Saint Lou-eeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Ryan had a few days off of work so we took a mini vacation to St. Louis.  We weren't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a great couple of days!

The drive took about 4 hours (not factoring in the potty stops we had to make) & the kids did a great job.  When we got to St. Louie (the kids found this pronunciation HILARIOUS!), we went straight to the Arch. Up we went and they loooooooved it!  The Arch was a BIG topic of conversation before, during, & after this trip.  We traveled to the top in a little "egg pod" and were blessed with clear skies.  It was cool to see the skyline and the Mighty Mississippi!  After the Arch we drove to the hotel & had dinner in our room then hit the hay.

The next morning we woke up, had a quick breakfast at the hotel, & headed to the St. Louis zoo.  WOW!  It was a great zoo!  Austin enjoyed seeing the rhinos & the bears.  Caitlin loved the giraffes.  They got to pet guinea pigs, bunnies, & goats in the Children's Zoo...it was so cute to watch them with the animals.  Also in the goat pen we got to see some classic comedy...goats would steal papers from unsuspecting people's pockets & bags and chomp away.  One guy was even chasing the goat thief...not sure what he thought he was going to do, but he couldn't catch the goat anyway.  That was funny to see.

After the zoo the kids took a "car nap" and Ryan & I were able to drive around and check out the neighborhoods.  Next time we WILL be visiting "The Hill"...St. Louie's Little Italy.  Ahh, but not this time.  Instead, for dinner we headed to some place that was like a way better version of Chuck E. Cheese.  The food was awful but the kids had a blast playing all the games...mini bowling, pop-a-shot, skee ball, driving games.  At first Caitlin was puzzled about the tickets coming from the games, but once I showed her the prize counter & explained how we would turn in our tickets for prizes, it was ON!  She was obsessed with getting as many tickets as possible.   She ended up with about 500 tickets and was able to get a boatload of junk toys.  :)  Austin had about 400 tickets and got his fair share of junk toys too!

On Thursday we got up, had breakfast, & packed up.  We thought we would stop at one more fun place before hitting the road.  We went to City Museum which looked very cool but Ry & I decided it was more for older kids.  So we drove to Magic House...the Children's Museum.  It was great & the kids had a blast.  The exhibits were awesome...Caitlin loved the exhibit with separating recyclables and dumping them in the recycling truck and Austin put on a hard hat, grabbed an empty spray bottle & cloth & starting cleaning the SMART car that they had.  He was on a mission....even crawling inside the car to detail it.  :)  The funniest was when a girl put her foot on the bumper and he immediately went over, pretend sprayed, & wiped off the offending footprint!  They also had slides, a water table, a sand table, a replica of the Oval Office/Congress/Courtroom, a house under construction, a beanstalk to climb...it was a great museum & definitely tired the kids out.

Then we were on our way home.  It was a great time of reconnection for our family!!!