Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis

...just meet me at the Stan Musial statue, not the fair...

Last weekend was our big Cardinals' baseball outing with my mom's side of the family. As the weekend approached, we monitored the forecast and watched the temperature prediction climb higher and higher. I busted out laughing at work Friday morning when I got an instant message from Brent saying, "Excessive heat warning in St. Louis...heat index of 110 to 115 expected". Yikes. That's pretty hot to be sitting out at a baseball game with a 12:10 start!

I was impressed that we didn't lose anyone to the heat and we loaded up the cars to set sail on what we thought could be a pretty miserable afternoon. Uncle Jeff had to stay behind to do some late planting at the farm, which I would guess was a hotter job than going to the game.

It's a convoy! One of these cars was having a Michael Jackson memorial party and would text me with the next radio station playing Michael's hits. I was with Dad and Brent, and we were not having a Michael Jackson party. We were talking about wind turbines and where troopers like to perch on different interstates. Almost as fun.

As luck would have it, we met the Kutscher mobile right before the bridge to downtown!

Ahhhhh....the gateway to the west....

The only thing hotter than sitting at the game, or farming, would be to go up into the Arch in one of those cars that's the size of a dryer...

We parked and finally found each other after some confusion over a not-so-great idea to meet at the Stan Musial statue, which required walking all the way around Busch Stadium. In the heat. When I was about to pee my pants. I'm not going to say who had that idea, but I am going to say that by the time we finally made it into the stadium, I was ready to get a frosty draft and take this photo with Mr. Busch Stadium Meeting Spots himself...

At a Cubs' game last year I was drinking a regular beer and eating a brat like it was the best thing ever. I stopped just before devouring the last little bite of bun and realized..."I am Bob's daughter indeed." So here we are, like father like daughter. Aren't we cute.

Notice we did a lot of standing around in the back of our section. That's because the other group of seats was in the blazing sun, so we rotated in and out of the 8 seats that always had shade.

All of us! This turned out surprisingly well, considering that the Twins' fan we asked to take the picture kept putting his eye up to the little hole on the back of the digital camera, looking confused.

What...only 99? Is that the best you can do?

"But they're cousins, identical cousins all the way..."

I know we're not identical cousins, but I've got this theme going of old musicals and shows that are before my time. Why not throw in Patty Duke?

The Littlest Pujols Fan and Uncle Bob...hey, sounds like a children's book title to me!

I have to say that a good time was had by all, I think, and that the Cardinals won. A big thanks to Michael for getting the tickets and going through all the trouble with Stubhub!

So what's on schedule for next summer, Cash Family? Wandering through Death Valley? I'll send out the email to pick a date!