St Louis - Part 1

This summer, our family traveled along with Jason to St. Louis for his week-long intensive class. Grammy and Papa journeyed with us so they could tour the city along with the kids and me. I definitely wouldn't have been brave enough to go sightseeing to this many places with just my kiddos, so it was a huge blessing to have my parents' help! We had such a full, amazing week!

On our drive out of Texas, we made two memorable stops-- Cracker Barrel (always a favorite!)...

...and Buc-ee's (practically a TX landmark!). The kids enjoyed trying their first-ever Icees. Verdict: not big fans, surprisingly!  

In St. Louis, we stayed in a B&B-- a perfect setup for our family for the week-long stay. We loved having the ability to cook our own meals, spread out with toys, give Adley a quiet naptime, and have adult-time with Grammy and Papa in the evenings. Papa and Grammy were (of course) so helpful, playing with the kiddos during our downtime at the house.

Every day while Jason was in class, the rest of us visited one or two tourist sites in the St. Louis area. My Aunt Kathy and Uncle Mark live in a nearby suburb, so they joined us for most of the outings. In fact, Aunt Kathy served as our local travel guide who planned the details of where we'd go which day. They sure made the trip easy on us! 

The Magic House

I have such good memories of attending this children's museum as a kid. My three children loved all the hands-on activities as well.

The museum's traveling exhibit for the summer was a Mo Willem's exploratory center. My kids have always loved this author's books, so playing in the exhibit was a big hit!

Cody and Jaden spent the longest time at this station where they could launch hot dogs.

And I'm pretty sure Adley had no idea what she was playing with here!

Another fun spot was this exhibit where the kids could design sea creatures, scan them, and then watch the creatures "swim" across the wall. We've done this same activity at other children's museums, and it never gets old.

Touching this humongous static ball was the part I remembered most about the Magic House from when I was a kid. So hilarious! Jaden and Cody's hair was too short to make much of a difference, but they enjoyed watching the effects on Grammy and Mommy.

At the Star-Spangled Center, the kids could pretend to give a presidential speech...

see themselves on camera, 

sit at the president's desk in the Oval Office,

get a passport book stamped at various locations around the exhibit (see stamping station next to Cody below), and dress up as a courtroom judge.

There were SO many great places to explore here!

This musical bench was one of my favorites. Each cushion would play a music sample from a different instrument family (woodwind, percussion, etc) whenever you sat down on it. I tried to get a video of Jaden testing this out, but it's a little hard to hear with all the background noise. You can get a general idea, at least. What a fun exhibit!

Grant's Farm

Later that same day we toured Grant's Farm. Feeding the animals was a HUGE hit with the kids. I was impressed with how brave they all were, Adley especially, with all these hungry, pushy animals!

I was surprised to see camels at Grant's Farm too! Uncle Mark generously paid for the boys to get a ride on a camel. Then, Grammy and Papa paid for Adley and Uncle Mark to try it out too. I'm not sure what Adley thought of the bumpy ride, but the boys seemed to enjoy themselves!

In addition to all the animals that can be fed, Grant's Farm is also home to a wide variety of other exotic animals-- including zebras, wallabies, lemurs, and the famous Clydesdales.

The City Museum

Our our second day touring St. Louis, we visited what is quite likely the coolest museum that I've ever been to! I feel like it should be called the Enormous City Playground, rather than a museum, due to all the climbing, crawling, sliding, running, swinging and more that the kids could do. Such an amazing place! My few photos definitely don't do the place justice. We loved it!

My kids spent the longest time climbing on the many outdoor structures. All of the tunnels, slides, bridges, climbers, castles, etc. are supposedly made from repurposed architectural and industrial objects. It all made for the largest playplace I've ever seen! Adley enjoyed climbing and exploring just as much as her brothers did, so I ended up climbing right along with her.

Papa and Uncle Mark bravely joined Jaden and Cody in this large ball pit.  

Cody and Jaden also spent quite some time in this large area full of ramps and half pipes. They tried for SO long to grab onto (which they both finally did) and climb over (which they never quite achieved) the ledge. I was proud of their determination in this section. They both left with blisters on their hands!

Cardinals Game

Jason and some of his seminary buddies joined us one evening for a MLB game. Because of my many summers visiting Missouri as a child, I've attended more professional baseball games in Busch stadium than in any other in the country. What good memories! Even though the Cardinals had a rough game that night, we all enjoyed watching. I always love the beautiful view of the arch too!

More STL adventures to come...!