St. Louis Vacation

We recently spent 3 days in St. Louis for a mini family vacation. We hope to do this every year from now on to see more of St. Louis than Busch Stadium! *Warning...this is a loooong posting!

We arrived in St. Louis after attending Brennan's graduation party, so the kids were pretty tired and it was late in the day anyway. We decided to spend a couple of hours at The Landing. First we bumped along the cobblestones on our very first carriage ride. And, yes, I'll point out the obvious. Joe now has braces. We had discussed him getting the braces for years, and he has now taken the plunge. The top braces are on now, and the bottoms will be added at the end of July, and they should be off in 18 months. Right now, Joe is not very happy with the decision as his mouth is very sore!

Waiting for our table at The Old Spaghetti Factory. Yes, we really did try to become the ultimate tourist for this vacation!

After dinner we walked along the Mississippi River to the Lewis and Clark statue.

On our first full day, we went to the Arch, attended a baseball game (you knew we couldn't resist!), and went to Union Station. Here is Joe and the kids at the Lewis and Clark museum under the Arch. We did not take the kids to the top as the elevator ride is not the greatest for little kids! Maybe in a few years!

Olivia posing with the world.

Ethan was fascinated by the "robots" in the museum that would talk to him. We had a difficult time moving him along to another display.

Classic Arch photo (yes that is me with the kids in the corner of the picture). Olivia arrived at the Arch with 2 hypotheses: that an elephant would be able to touch the top of the Arch with its trunk and that our house is taller than the Arch. She was so shocked to disprove both hypotheses as she was certain that they would be proven correct.

After lunch at Hannegan's on the Landing, we rode the metro to Busch Stadium. I think that the metro was Olivia's favorite part of the day. Here is Olivia with the brick my family purchased when the new stadium was built. Poor Ethan didn't make the cut.

Ethan showing off his ball that was thrown to him from the Cardinal's bullpen. We had bleacher seats for this game. The rest of the game was spent making sure that Ethan didn't throw the ball back into the bullpen for what he assumed was a game of catch. He didn't understand the significance of this souvenier!

Ethan fell asleep on the walk back to Union Station. Still clutching his new bat, though!

After watching the singing at The Fudgery in Union Station and enjoying a large slice of fudge, Joe and Olivia fed the koi in their pond. We didn't take a paddleboat ride as we just knew the time would be spent keeping Ethan from jumping into the water! We finished the day with supper at the Hard Rock Cafe which Olivia thought was great (she loved the drums on the ceiling).

Our second full day was nicknamed "zoosday" as we spent ALL day at the zoo. Olivia was a trooper to be continuously walking from 9-5, and then found the energy to spend an hour in the hotel pool after a dinner at Fitz's in the Loop (we were disappointed that their bottling area was not running at the time of our meal).

The big draw at the zoo was being able to feed and pet sting rays. It is a temporary exhibit at the zoo, and the kids were mesmerized. Joe was the only one brave enough to actually feed them, and claims it felt like a vacuum cleaner grabbing the piece of shrimp from his hand.

Olivia eventually was brave enough to actually pet a sting ray.

When we visited the gorilla's habitat, there was a woman there with a large hand mirror and this gorilla was fascinated with it. He would show his teeth and make funny faces into the mirror. It was quite the sight!

The animals that Ethan most wanted to see at the zoo were the camels. He likes that they "spit" on people.

Our little spider monkey posing with one of his own.

This will become the classic Ethan at the zoo picture. The last time we went to the zoo in the fall we took this same picture with the iguanas. It will be interesting to see me attempting to lift him through the years!

In the butterfly house.

I think we started to get a bit loopy towards the end of the day!

This is Olivia's classic zoo picture. We have had her pose with this penguin statue since her very first visit to the zoo before she was one year old.

Both kids LOVED the penguin house. The penguins were very active when we visited them this time. Lots of swimming, diving, and splashing the crowds.

Joe and the kids riding the carousel. We also rode the train, but I can never take a decent photo on there!

Ethan in the Children's Zoo.

Olivia loves to play "pet doctor". She will not call it veterinarian even though we have explained that to her. She is always taking care of her sick animals at home.

Our final picture from the zoo!

Our last day (well, half of a day) was spent at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. The weather was iffy for our entire vacation, but we were only rained on once...when we ate at Fitz's. We were so lucky! Here I am with the kids in the rose garden. Looks like some of the Chihuly will be on permanent display.

Joe and kid with the Chihuly "balloons" as Olivia called them.

Olivia loved this statue. She "played" with the girls for quite some time.

The kids could not get over the "tree with branches touching the ground".

Joe and kids on the Pincushion Garden Pavillion. This overlooked the maze, so you could map your strategy before venturing in.

Feeding the koi in my favorite part of the Gardens...the Japanese Garden.

Both kids will get smart on a future visit. Olivia had forgotten about the Children's Garden at the end, so we were able to enjoy walking around the actual Gardens without being hurried by an impatient child wanting to play. When we surprised them with the Children's Garden area they were thrilled! Here is Olivia pretending to be a hummingbird.

Learning about beehives.

Olivia driving the pirate ship.

And of course then Ethan had to drive the ship, too!

Finally we ended at the water garden. Luckily I remembered to pack an extra pair of clothes for them!

The last photo! Olivia wanted to sit in the stagecoach just like the one she saw at the Lewis and Clark Arch Museum. We enjoyed a nice lunch at Sassafras and then a fantastic custard at Ted Drewes' before returning home. There just wasn't enough time for Grant's Farm or the Magic House or anything else we could have discovered. For the next St. Louis vacation....

Two "Lively" Celebrations

This past weekend was one big family reunion for Joe's family. First up we attended Joe's Uncle Shane and his new Aunt Jill's wedding. It was a gorgeous day for an outdoor wedding, and the kids could not have been better behaved.


The family enjoying the scenery at the Hillsboro Country Club.

The cousins having a good time on the dance floor. We stayed until about 10:30pm dancing...I guess that our kids are quite the party animals! In this picture (not taken very well due to flash issues) are Olivia, Jill, Allie and Mattie.

Dancing to "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". It is really sad that Olivia "loves" this song due to hearing it on her McDonald's Kidz Bop CD that was just in her Happy Meal last month. I'm old.

On Sunday was another celebration, this time for Joe's brother Brennan. He graduated from high school and is moving on to college. I have been with Joe since Brennan was about 16 months old, which again is making me feel old. Here he is posing with one of his cakes with Brett and Kim.

Ethan playing with Great Aunt Kelli.

A kid version of playing pool. I think that Mattie needs to learn sharing skills!

Oh What A Night...

I went to the Frankie Valli concert last night, and guess who I bumped into? He gave an excellent concert - his voice can still hit all of the high notes. (and Brett your horn section was excellent as well!)