pouring down rain here, which if i'm not mistaken, is quite unusual for early september. kind of a bad deal for the balloon festival, and for everyone trying to get out and get some hard boating in on the last weekends before it turns. we- i and the younger boys- drove once more to st. louis, this time because my wife had sociology meetings- and spent wild times in a fancy hotel, a wild kids' museum and all parts between; it could be that the most important part of the trip was a short reprieve from a fishbowlish town where the #1 sport is taking ourselves too seriously, well, that and football maybe. i am not as good a kid-watcher as my vast experience and wisdom should make me, but it could be that i'm simply too old to be on top of every sharp trick that a couple of young devils can play; it seemed like, a couple of times, they were at least a half step ahead of me. i am helped considerably by the fact that they are so cute, that everyone notices them immediately, there's no way they can do something really bad, and not have someone see. and people generally sympathize with me, seeing how badly i'm outflanked- and help out, or at least, give me the benefit of the doubt. that's quite a handful ya got there, they might say, or something like it. they're at tough ages- five and two- yet, it's fun to listen to them, let them tell me their version of events. the little guy likes to sing the alphabet song, but he misses a few letters (my favorite is elbow-you, or w)- the older one is just learning knock-knock jokes. mostly they just cause trouble- in the hotel lobby, in the pool & hot-tub, in the buffet, in the museum, in the van, on the street, in the restaurant sundae-counter, in the shadow of the arch, and at the small-town casey's gas station. altogether, though, i'm lucky, and i know it, because i'm hanging around with people who are good-looking, and so passionate about what they do.