Playing catch-up...

November seems to have come and gone so quickly!

Running at Turkey Run
In mid-November, we decided to check out a state park nearby that many people here had recommended to us. The weather was really great--pretty warm and sunny. We chose a pretty easy hike which basically took us up to the top of a ridge and then we walked along the ridge, through all of the leaves that had recently fallen. Of course, all Amos wanted to do was run and play in the leaves so it took some time to do this "hike." We came to a fork in the trail and went for the "very rugged" path, as we were ready for a little bit more of a challenge!

We went down some steep stairs into a ravine. It was much cooler down there and as we began this part, we had no idea what was ahead of us!
The ravine had a little creek of water flowing in the middle of it, so we were able to walk on either side for most of the trail, but there were times it did get a bit treacherous! The worst that could've happened was that we would have fallen a few feet, into the small creek and would have had some bruises and sore muscles. So it wasn't that dangerous! Each time we went around a bend, we got to go through another unique part of the ravine. Even though it was "very rugged," we had a blast and were glad to have gone that way.We went back over the cool suspension bridge and headed to the car!

St. Louis

For the weekend before Thanksgiving, we decided to go to St. Louis to visit friends and family. Beth, Dan and Eli have been living there since August and our friends, the Riberas, were going to be visiting from Seattle. As an added bonus, we got to see our pastor and his wife, visiting from Seattle and other Seattle friends that are in St. Louis for seminary. We had a fun time--we stayed with (more) Seattle friends, the Jensens and Amos had a blast playing with their kids and his cousins!
On Friday, Beth, Jessica and I took our boys to the zoo. We started out at the petty zoo, where we watched the goats. Then we walked around and saw penguins, seals, monkeys, bears, tigers and lions. Amos loved seeing the animals as well as....running!!

Friday night, Bethany treated us to dinner at their house and on Saturday, we all had breakfast and then went to the beautiful botanical gardens. They were huge and we walked all the way around, getting back to the huge Koi fish pond, where we got to feed gigantic koi that were very hungry!

After our naps that afternoon, we met Nathan and Rick at the coffee shop near the Jensens' house and hung out there for a bit. The back corner had a play area for kids, so we camped there, eating and drinking while Amos played. Soon, Rick and Nathan decided to go get their guitars for a jam session. It was an enjoyable afternoon, just hanging out!
That night we all went out to an Italian restaurant and enjoyed Italian food, family style! The Marzinkes (more friends from Seattle) joined us and we had fun hanging out together!

The next morning, we visited Beth and Dan's church and enjoyed the multi-racial worship We said goodbye to Brendan, Jessica and Ezra, had lunch at Beth and Dan's and then drove home. It was a busy weekend but it was great to see our good friends and family!