Meet Me In St. Louis Louis

This Friday and Saturday we headed to St. Louis. I've decided that 2 day vacations are the perfect level for our young, somewhat large family. It keeps the cost down, the crazies down, the exhaustion down. The toddler doesn't nap. That's okay; it's only 2 days. The kids spend half the night tossing and turning and waking each other up. That's okay; it's only 1 night. People start to fight and bicker; doesn't matter, you're going home soon. You get tired; you get sunburned; you get thirsty; you run out of money. Well, head on home and relax because the vacay is over. Seriously, it made it easier for me to enjoy the, um, bumps when I new that it wasn't going wreck Emma's sleep schedule or blow the budget or pump my kids too full of free-breakfast donuts.

I also really loved going somewhere close-ish by. We can do three hours. We still had to take a potty-break on the way there, but one isn't so bad.

And St. Louis itself is a completely awesome city. It was so fun. There was so much to do. We can go back for another 2 days some other time and have fun doing lots of different things.

So if everyone we love could move three hours or less away from us, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you.

My original conception for this trip was that it be free except for gas and hotel. St. Louis has lots of fun, free things to do. However, everyone recommended the City Museum so much that we coughed up our $60 and went there too.

We left Evansville Friday morning around 9:00. We got to St. Louis around noon, checked into the hotel, and then went to the zoo. There were many clouds in the sky even though it hadn't rained her for weeks. I suggested taking the mombrella (my very large umbrella) into the zoo. Kip said there was no way it would rain and if it did, it wouldn't be much, so we didn't need it and it would be a waste to carry it around. It proceeded to pour on us about 5 minutes into the trip and then to continue raining gently pretty much the rest of the time. We considered going back to get the mombrella, but you know, after the initial soaking, it really wasn't a big deal. We were wet, but we were happy. And the rain really kept the heat down. We looked at animals until we were starting to meltdown (in the emotional way, that is, not as I said, the heat way) and then tried to find our way out of the zoo. The St. Louis zoo is cool in pretty much every way, but it has the worst signs of any zoo I have ever been to. Did I mention ever?

This is the best picture we got in the course of the vacation. Hmmm. Also, I have a new picture rule for vacationing. Kip and I must get at least one shot together, even if we must ask a random stranger or our 8-year-old son to take it.

After the zoo, we had an hour or so until dinner (the hotel served a complimentary dinner), so we went up to the temple. The girls all fell asleep on the way, but Mark and I had a look around and that was actually a lot of fun. Especially since the last time we saw a temple with the kids, Mark was sick and ended up puking in the car while Elizabeth and I had a look around. So he finally got his turn. And he seemed to enjoy it.

We went back to the hotel for our complimentary hot dog and nachos dinner (surprisingly, it was better than it sounds) and then we took the kids swimming in the pool.

Then we had a rough night. Emma cried. The kids moved and wiggled and fidgeted and Elizabeth woke up and couldn't go back to sleep, which stressed me out so that I couldn't either. We all slept from 6:00 on though and we all managed to sleep in a bit and then head to our complimentary breakfast. Mark swam again and we left the hotel.

The City Museum was totally worth the cost. It is constructed of materials scavenged from the city of St. Louis and made into play areas for children. So it had beams and pipes, shells and glass, church pews, statues, even a couple old planes. It had slides and live turtles and water and all kinds of weird stuff. If you imagined what a wonder-playground would have been to you as a child, then you would have imagined this place (if, of course, you had a very good imagination). There were mazes and tunnels and caves. And it's not like you went into a tunnel and just came out the other end. It's like you went in to a tunnel and there were more tunnels that went more places and your parents sure couldn't find you. This was, admittedly, a little stressful for me and Kip. Eventually, we told the big kids to stick together and we watched Savannah and Emma. This worked pretty well, although not perfectly. I was actually shocked more kids didn't get lost at this place. I was also shocked that they didn't make us sign a waiver at the beginning. But part of the beauty of the museum was just that. It was challenging and stimulating for the kids. Body and mind promoting. And in that way, I think a little empowering for the children. I enjoyed it too. It made me feel a little old because I'm a little not so pliable, etc. as I once was. But it made me feel a little young too to go through the caves and up the playstuff.

We left around 4:00, both because we were exhausted and because Mark and Elizabeth split up and we told them if they did, we'd have to leave.

Here are some pic's although catching the moving children on film while keeping track of the other moving children was a wee bit difficult.

 At the top of a skateboard park thing that the kids used as a slide.

 Swinging on the rope.

 Crying at the bottom of the slide. Not sure why, but she looks cute anyway. Also, despite this picture, she had a crazy good time. She was almost manic in her crazed desire to do everything just like everyone else.

 On the outdoor thing-y. Not sure what to call it. This huge creation of tunnels, paths, stairs, and slides.

Look, Kip was there with us. He's the main picture taker and therefore more difficult to catch on film.

We got home around 7:00, ate, relaxed and went to bed. It was awesome.