St. Louis Vacation - August 2011

Passing some time during the 6 hour road trip -- working on some spelling words and Math worksheets. Am I the meanest Mom or what (-;

The Arch

silly time while waiting in line for the "RED tram capsule #2", to take us to the top!!!

We made it and we were loving it!!! -- 630 ft. in the air

We had been counting down the days until the middle of August so that we could go exploring in St. Louis for a few days. Earlier in the Summer, Kate and I had requested some vacation info. from the visitors bureau, searched some websites and decided on what we wanted to do and see while we were there. There is so much to do and we quickly found out that 5 days was not enough time to do it all.

We took off Tuesday morning after breakfast, enjoyed the road trip (even though it was rainy most of the way) and headed South. The kids were excited and I must admit, so was I! I just love going to new places. Doug had been to St. Louis for wrestling tournaments in the past, and we reminded the kids that our first trip to Florida with them had a small layover at the St. Louis airport, but they had no recollection of that time. We got checked in to our hotel for the day, and then walked around downtown a bit and headed over to the Arch.

The Arch completely blew me away. The history of how it was made, the materials used, the planning, the unveiling to the city (and the entire nation), the awe of seeing it and then riding to the top was so amazing! The expressions on the kid's faces was so fun to watch as our little "egg capsule" manipulated itself up the 630ft....into the air!

A funny story, Ben had been having some reservations about going to the arch. He had told us many times " I do not want to go up on that thing" But we pretty much told him that he had to, because we were doing it as a family, explained to him that it would be fun, that he would be fine, etc,... Hind sight 20/20 and flash forward a few minutes......after the event was over and after he had said probably 3 dozen times "that was awesome - can we do it again?? Can we come back tomorrow??" We all laughed and asked him what it was that he was so worried about. He then went on to explain that he thought that you rode on the outside of the arch "outdoors" in a little coal car like a roller coaster -- YIKES!!! WE all agreed that we would not have wanted to do that either.....just goes to show that we never know what those little minds are thinking!

Our first evening in town ended like the rest with story time, bedtime snacks, and being so thankful for vacations together!!!

What an amazing trip -- thanks for the fun memories Doug, Kate and Ben ~~ I love you all -- Mommy

view from the arch of the "Mighty Miss"
View of downtown

view of Busch Stadium

I loved this comparison mural of how big the arch is compared to other monuments

Kate and Ben loved easing into their mornings eating breakfast in PJ"S, and watching cartoons in bed while vacationing in St. Louis!

Wednesday -- Busch Stadium tour

They let us in, even though Ben was wearing his Marlins gear!

The Stan Musial statue - it's amazing how small Kate looks in comparison!

Kate made herself comfy in the Cardinals dug out

On Wednesday we spent the morning touring Busch stadium. Another beautiful day in St. Louis -- and this stadium was amazing....even though we are Cubs fans (-: We learned many interesting facts about the Cardinals, the stadium, current and past players. Our tour guide was such a passionate baseball fan and lover of the Cardinals, you could just see the twinkle in his blue eyes while he was telling a personal story about his time there and his love of the game for the past 70+ years.

Next time we are in town, we will definitely try and catch a game!

Thursday -- a day at the Zoo

We literally were - "up to our elbows"

Enjoying some time with the stingrays and sharks

Ben was loved watching this little guy enjoy his lunch

Feeling a little "squirrely" in the tunnels

this boa constrictor replica was so realistic - CREEPY!!!

It was very warm at the zoo that day, so the kids were LOVING the mist blowers!

We spent the day at the St. Louis Zoo on Thursday. We arrived early so that we could enjoy the stingrays and sharks before the rest of the crowds. This was definitely the highlight of our day. Not only was it fun to actually touch them and be so close to them, Doug and I even fed them some shrimp and small minnows -- very cool!

Time at the park

forest park -- this place was amazing!

Gotta love a family sized swing!

this park had an amazing instrument set (bongo's and xylophone) -- Ben and Daddy having a jam session!

the boys of baseball at the park in Clayton (by our hotel)

It would not be an official vacation for us without packing up our baseballs, gloves, bat, and a soccer ball. Not only because we LOVE to find new parks to play in while exploring our new neighborhoods for the week, but just because this helps us maintain some "normalcy" into the vacation routine while away from home. St. Louis has the most amazing green space, Forest Park (the original location of the World's Fair, and it is also much larger than Central Park in NYC) While on a drive around this park one evening after playing soccer and catch, we observed paddle boats, canoe rs, sand volleyball, bike riders, joggers, walkers, golfers, bag pipe groups practicing & dog walkers. Talk about a city that knows how to maximize the use of it's parks -- we were SO impressed!

Friday - A day at the City Museum

this is the curbside view of the museum
the view on top of the slide

Kate going DOWN!!! --- she was loving this!

OUCH- here is that rough landing I was talking about at the bottom of the 10 story slide

It was so dark climbing around in these caves-- thank goodness for "nightscape" mode on the camera
A dinosaur mouth that Ben is inside of

taking a rest by the dinosaur head

exploring the empty cockpit of one of the planes

the kids and I beginning our climb across

we are almost there -- waving "hi" to Daddy down below for our picture

Ben -- our little climbing machine!
the biggest ball pit EVER!!!

human tadpoles - jumping on lilly pads!

Miss Kate - making an ascent up a slide - what a beautiful day we had!

the most challenging climb of the day

Enjoying the roof top ferris wheel

another crazy climb by the Mama (-;

beginning our climb up to the roof!

Friday was spent sleeping in a bit, watching cartoons in bed while nibbling on some breakfast snacks, sipping on some coffee and just easing into our day. The City Museum was the only activity on tap for the day and we were all very excited to explore this place. Many of our friends had expressed with much enthusiasm and excitement, stories of how amazing this place was, and all I can say is, words do not do it justice. We all had such a BLAST!!!! Doug's cousin Nate (whom we happened to run into their with his family - what a fun surprise!) said it perfectly when he described it as a life size version of "Chutes and Ladders" for people of all ages...it goes beyond anything that we could ever have imagined.

Upon arrival, we immediately headed toward the "roof top" to see the airplanes in mid air that we could climb into, connected to other airplanes with steel bridges/climbing mazes suspended 2-3 stories that you can climb inside... the bus parked on the roof (did I mention that it is hanging off and that you can walk to the front edge -- YIKES!!!) and of course the ferris wheel. Then to top it all off, you can either walk down the steps, take an elevator or slide down a "tunnel slide ( a 10 story slide)" all the way from the roof to one of the main level "caves". The building used to be an old shoe factory back in the day, so as you can imagine, you feel like you are just a little "shoe box" flying down the assembly shoot -- did I mention the bumpy landing at the end -- OOUUUCCHHH!

Kate and Ben said that their top favorite things of the day were the dark caverns/tunnels, and the roof tops activities. Doug of course said "spending time with his family" was the best part (is he a "brown noser or what?? (: ) I would have to say that first of all, I was just amazed with how tough/brave we all were climbing thru those amazing steel creations, and I hate to agree with Doug, but......it was another amazing, fun, family memory making DAY!!!!