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