The Turner kids arrive

The Turner family of SC came to visit us for a weekend. Well, mostly the kids visited. Becky and Brandon skipped town to go to a wedding in Cincy. Big deal. We had way more fun here playing. Annalise had someone to play farm with. That is until June only wanted horses and Annalise couldn't tolerate someone playing by their own rules. Girls. Shesh.
later, we decided to hang outside. Annalise made herself a bed in the wagon and Henro dragged her up and down the sidewalk.

Evie loves playing with Georgie. I even permitted her to carry Georgie on the grass. It's a good thing that Sweet G is a pipsqueak because Evie could tote her around easily.

Our Henro is growing up so fast! He is 5 1/2 now! Can you believe it?

Georgie hitches a ride with Annalise. Annalise was pretty excited about Georgie in small doses. She isn't as doting as Evie is.

Lastly, here is a shot of the big garden growth. We have been eating the lettuce, broccoli and cauliflour. It won't be long until we get some tomatoes!

City Museum in St Louis

This may have been the most awesome place I have visited as an adult with Children. Check out their website http://www.citymuseum.org/ It's an old shoe factory in St. Louis that an artist has turned into an incredible interactive playground of art and fun! Our Friends, Jen and Moe, and their kids took us there. If Jim didn't have a flight to catch the following Monday, we would have stayed until it closed and then went back the next day! To give you some idea, you walk into a room that kind of looks like an underwater scene in which you can crawl or climb on anything. Including walking through the life size whale scuplture.
I took a tunnel to see where it went and ended up in this cage over the floor. I had to squeeze through a tight space to get out.



Outside is just as magical as the inside. This is Evie in a big hamster tube of steel suspended about 20 feet above the ground.

That lady with the blue shirt is me climbing up the hamster tube.

And there was a giant ball pit filled with playground balls.

This is more of the outside. You could climb on all of this. The safety inspector has a tough job at this place!

More fun on the inside, a hall of mirrors.

And there were lots of ways to go between floors. Evie and Adli are in this blue spiral climbing up.

There was also an art room. Annalise and I spent a lot of time here because she was a little nervous about climbing all around everything.

While Annalise and I were creating art, Evie investigated a room filled with skate park ramps that you could run all over.

Have you ever seen a pencil this big??

in additon to crawling on everything, you could crawl under and through everything. Not sure how Evie and Adli ended up here.

Jim and Evie discover how to get under the stadium seating in the circus area. It was tight.

Even for Evie.

Back in the art area, we were still painting.

Then we took a break to see a juggling show. Remember when Evie wanted to be a juggler when she grew up? Adli helps to extinguish a fire.

Wouldn't you be proud if this was your kid?

Annalise and Evie explored the skate park area some more with a run around this bowl.

Then we entered a cave area that took us to an open atrium with 3 spiral staircases. The staircases went up 6 stories. you could walk down or take the spiral slide to the bottom. We all slid down. Annalise did not like it and ended up with a floor burn on her back. I was really dizzy at the bottom. This pipe organ was playing while we descended. This is an idea of what the cave area looked like. A bunch of cement scupltures that you could climb in that looked like fossils. Very cool. I would recommed this place to anyone visiting St Louis and plan to make a day of it! I would like to have my next birthday party there.

St Louis SMC reunion

Our trip to St. Louis wasn't just to see the Arch, but to hang out with some of my friends from Saint Mary's. We stayed with Chris and Marissa and their kids. Kathleen, Scott and their kids from Fishers IN came too! It was a nonstop party. The first morning in, the kids were all up bright and early watching some Saturday morning cartoons.
Back in the kitchen, Chris was whipping up a yummy breakfast. After we all ate our fill, we headed out to Grant's Farm.

This was a property that was owned by Grant himself. The fence around the property was made out of gun barrels from the Civil War. Inside the fence, there were lots of animals roaming free like these Texas longhorn cattle and American Bison.

Of course, they don't let you want among the longhorns. You ride a tram. That was pretty fun for all the kids. And the big kids. This was Grant's home. It was a pretty big place for its time.

Part of our crew enjoying the tram ride.

There was lots to do when you got off the tram. And for just $5 per kid, you could do it all! So we started out with our bottles to feed the baby goats. We Taller women love the baby goats. But as you entered the fencing, you had to hold your bottle up high because the goats would climb you to eat!

Annalise get to feed two greedy goats at once.

Evie found a hungry pair. We were ready to take at least one home with us, but dad wouldn't let us.

After a fun ride on the merry go round, we stopped to visit these giant turtles. Most of those humans were in our group.

It was a pretty hot day, but the farm had a sprinkler tunnel you could run through to cool off. All the kids got nice and wet and cool.

Then it was time for a break in the beer garden (or Biergarten if you are mom and dads). The kids enjoyed their snow cones while the parents knocked back a few of the completmentary beers. Thanks again, Budwieser and your family of beers!

Now that's the look of some happy kiddos.

Here's a shot of all the kids in our group: Mike, Carter, Andy, Evie, McKenna holding Amanda, Annalise, and Campbell.

What's a beer garden without polka? With a little sugar to burn off, Evie tried to teach McKenna to polka.

Then we took the tram back to the parking area and visited the world famous clydesdales on the way out. We saw a few of the full grown ones, but the ones in these pictures are just babies! And they were huge!!!

They sure were nice horses. I bet they eat a lot. Soon they will be pulling the beer wagon in a commerical during the superbowl.

A quick family shot on the way out. What a fun day! Thanks for hosting us, Chris and marissa!

St Louis Arch

A family roadtrip took us across the great state of Illinois to St. Louis. We had to stop at the Arch. That's like going to NYC and not seeing the Statue of Liberty or going to Carmel, IN and not seeing the creepy statues.It was a bright, sunny and HOT day. Evie and jim were excited. Annalise not so much.
Evie poses with the Mighty Mississip. The flooding wasn't bad in this area at all, but the river was really flowing.

Annalise and Old Man River

After admiring the view and marveling at the expanse, we decided to go inside and take the ride to the top!

While waiting for our train car, we read about the history of the building of the arch. They started it from both sides at once and had to come withing 100th of an inch for it to all fit together at the top.

Our tram arrived. We had to walk through this tiny door and sit in a circular capsule to get to the top.

IT was so tiny that I couldn't even sit up straight.

At the top, Evie and I admire the view. Since it was such a clear day, we could see pretty far. All the way to the Anheiser Busch Brewery.

The view from the top. That's the ball park that the St. Louis Cardnals play in.

Evie and Jim 630ft up!

Annalise did not like being at the top and refused to look out the windows. Maybe she is afraid of heights?

She felt better when we gave her the camera to take our picture at the top.

Back in the car and headed to our friends' house. Good bye Arch!

And Annalise got her nap. That was just too much excitement.