Well,
Connor turned 14 last Sunday and I had the opportunity to ordain him a Teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood. He is 6' 2.5". There may be one boy in all of the young men group that is taller. He is also quite handsome. But, when one has such great parentage (Cath & I, of course), what else would one expect?? The girls in our new ward, I think, have recognized the same thing...(nothing else needs to be said)
The kids start school next Tuesday (Aug. 18th). Orientations are this week...we will have to provide an update as to how that goes.
Cath & I took the kids to the Arch on Friday. We figured that we should visit the location that everyone recognizes as the main attraction of St. Louis. It was pretty cool. The observation point is such that you can see the entire city. The kids seemed to enjoy the ride up and down in the very small, but unique elevator.
Being close to the "south" provides some opportunities to see some different things. Shoulder-less t-shirts with car racing numbers and the matching hats were easy to spot at the Arch.
People are very nice here. They actually say "thank you"! (sometimes a lost phrase in the "west") It has been getting hot again. The August everyone told us about appears to be here. Today, the car registered 107 degrees in the garage. We have come to learn that the "regular" temperature has little meaning. It is all about the "heat index". Essentially it is what we were used to in the mountain states in the winter when we used the term "wind chill". It takes the actual temperature and adjusts for the humidity (another phenomenon that we are not used to and really don't like very much). Today, the temperature was in the low 90's with a heat index over 100. That is with a relatively low level of humidity (yikes!). Apparently, that ends some time in September.
We are getting settled in. We only have our bedroom and bathroom left to paint (at least for now). All of the other bedrooms and bathrooms have been done! We have most of our pictures up and many boxes put away.
Our basement work will start either this week or next. We are just waiting on the permits to finish. I will post some pictures as the process moves forward.
That's all for now...
