Final St. Louis post

We're on our final day in St. Louis. We went to Grant's Farm which was one of my favorite places. The first place you see is the clydesdale barn and fields. I didn't realize they were so much bigger than any horse I'd ever been up close to. We hopped on a "tram" and saw so many different animals while the guide told us what to look for and a little history of the place. We even got to see a baby horse that was just born and was taking standing up for the first time. When they drop you off, you can buy milk bottles to feed to the goats which the kids really enjoyed. There were so many different animals, it was like a very, very small zoo. We missed the elephant show but saw a bird show with various birds, owls, and birds of prey.

Here are some random pics from the vacation

One of the many dinners we cooked

Hanging out

Family photo on deck

Driving my brother around Brothers goofing off

Pics of the house..the last one being a screened in porch the kids enjoyed playing on

Kids chillin spot watching a movie

It was great fun being with almost the whole family, minus a couple of working spouses and one teenager cousin. It was almost too quiet when we came back home. This town isn't big enough to go do too much. We walked everywhere which is getting me motivated to walk for exercise. We were able to do a lot of fun things and then spend some quality time with the family. Great trip, I'd recommed St. Louis to any family!

St. Louis, part 2

Okay, I'm trying to update my blog. This summer has been pretty busy so far. Day 3 was rainy, so we hit the mall. By the time we got there, we decided to eat lunch. We walked around a little then went to a mini arcade that also has a few racetracks. The larger one outside was closed because of rain. But the kids had fun and so did the 2 big kids.

Yeah...another carousel in the food court!

Driving the cars...those cars really whipped around the corner

Boys go karting

Day 4 of St. Louis was the Arch and a Cardinals game. There is a mini museum underground which was very interesting. If you've never been, it is interesting. There are these small "pods" you get in to go to the top. Only 5 people fit in and you can't even sit up straight. Once you get up to the top, there it's a smallish space to look out both sides of the arch. But, it is pretty cool! The fewer hours of sleep and being together constantly finally made Becca snap because this is the day she had her biggest meltdown. We were getting ready to leave and I asked Becca if she wanted to get on the stroller, to which she replied, "no". So I asked Cade if he wanted a ride and he said, "yes". Well, Becca did not like that. I think she wanted to play with Cade, plus she didn't want him riding in "her" stroller. She refused to leave as long as he was in the sroller. I tried walking off and she proceeded to sit on her bottom and throw a fit. My mom had to push the stroller while I dealt with my child who was doing the whole screaming, arms and legs flailing bit while everyone in the place was watching my child. I had to carry her out halfway, which was no easy task until she decided to walk. She fussed for quite awhile, probably halfway to the car until she finally decided it was getting her nowhere. Here are pictures of the trip before the meltdown.

The pods to go to the top

Downtown St. Louis from the arch

Looking out

My mom and Barrett in the arch

A cute cowboy and 2 cute cowgirls

After a nice afternoon nap, we went to the Cardinals game. We had decent seats we bought that morning online. We were sitting in right field near the foul pole about 18 rows up. The game was a very short one with the Cards winning...3-1 I think? Steve and Cade got up to get a snack and souvenir after the 1st inning and didn't come back until the 3rd. Becca and I did the same when they got back and we didn't come back until the 5th inning. The whole game was not more than 2 hours long.

Enjoying the game

View from seats

After the game

T-ball

Becca is in T-ball this summer. She has never played any organized sport so we thought we'd try this out to see how she likes it. She is on the Cardinals which is funny since we had planned our St. Louis trip back in the winter before we signed up for t-ball. The first few practices were just to tell the kids where the bases were, how to run them, how to catch the ball and how to bat. She missed her first game because we were in St. Louis but last night was HER first game. It was so cute to see the kids out there. Each team got to bat twice and field twice so the kids got to eventually run all the way home. Becca grasped the concept fairly well. Some kids when in the field would catch the ball and either hold it or throw it to a coach insted of first base. Some kids while batting would either run to the wrong base or go chase after their own ball.

Becca's first position was 3rd base. There really isn't much to do there so she pretty much stood there. The second time, she was in the middle of the field and was able to catch the ball a few times and did a good job throwing in to first base. Her first time up to bat, she hit it and ran to first. The second time, you can see in the video below. I think she wasn't sure if she should run if the other team already had the ball...I'm not sure what she was thinking but it was funny. We have games on Mondays and Thursdays and we're having fun.

St. Louis, part 1

Our family vacation was really fun this year. There was so much to do, I didn't even get to do everything I wanted. The house was beautiful and the winding two lane tree-lined roads were beautiful as well. The view from the deck would be great in the fall with all the fall colors. The first thing we had to do was grocery shop for the week. Then we just kicked back as the family trickled in.

Monday we decided to go to the zoo. We wanted to have good weather for that, so we went early. It was very hot that day and found out later, it would have been better to do it later in the week when it was cooler. But, we packed a lunch, ate it in the park across from the zoo. I borrowed an infant/toddler stroller which was SO great to have. The zoo was so big and the weather was so hot, we didn't even get to see it all. The kids had a lot of fun.

The kids started off liking each other

After the zoo, we dropped off those who were going to rest before dinner and some of us went out flying with my cousin. It was pretty cool. I didn't go up with Becca because she wanted to go with her cousin Cade but my brother said they had fun. We learned the Missouri river isn't far from the Mississippi River...anyone know that? After flying, we went to dinner with my cousin's family. They were very busy that week with their 25th wedding anniversary, one son's graduation that weekend, and planning another son's wedding for later in the summer. We appreciate them taking their time to spend a little time with us.

Tuesday was Six Flags. The weather was a little better, still a little hot however. We rode the ferris wheel first, then spent some time riding all the kiddie rides. All 3 older cousins had fun riding together. We then went on some bigger rides. Cade and Becca were tall enough to ride with the adults and they actually enjoyed the roller coasters and water rides. There were a few they actually wanted to ride on again. After a few hours, we went to the parking lot to eat. We were there maybe 20 minutes when a huge storm hit. Blowing rain and hail! So we closed up the kids in the back of the SUV and we sat in the front and had a picnic. My sister took her daughter home to rest and we went back after the rain stopped.

Becca playing a game and winning a pink beaver

Other than a little whiny here and there, the kids got along. They definitely got on each others nerves after being together all day. Cade and Becca are similar in personality and only 3 months apart in age, so there was a lot of jockeying for poisition. At the end of the day, we had to separate them or at least tell them there was no talking in the car on the way home.