When we visited the Victorian Garden next to Tower Grove House at the Missouri Botanical Garden a week ago, I couldn’t believe how vibrant the oranges and yellows were, like a field ablaze saying goodbye to summer and hello to autumn!
We didn’t get to tour the inside of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis the way we did the Cathedral of St. Paul, but just seeing the building and walking around the outside of it to get a good view from every angle was a treat! It became the first basilica in the United States around the time the interior was completed in 1926 according the direction of Pope Pius XI.
The Twin Cities are blessed to have such excellent church architecture!
Another favorite stop when we visited the Twin Cities was the Cathedral of St. Paul in…you guessed it, St. Paul! It is an absolutely structure built in the Beaux Arts style, and made with granite from Saint Cloud.
The interior is stunning:
Like the cathedral in St. Louis, there is a Pietà:
I especially liked the shrines honoring the national patron saints of some of the immigrant groups in the area. In no particular order: Saint Anthony of Padua (Italy), John the Baptist (French Canada), Saint Patrick (Ireland), Saint Boniface (Germany), Saints Cyril and Methodius ( the Slavic Nations), and Saint Therese (protector of all missions). A really cool detail about these shrines is that each contains marble from the country they represent.
Don’t forget to look up!
A peek into the baptistry:
In addition to the shrines, there are also four chapels, dedicated to Saint Peter, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Saint Joseph, and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
There are four piers supporting the dome, and at the base of each is a statue of one of the Gospel writers. I especially liked the statue of Saint Luke, which included an illustration of Mary on the scroll, as church tradition states that Luke was the first to create an icon of the Blessed Mother:
There were beautiful stained glass windows, and an exceptional organ:
Here’s a closer look at the grand high altar and the baldachin:
I love church architecture, and this beautiful building did not disappoint!
Mesdames et Messieurs, la Cérémonie d’ouverture de Paris 2024!
Today is the Olympics Opening Ceremony I’ve been waiting for for eight years! While I enjoyed the Tokyo 2020(1) Games, it just wasn’t the same, and we all know it. But Paris 2024 is going to be the Olympics we all remember from pre-Covid days, and I can’t wait. Of course I planned a day full of French recipes to get us in the proper spirt, beginning with homemade croissants for breakfast, served with butter, Nutella, and homemade blueberry jam:
For lunch, I made Salade Niçoise. I liked it, but the best I can say for everybody else is that they found aspects of the salad they enjoyed. We did discover that we really like seven-and-a-half minute eggs, though!
For the soup course, I made Vichyssoise, which I thought was really interesting. The flavor was excellent, but it is a different experience eating cold soup!
I made the classic French dish, Bœuf Bourgignon, for dinner. It was A LOT of work, but really delicious!
We didn’t have champagne, but we did still have a toast to Paris 2024!
For dessert, Ladybug made macarons. I tried to help, but as it turns out, macarons are above my pay grade. She kindly let me help fill them, though. They’re so delicious, and we’re looking forward to making them again!
I have a few other French recipes I want to try over the next two weeks, but mostly, I’m just ready to watch the Olympic Games!!!
This week’s Mani Monday is inspired by summer nights and this Erstwilder brooch. I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in “Black to Black” with a topcoat of Sally Hansen Miracle Gel “Girls Flip” on two nails, and Holo Taco “Queen’s Curse” on the rest.
Now that everyone is back in school, Labor Day has come and gone, all of our regular activities have started up again, and Ryan’s sabbatical is over, I guess summer has really ended. But what a summer it has been!
We kicked off our summer at the end of May by going to the Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Turkey played in his sixth season of parks and rec baseball…or tried to. We had so much rain in the first half of the summer (including a tropical depression that made it to the St. Louis area), that almost half of his games were cancelled, which was a huge disappointment.
We visited the St, Louis Zoo to see Kali, the zoo’s new polar bear. We were impressed not only with the bear, but with the new exhibit, Polar Bear Point.
The four oldest children attended a week-long choir camp at one of our sister congregations in the city of St. Louis. They had a great time learning about music, got to go on a few field trips, and decided that they want to join the Kantorei at Hope. Chickadee had a fun time that week having me all to herself!
