St. Louis, MO

June  9th-12th 

Nick was to preach at St. Louis church on the 12th so we decided to make a long weekend getaway.  We sure did enjoy our time away.  Lots of things to do in St. Louis so we stayed busy.

Several hours of swimming.  When we weren't out and about, you could find everyone in the pool.  sadly the hot tub was broken all weekend.

 One day we went to the City Museum.  We are SOOOO glad we left an entire day for this event.  There is so much to see and so much to do.  My boys were a bit skeptical by the name and even the outside of the building looks run down and awful.  But when we got to the front entrance of the place my boys eyes lite up and they were so excited.  So much climbing around and sliding down, and getting lost:).

 This was a wooden indoor climbing place.  It was a jungle of path ways and openings in which you never knew where you would end up.  Of course we lost the kids a few times, but nothing serious.  We even lost nick once.  He went down a slide and we had no clue where the end of the slide was.

 This was an indoor Skate park....minus the skates of course....so you just ran around these ramps and funnels.  Personally this was my favorite area of the 4 story city museum.

 Ellie liked the ball pit but honestly I'm not a huge fan of these things....ewwwww.

Pretty cool chairs they had here.  You just roll around on them.

 Alright folks....this is the outdoor part that caught my boys attentions pretty quickly. What boy doesn't want to crawl all over and go to great heights to investigate planes up in the sky!!
Even Ellie did this stuff.  She was more brave than I was.  Yes, I did crawl through all that stuff but ONLY once!  The boys all did it several times.

Nick, Elijah and Caden going through the tallest wire tunnel.

Did I mention lots of slides??  This was one of the many.  A note to self and anyone wanting to go here....wear gym short material.  These slides and jean material do NOT mix.

The next day was packed full.  We went to the Gateway Arch.

 We also went up into the arch.  Something I had never done before.  A bit claustrophobic in the tiny little "cell" you ride to the top.  The view from the top was a little "dizzy" feeling for me, but the kids sure loved it.

Inside the Arch!!

We then went to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery for a "free" tour.  It wasn't anything to spectacular, but you do get a "free" beer taste at the end:)  Kids get a "free" soda.

Besides the arch and the brewery we also went to the FREE St. Louis zoo!! Sure had fun here.  Kids enjoyed the animals and got a good amount of walking in:).  (ok, so kids didn't like all the walking, but still they enjoyed the zoo).

 Kids wishing the gorilla would carry them through the park.

It had a small petting zoo for goats only.  Ellie was terrified of them.  

 We got to the park right when it opened at 8am.  From 8-9 am there are a few things that were "free" that normally cost to do.  Like the stingray encounter.  Kids loved this.  Oh and for those who plan to visit the zoo anytime soon....get there at 8am and you can get street parking which is free and then you don't have to pay the 15$ parking fee!!!

 Last but not least we saw something pretty cool at the zoo.  Something I had no idea took place.  You learn something new everyday.  This hippo plunged into the water and proceeded to open his mouth WIDE....and what do you know.....all these fish come swarming into his mouth.  They were cleaning the hippo's teeth!!!  It was amazing to watch.  So many fish swimming around and IN HIS MOUTH!

It was a great trip and we were so glad we got to go UNTIL............
...................stay tuned for what we arrived home to.......