Trip to St. Louis

Last week, we made a quick, 3-day trip to St. Louis for a "mini-vacation." We stayed with my grandparents and it was a treat to see them again. Kayla was just infatuated with Grandpa's treasures in his pockets -- a pocket knife and his sunglasses!

I was so happy that Grandma got a chance to hold Tyler -- he was especially "cooperative" during this stretch!

We went to the zoo in St. Louis . . . a tad bigger than the "World Famous Topeka Zoo!" I was worried the temp. was going to be too much, but the shade made it very tolerable. To be perfectly honest, I am not a huge "zoo person" we had a nice time spending several hours there.

We gave the kids the choice of riding either the train or the carousal -- and Joshua "convinced" Kayla that this was the ride of choice . . . big brothers have a way of doing that!

My "baby!" ( . . . Joshua, not the monkey . . . just for clarification!)

It was fun to see animals that we never get to see here . . . like the camel. Would you believe that THIS, yes, THIS animal was the first one Joshua wanted to see? I never realized they were so . . . um . . .not visually pleasing! We can now check it off our list . . . we have seen a camel!

A big 'ole turtle

Flamingos!

Penguin -- these were cool!

We also went to the "Magic House" -- a hand's on kids museum . . . and thanks to some great coupons, we only paid for two tickets! We spent over two hours there, and still didn't get to see everything b/c the kids were entering "meltdown zone" (aka nap time) and thought we'd spare the innocent spectators! I just realized how few pics I took -- we were took busy running from one exhibit to the next. If I get super motivated, I may snag some from Bryan's phone.

This was a three-story "Jack and the Beanstalk" leaf-thingy that the kids could climb up and down on. Kayla was game for trying it right away . . . but it took Joshua a while to warm up to the idea. By the time we left, they were both climbing the entire thing.

This electro-static ball thing was cool. Joshua's hair really didn't do much . . .

but Kayla had AWESOME hair for this!

Yes . . . I can definitely attest to the truth of this sign . . .

. . . and this sign!

We had a blast there -- and would highly recommend the place to other families with small kids. Especially with the coupons . . .I know, I'm such a geek! Have a great week everyone!