Tuesday- Cardinals game at Busch Stadium

We were all looking forward to Tuesday night, since my aunt had gotten everyone tickets to the Cardinals vs. Phillies baseball game.  This is a real treat for my family, since we are die-hard Cardinal fans (even though we rarely get to see them play in person).  Plus, this was our first time in the new and improved Busch Stadium.  We all got ready and headed into the stadium.

 
The famous St. Louis arch...what a view!

Statues of former Cardinal players...Dick Sisler

Stan Musial.

And the famous Ozzie Smith!

The great thing about St. Louis is that it is a classic baseball city...and these people really love their team.  As evidenced by some of the crazy, fan obsessed things we saw.



And the view from inside the stadium was even better...we had prime seats in the second tier along the third base line.  The views from our seats...

Big Mac Land...



Even though the Cardinals were humiliated pretty bad during the game (capped off by an hour 8th inning where we couldn't string together three outs to save ourselves) and wound up losing, we still had a great time.  I mean, we spent the evening in one of the greatest baseball stadiums and cities in the United States.  And even though we lost, we lost in a classy way...the only way Cardinal fans know how. 

Some more pictures from the game...

Me and my cousins, Emily and Jessica...

Ominous clouds while we were at the game...but no rain!  They did, however, make for am awesome photo opportunity!

Although I know it sounds cliche, with the exception of the loss, it was a terrific day at the ballpark!  On the way back to the parking garage, Jeff got this amazing shot of the capitol building with the arch lit up behind it...gorgeous!



Monday- Rowing, Horseshoes, Archery and Beach Volleyball

On Monday of the reunion, we decided to hang out at the resort and partake in all the activities the resort offered.  We started out by renting a john boat and the five of us (Mom, Mike, Jim, me and Jeff) heading out on the lake.  We went out with my cousin Justin and his girlfriend Bennett, who rented a canoe to tool around the lake.  Let me preface this post by saying that my brother is deathly afraid of water...always has been.  So, just the fact that we could get him out on the boat with us was pretty amazing, especially since the maximum capacity was 4 people or 380 pounds!  Still, we suited up in the latest life preservers (haha), grabbed some oars and headed to the lake.  I sat in the front, Jim and Jeff rowed and my mom and Mike sat in the back.  We had so much fun on the lake...the guys kept singing rowing songs, Mike was video taping the entire event and I was snapping pictures.  Here are some of the better ones that I got...

Justin and Bennett in their canoe...they did circles around us in the lake (although we attributed that to the fact that their canoe was much more aerodynamic than our john boat)...

The resort from the lake...beautiful!

My sexy rower!

Can you tell Jim is uneasy in the boat?...

There's that smile!

Mike got it all on tape!

It was so much fun watching Jeff and Jim paddle us around in circles.  Ahh, the memories!

After our morning on the lake, we decided to grab my grandpa (who loves to play horseshoes) and head out to the horseshoe pit.  We also decided to try the archery range at the same time.  Although I have literally hundreds of games of horseshoes with my grandfather over the years (and have always lost), I had forgotten how heavy those damn shoes were.

Archery was also pretty hard...I kept thinking about how glad I was that I didn't live back in the days when you had to hunt and gether your food.  As good as I was in archery, I would have definitely starved! :-)  But, Jim and Jeff were pretty good at it.  Ahh, my little hunters!

Finally, after taking a quick dip in the pool and eating some delicious chicken and dumplings (a southern favorite), we headed out to the beach volleyball court for a family game.  It was a blast and by the end of the night, pretty much every family member had gotten in on the action.  At the end of the night, we were all sore.  But it was one of my favorite days while at the reunion.



McKinney Family Reunion- June 18- 25, 2011

In June, we flew to Saint Louis to attend a week of festivities for a family reunion on my mom's side of the family (the McKinney family).  This was by request of my grandfather, since the whole family had not been together since 1998 right before my grandmother passed away.  It was really time to get the entire clan together again.  Since most of my mom's family already lives in Saint Louis (my mom is the only one who moved away), they decided to have it about 60 miles south of Saint Louis in a small town called DeSoto.  We all stayed at a Mariott timeshare with a ton of amenities...plus, we were only about an hour from Saint Louis, so we could still drive into the city for things like the Cardinals game (which will be the subject of a subsequent post).

My mom and Mike flew in to Saint Louis on Friday to spend the night with one of my aunt's, Jeff and I flew in on Saturday afternoon and my brother came in on Sunday morning.  My sister couldn't make it since she is finishing up work so she can leave for Alabama at the beginning of August.  Still, with the exception of my sister and one cousin, the entire family was together.

We settled in on Saturday night and caught up with most of the family.  On Sunday morning, we drove to Saint Louis to pick up my brother from the airport and trade in the rental car (which we found had a bulging tire on it).  After that, we had to run to the grocery store and pick up some stuff for our family BBQ later that afternoon.

During the BBQ (which was delicious, since my mom's entire family can cook), we got some candid shots and a couple of pictures of the entire family.... 

Me and my brother...

 The cottages we stayed in...

 My cousins, Jessica and Emily...

 My grandpa and Mike in the eating line...

Jeff loves this picture (he took it).  It is the profiles of my aunt, my mom and my grandfather...cool, huh?



Hamburger cakes for Father's Day (one with sesame seeds and one without)...



My Uncle Mark setting up the camera for family picture...

My brother likes Mayo...

The McKinney family (generation 1)...my grandpa with all his kids.

 The McKinney family (generation 2)...my grandpa with all his grandkids (minus my sister and my cousin Steven)...

The whole reunion group...

 My mom and Mike after the BBQ...

My brother, my mom and me...(aren't we cute)?

Jeff enjoying a Smithwicks beer...

It was a really fun start to the reunion vacation!  Certainly going to be a good week.