, when my phone rang. It was Grandma and Grandpa Wells -- they happened to be driving to Kansas City to visit Aunt Lois and Uncle Jim that day and told me they'd call me when they were passing through St. Louis. When I saw it was them calling, I handed the phone to you. "Grandma!" you cried. "We're at the top of the Arch!" When Grandma replied that she was driving through town, you said, "Oh! I can see you from here!" That made the park ranger laugh.
Humphrey enjoying the view of Busch Stadium from the top of the Arch...
Getting ready for our descent. It takes four minutes to ride to the top... but only three minutes to get to the bottom. Wait a minute...
Once we landed at the bottom, we bid farewell to our alien escape pods elevator and headed for the museum. After about 10 minutes, you had seen all you wanted to, so we headed for the gift shop. We walked right by the photo booth, where our package of photos was waiting for us. It was a good picture of the both of us, so I asked the cashier how much. "You get the 5 x 7, four wallets, and the commemorative frame (a.k.a. a cardboard sleeve with a picture of the Arch on it) for $20." I started to walk away when you tugged on my sleeve and asked, "Mommy - aren't you going to get the photos of our special day together?"
And here's my $20...
On our walk back to the car, you held my hand and skipped. It was ridiculously sweet. "Mommy, can you thank your boss for letting you take the afternoon off so you could come to the Arch with me? I really enjoyed our special afternoon together." Then you gave me the best hug EVER.
I didn't want that special, special hug -- or that special, SPECIAL afternoon -- to ever end.
April was a crazy month for me -- I had a giant project at work happening that had me on the road a lot during the month. I was so very thankful for a quiet afternoon with you, taking in a special first. It reminded me of our special Mommy and Molly Fridays -- and how very much I miss them. And it made me realize how much I need to always carve time out for these special times.
I love you, Peanut.
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