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!!!!