meet me in st. louis -- the excitement builds

have you seen mgm's meet me in st. louis starring judy garland?  it's 1904 and the world's fair is around the corner.  you can't imagine the excitement among the local residents.  or the romance that's floating in the air.


well, you might have guessed, this is a family favorite.  and when mr. pike suggested spending memorial day weekend there, our home brought the revival to this musical, with us singing "meet me in st. louis, louis," and "if i like a you."  (family favorites)  we could hardly contain our excitement to venture out.  (even a 5-hour car trip with a one-year-old couldn't dampen our pre-vacation spirits!)


now there was one more factor to our excitement.  as we've mentioned before on the blog, we're big bob shea fans.  remember this post that started our author-crush?  all of the pikes can't get enough of mr. shea's work.  clever.  witty.  creative.  


so, one of our favorites is big plans.  this book never collects dust around our home -- if little girl isn't reading it, mr. pike and i are sharing it with friends and family and having them read it.  (if you've been to our house, then you probably know.)

during the story, mr. shea (with the illustrative talents of lane smith) make mention of missouri -- as shown above and to the left.  


one of the things on our to-do list was to see the arch.  but we really wanted was to have little girl frown under the arch.  and she was more than pleased to copy the little girl in one of her favorite books.  (love little girl's interpretation!)


so amid song and dance and literary genius, the pikes were only too excited for this weekend away in st. louis.  we'll share some of the highlights. . . . stick around.