Tim Horton’s finally opened a store in St. Louis, and we were there on opening day! (This was also the week that Ryan’s sabbatical began!)
This summer in school, we learned about Illinois state history. We went to Cahokia Mounds on the first of our summer school field trips. We’ve been there several times, but there is always something new to learn!
July was the busiest month of the summer. We started with our traditional, Markel family Fourth of July celebration, which is always lots of fun.
Bunny went to Camp Wartburg for a week of theatre camp. We missed her at home, but she had a great time!
The week after she got home, Bunny celebrated her 11th birthday. The celebration included a trip to the spray park and a bunny cake, of course!
A few days after that, we left on our first-ever Markel family summer vacation/road trip. We visited Bowling Green, KY, Atlanta, GA, and our main destination of Charleston, SC. Even though there were a few bumps along the way, it was more fun than I could have imagined, and we covered all the vacation bases–family, food, baseball, history, architecture, and the beach!
Back home, the girls and I went with Grandma to American Girl Night at Busch Stadium.
We also drove to Kaskaskia, IL, to see the location of the first Illinois state capital and the Liberty Bell of the West.
August saw a bit more road-tripping. First, a drive to Vandalia, IL, to tour the oldest existing Capitol Building in Illinois.
We also drove to Springfield, IL, to visit the Lincoln Home, the Old State Capitol, and the current Capitol Building, as well as a few other locations.
Moose went back to school…he’s in the fourth grade this year! Still not ready to say goodbye to summer, though…
Turkey, Bunny, and Ladybug also went back to school. Since Ryan was still on sabbatical, though, I still wasn’t convinced that summer was done.
We had a fun time taking Little Luther with us on all of our travels!
Ryan and I even found time to build not one, but two Lego modular buildings!
Moose got to miss a day of school for our field trip to The Magic House, where we learned what life is like in China, and did a lot of other fun things, too.
That same day (and the day after), we also drove down to Carbondale for a college women’s volleyball tournament.
And just last week, we celebrated the historic reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with a tea party!
We traveled this summer…a lot. We visited not only spray parks, but pools and the beach, as well.
Most of all, though, we spent a ton of time together as a family, creating memories that I hope will last several lifetimes! It was a more amazing summer than I could have imagined, and I’ll never forget it!
Yes, I know there’s still technically a little over a month left in summer. And, yes, I know that it could be pretty hot in St. Louis for at least a good month after that…you just never know!
But, Moose goes back to his school tomorrow, and the rest of us will be back to school not too long after that. So, tonight was the end of the summer Markel family feast!
BLTs (with avocado for those so inclined) and corn on the cob for dinner:
And a root beer float pie for dessert!
It’s been an amazing summer, so a special dinner was required to cap it off!
Well, I guess now that fall has officially begun, summer is really over. We had a lot of fun these last few months, starting when school let out, until the last official day of the season…here’s a look back at some of the things we did!
We visited a lot of playgrounds:
And spray parks:
We saw a dock dogs competition:
We went to Grant’s Farm (twice!):
And had a few tea parties:
We saw a lot of baseball games:
We went to Eckert’s and picked blackberries:
And peaches:
We visited Six Flags St. Louis for the first time:
And celebrated the Fourth of July:
We visited the zoo:
And saw the new sea-lion exhibit for the first time!
Turkey played in his fourth season of baseball:
We celebrated some birthdays:
And had fun at VBS:
We volunteered at and/or visited the LCMS convention:
And toured the Gateway Arch for the very first time!
Bunny met a few famous people, who happened to be married to each other!
We went on a few road trips:
Ryan and I repainted the front room of our house…it looks so pretty in blue!
We visited the Art Museum:
A new school year began:
We toured the Science Center:
Some of us were just cute!
Did I mention baseball?
I worked hard to make this a fun summer, even though, as always, we didn’t go on a vacation. It’s going to be hard to top this amount of fun next summer!
Dante’s Inferno has nothing on the coming week’s weather!
