January is cold. January is gray. January is snowy and icy and windy and yucky. January felt like 3 months, but it's finally over. January found us getting back into the groove of school and activities after Christmas break. The first half of January was filled with Penguin, Penguin, and more Penguin. A few other January highlights:
Dance team continues with competitions. Staley's team has qualified both their jazz and lyrical dances for IDTA state. They have one more competition before state and then the season will be over.
There have been playdates and opportunities to spend time with friends.
There has been plenty of playing in the snow (mostly just one specific member of the family), including this snowfort that he and Zach built on one not-too-frigid snowy day.
Although Briggs coming down ill on the day we were leaving put a damper on a family week-end trip to St. Louis, the girls and I still headed down for some unseasonably warm weather fun. We drove down on Friday evening with a stop at Culvers and spent the night in a hotel in Troy.
Staley and I ran a half marathon in Forest Park Saturday morning while Adelie hung out at my cousin Emily's house with Junie, Emerson, and Gage. This was Staley's first half, and she finished in 2:03. I ran my fastest half in 1:41.
We finished our runs, went back to the hotel to shower, picked up Adelie, and then grabbed lunch at Fire and Smoke in Troy. It was a great little BBQ joint with some delicious mac and cheese.
Since it was sunny and in the low 50's, we decided to spend our afternoon at the St. Louis Zoo. Although not all the animals were out, it was a beautiful day to just enjoy the weather. The highlight might have been watching the orangutan baby, although we always enjoy the penguins, big cats, monkeys, snakes, and hippos too.
I always love the St. Louis Zoo! It was a great way to spend our afternoon.
We had dinner at Fountain on Locust. We got to sit in one of the curtained booths. (So exciting... although Adelie didn't understand why we couldn't close the curtain.) And we finished off our meal with a World's Smallest Hot Fudge Sundae and World's Smallest Ice Cream Cone.
After dinner, it was time to head to the Fox Theater to see Six, which was one of the girls' Christmas gifts.
The show was great! We all really enjoyed it! It was Adelie's first time seeing the full show (not the teen version), although it was the second time for Staley and I.
And then we went to the stage door to get autographs and meet all the queens!!
It was a fun week-end getaway to beat some of the January blues.
Of course, we got home and finished off the last week of January with me getting my butt kicked by Influenza A. I can't remember the last time I was that sick!
And we finished off the last day of January with Adelie participating in the school-wide spelling bee for the second year in a row. She started as one of 20 and made it to the final 6 participants. So proud!!
Good-bye, January. Thanks for the memories.
