Daddy's Take on Thanksgiving Trip 2006

Below is an email that Daddy sent out to his side of the family with his take on his Thanksgiving 2006 trip to St. Louis where he met most of Mommy's family. Now remember, these are all Daddy's words. i have yet to meet any of these people. They sound nice, though, and I can't wait to meet them all.

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Shay and I have had a great time so far. We are sheduled to fly back to chilly New York City tomorrow.

Wednesday we arrived, drove to downtown St. Louis, checked into the Adam's Mark hotel, and then went to the Arch. We rode to the top and took some pictures (we'll get them sorted out and sent when we get back). We then went to grab some dinner at a local restaurant, and went next door to play some pool. We got back to the hotel and watched Thank You for Smoking, which was pretty good.

Thanksgiving morning we woke up bright and early, Shay bounding with energy and me prying my eyes open. We drove west to North St. Louis City, to visit with Shay's mother's mother who most call "Gigi". We caught up with her, saw Shay's mother Claudia and her mother's friend Denise, and her cousin Tawanna's young boy Catrell, or "Trell". Trell and I played for a while outside while other family members came to visit, bit by bit. I met Dinky, Shay's cousin, his good friend Maurice and his son, also named Maurice ("Little Maurice"), and Shay's aunts Loretta and Michelle, and Michelle's son Dex.

I got a great tour of all of the family pictures from 3 year old Trell, who refused to refer to pictures of Shay as Sharon, because Shay's aunt Sharon is already Sharon. Shay is "Little Sharon", a name that now since I have revealed it, I will certainly face dire consequences.

We stepped out for a little while to visit Shay's cousin Tawanna at St. Mary's Hospital, where she is being observed so as not to give birth too early. She was 32 weeks and 1 day, hoping to get to 36 before the baby is born. Trell and I ran around the hospital for a while, and I discovered that there is such a thing as chili cheese corn chips. A very odd concoction indeed.

We got back to Gigi's house in the early afternoon, and met more of the mother's side of the family, the Wade family. I met Shay's aunt Sharon, her daughter (Shay's cousin) Kianna, her baby Kennedy, Shay's aunt Lisa, her daughter Tiffany, her baby Tiffany, and Lisa's son Nick.

And that's just her mother's side of the family! I may have missed writing a few of the family members, and some family members have an artistic take on spelling their own names, which I have chosen not to reproduce here. :)

We stayed there a while, hanging out, chatting and meeting all of the young babies of the family. Everyone was very excited about the news of our baby. The Wade family is very close knit, very loving, boisterous, energetic and happy.

We left Gigi's house around 6pm, and drove west to visit with members of the Bell family, Shay's father's side. I met with her father's brothers Charles, Roderick, and Kelvyn (who I had already met since he lives in the same building Shay does in Manhattan). I met Aisha and Annika (Roderick's daughters) and Annika's husband Dwight. I met Deinene, Charles' daughter. I also met Nicole, Shay's late brother's wife.

We stayed with the Bells for a little while, before exhaustion set in and we ended up heading back to the hotel. I also want to note, proudly, that I remembered most all of those names myself. :)

The Bells are an interesting family, very inquisitive, opinionated, and very fun to be around. They were also excited about the news of our baby, and loved our leading names which for the moment are David James Drapeau for a boy, and Mary Anne Drapeau for a girl.

We got back to the hotel and watched the movie Accepted, which was silly and funny.

We got a late start today, ate room service breakfast, and then headed out to the Forest Park area in St. Louis. We visited the Missouri History Museum and saw an exhibit on the 1904 Worlds Fair, held from April to December that year, and the 1904 Olympics, the first Olympics held in the US, which was also held in St. Louis. We then walked the beautiful grounds in between the history museum and the St. Louis Art Museum, and saw exhibits on American Art, European Art, and art from "New Ireland", a chain of islands about 1000 miles from Australia. It was a great time overall.

We're now trying to organize a get together with Shay's cousins nearby the hotel (I'm done driving for the day).

I'm sure most of you have dropped off by now :), but for those who made it, congratulations. Sightseeing, lots of pictures, lots of family, and lots of really, really good food.

And.... I'm spent. Talk to you all soon.

Love,
Tom

Links:

Adam's Mark hotel: http://www.adamsmark.com/stlouis/index.asp
St. Louis Arch: http://www.slfp.com/View-of-Arch.html
St. Louis Art Museum: http://www.stlouis.art.museum
Missouri History Museum:
http://www.mohistory.org/content/HomePage/HomePage.aspx