Update on life and some time away

Tim's Mom has had some health issues over the last couple of months that led us to decide that we could not travel far for vacation this year.  She has stabilized somewhat and Tim has hired some extra help so we decided that we could safely go to St Louis for a couple of days (its a 3.5 hour trip).  She did fine while we were away and we had a great time.  We all needed a little "fun" time.  We visited (in order of enjoyment) The City Museum, the Zoo, the Arch, and the Science Center.  We loved the zoo (and spent NO Money!), but it was really hot and that made the kids rank it lower.  Laurel said an 80 degree day would place it at the top of her list :).  The city museum was super cool.  Museum, hmm, not so much.  I'd call it a giant playplace for adults and school age kids (a parent's nightmare for toddlers).  Although it does show you truly can recycle anything so in that sense it was educational.  The science center was okay, (see it since its mostly free if you have time to kill) but our kids would not want to go back.  We've seen better.  Here are some pics from our getaway (lots of them):

Appropriate to study arches in St Louis (at the Science Center)

Petting the Stingray at the Zoo

Petting the Shark

Loving the Carousel - she rode 5 times while it was free in the first hour

Which one is a the Monkey?

Seeing the Elephants- Yes everyone was miserable and hot by this point!

His nickname is "Mr. Personality"- We agreed.

We decided the only way to make it through was to be wet!  Three of the four took us up on our suggestion.  Carter was first to get cool.

The arch

At the top

Completed the Junior Ranger activities and got badges.  Carter loved that!

Can you play "where's waldo" and find three kids?

Going up

They are all going to do it!

My baby, suspended six stories high

Preparing for a family slide- I missed the "action" shot

"I just slid down 10 stories!!!"

"I am going again!!"

Love it!!

Even the grown ups found this really fun

Figuring out laying sideways makes you go faster!

Exploring the caves area

She loved the oversized ball pit

Going up again before heading home!

A little prospective as to just how massive this is.  (Photo from google images)

The best St Louis activity we've found thus far!