Life so far in St Louis

We have been doing good here in St. Louis. Tyler is starting to get the hang of installing security systems. The past two days he installed 3 a day. Which is really good, average is 2 a day. As he get paid per install, we are happy when he does three. The biggest trouble Tyler had was when the sales representative didn't fill out the paperwork correctly and told the customer 2 big fat lies and then left Tyler to tell the customer-no I'm sorry, we can't do that. Luckily that has only happened once out of all the installs he has done, so hopefully it won't be too much of a problem. When we first came here the majority of the guys Tyler was working with were either not very nice and/or only talked about sports and drinking. A couple of them would get stoned twice a week and then brag about how much they drank. Luckily they were only here for the early season and they all went to Baltimore, Maryland. Now Tyler is working with some pretty nice people. They all help each other out with their installs while they are waiting to get one of their own(you are on a queue, when a sale is made you are moved up on the list). Or they hang out at Barnes and Noble and Borders. I'm kind of jealous about that part. Tyler's new nickname is T-bone. I'm really not sure why.

I finished my classes. Hooray! I only took 1 final. When I got here I found out too late that the place I was set up to take my proctored exams only accepted you to take the tests Monday afternoons and Friday mornings. They also require you to give them at least 48 hours notice. Seeing as I found this out the Saturday(they are closed on Saturday) before and one test ended on Wednesday and the other on Thursday, it kind of put me in a bind. I called the place first thing Monday morning and begged them to let me take the test and they refused. I emailed me Professors and explained my situation to them. My Nutrition Professor responded back that day and said it was no problem to let me take the test Friday because she could tell I had not been a lazy student or anything like that. My History Professor emailed me back Thursday afternoon and said no. So I took my Nutrition final and not my History final. I am kind of frustrated because I felt I did the best I could, but at least I got to take 1. Lucky for me, my nutrition final counted for a lot more of my grade than my history. So even though I didn't take the final, I was able to easily pass my History class. Phew. I'm glad thats over.

Some tidbits about St. Louis area:

-The local grocery stores are Schnucks and Dierbergs, instead of Smiths and Maceys.

-There are Walgreens everywhere.

-When it rains you get completely soaked through in about 2 minutes.

-People start to go after the red light even slower than Utah drivers! Is that even possible?! Apparently so.

-I don't know about the rest of this area, but we moved into the dog central apartments. Other than the APX people, almost everyone I've seen here has a dog. Just about anytime of day, you can go outside and someone is walking their dog. I know of 2 bigs dogs, all of the other ones are little ones. I don't mind people who have dogs, or visiting dogs, but it has reminded me that I never want a dog.

-They don't install sprinkler systems here, because it just stays green with how much it rains.

-The Zoo is free. You have to pay for parking, but admittance is free. I can't wait to go.

-There are 6 major freeways and countless highways here. Our GPS has been a lifesaver for Tyler finding the houses he is supposed to install systems in. Just a little bit bigger than Provo. Lol. Jk. Obviously.

-We live right off of Manchester Rd, which also happens to be Historic Route 66.

Kai is getting better at walking everyday. He is amazing. For a while he would take a few steps and then fall, and then suddenly one day he would walk for a while stop, and then continue on. He still falls a lot, but its not the end of the world to him every time anymore. In the past couple of days he is starting to get up without using furniture or a wall. One of his favorite things is when I feed him a banana. I sit on the couch and he stands at the edge and offer him the banana. He bites off as big a piece he can fit in his mouth and then he walks around the room looking very pleased with himself, until he comes back for another bite. He does this very happily until the banana is gone. He can also now wave. He waves at people at the store. When he wants to go outside, he toddles to door while waving frantically. His newest accomplishment is clapping. He just started doing that this afternoon. The following videos are him getting up with no furniture and pushing around his lawn mower.

Kai getting up with one hand.

Kai trying to get up with no hands. Using your hands is a little bit easier. I was trying so hard not to laugh while taking this video.

Pushing the lawn mower that Grandma Gerber got for Kai. He can finally use it unassisted!