Day Six -- The Final Destination, St. Louis

To end our church history portion of this trip we began the day visiting Carthage Jail, where the prophet Joseph Smith was martyred.  We had a really great experience there, even though we unknowingly arrived 45 minutes before it opened (9:30, not 9:00am on Wednesdays).  We bought the kids patience with a trip to a gas station for treats while we waited.

Here's the throwback picture for the day.  Now (with the addition of Grandpa)...

...and then.

We arrived in St. Louis after a very uneventful 2 1/2 hour drive, and on the advice of our hotel concierge/bag person (I don't know what he was, but he was very nice) we found a tasty pizzeria for lunch quite near the hotel.  Bethany had been asking for a pizza meal for a few days, so she was particularly happy at the meal choice.

Raven even made a fancy napkin bow tie for Grandpa!

Abe dropped the kids and I off at the hotel and he and Clark and Grandpa immediately headed down to the Edwards Dome to drop off equipment and Clark for when the team was allowed to get to work tuning up the robot at 3:00pm.  I understand the robot made the trip safely here, without incident thanks to FedEx.  They hadn't been able to work on it at all since they packed it up just a couple days after the regional competition in mid-March.

Schramms, Flynns, and Foxes then paid a very brief, but enjoyable visit to the free and fabulous Science Center.  We just scratched the surface of the fun hands-on activities for the kids to do, so we'll definitely be returning this week.
Here we have built our own St. Louis Arch.

Cannon, George, and Hayden Schramm posing by the Star Wars exhibit.  Hayden is one of their favorite people.

George pushing the stroller of his betrothed.

You've heard of Dance Moms and Soccer Moms.  Meet the Robot Moms.
Not that our sons are robots, but you know what I mean.

Bethany, Corrine, and Raven.  Beautiful young women, inside and out.

Faith, George, Cannon, and Hayden.  Happy, yet somewhat disturbed young children.  Car rides across the country will do that to a kid.

We went out for Mexican afterwards.  It was a very small restaurant and we were at least half the customers in there.  The service was fantastic and the waiter was surprised that with that many children no adults were needing to order any drinks!

I don't know why Abe is holding up his golden parking ticket, except that we're at a really nice hotel-- might I just say we are "Puttin' on the Ritz".  And yet, they really nickel and dime you for lots of little things-- parking, wi-fi, bottled water in your room.  Not that I'm complaining.  I'm super happy to be here and those high quality sheets and the comforter on my bed are calling my name loudly right now.  It's just kind of funny.  I mean seriously, shouldn't wi-fi just be free at any decent hotel nowadays.  What do I know?  If it's free at McDonalds I really think it should be free at the Ritz-Carlton!
Oh,  but back to the golden ticket, somehow Abe convinced them to give him a free parking pass for the week.  He said he was the team's official chauffeur (which is pretty much true) and he smiled.  He is a sales guy after all.
We're up on the 15th floor and Abe doesn't really appreciate heights in the same way that I don't appreciate spiders.  How brave of him to stand out on the balcony!

The little kiddies went swimming and watched a little show and then quickly zonked out.  Tomorrow competition begins.  We're so excited to cheer and see the robot ("Mr. X", Abe's nickname for the robot) in action.