we made it to kansas city late last night and were happy to see papa and nana (and max, their dog). after spending all of that time in the car, we thought that "super hero" day at the zoo was the perfect choice today. but then it was surprisingly cold. oh well. it was still nice to walk around, even if only half the animals were on exhibit due to the weather.
manning and mason were the only ones interested in pictures with the capitan america and thor - even madelyn said she was too "shy" to stand near them. i will say that the penguins were a little more of a pull than the superheroes. i think we all could have spent hours watching them dive and swim. and it was also warm inside from the wind.
and there were cupcakes!
so let me apologize now, there are going to be several versions of the same photo in this post. pretty much everyone wanted to be a picture "by myself." there was some (okay, a lot) of tired crying.
more cupcakes! it was one of their chimp's birthdays.
there were only geese and one cheetah out in the africa portion of the zoo, but we all still enjoyed the sky safari.
quite by accident, i got matt, mason, madelyn and maddux in this shot.
these two pictures show how maddux' will for a picture by himself won over and over to his complete exhaustion from the start of our trip.
everyone became very interested in a polar bear when they found out that they could sit to watch it.
daddy kept maddux from getting a "by myself" picture. luckily, maddux didn't notice.
i think madelyn, matt and i were the only ones who enjoyed our trip to the zoo. next time we will go when it is warmer. love.
this trip we finally went to the highly recommended city museum in st. louis. seriously. it is awesome! we were pretty overwhelmed at first (going on a saturday, rookie mistake). there were a ridiculous amount of people, it was loud, there is no map (part of the charm) and the first part is like a million dark rabbit holes with adults and kids alike squirming their way through without knowing where they would end up. we were so afraid of losing someone! but the pure imagination of the place was gorgeous and impossible to capture in pictures (but check out their website). it is all reclaimed architectural pieces of st. louis.
our kids might have been just a smidge young. matt went in with them for the first 'tunnel' (the spiral maddux is climbing up in this first picture) and i thought he was going to have a panic attack when i saw him somewhere above me.
this whale was enormous.
the kids liked the more open climbing areas.
everyone except manning were a little scared of the "caves." we need to come back with flashlights.
there is a 10-story slide somewhere at the top of this opening but none of us were willing to give it a try.
this tree part was the kids' favorite because it was the best lit spot indoors. but once we started to get too warm, we headed outside.
there were two ball pits outside. one for 'littles' and one for older kids. there was a huge line for the older kids but madelyn was the willing to wait. it wasn't very warm out at all. and it was pretty windy. but we all enjoyed exploring what they had set up outside.
this tree covered in railroad spikes and shingles is just an example of the amazing repurposing every where at city museum.
madelyn and matt were the only ones brave enough to climb up to the planes.
the roof was closed today, but you can see the bus up there.
matt said that the airplane was shaking in the wind. he did not go in.
the mad ant farm of steel and people outside.
we rediscovered mason's fear of heights on this trip. we had forgotten. i was so proud of him because he really wanted to cross over to these "castle towers" but the bridge was a little overwhelming for him. he held my hands and looked me in the eye while i walked backwards to help him across. i think he was even a little proud of himself. (side note - matt and i are also both a little afraid of heights. although i think my fear is more about the falling than the actual height. i am good if there is a solid base and guard rail.)
since there is no map, there were all sorts of surprises as we explored. one was this shop that makes nylon ropes and shoelaces! who knew?
so this doesn't look super scary, but let me tell you that when you sit down and roll back it feels like it is going to flip right over. (yes, i tried and, no, there isn't a video.)
we stumbled across a neat art exhibit too. the kids loved this star wars piece. it shows different scenes from the movies as you make your way around it.
this one is like 23 layers of toys/junk stacked to make a person.
they also have an arts and crafts section, a preschool version of the climbing tunnels (yea, that would have been nice to know earlier), and even a tumbling circus! we only caught the last few minutes of the circus performance.
madelyn and matt did the 5-story slide and then mason and maddux joined them for this 3-story slide in the lobby (manning and i watched).
i can't recommend city museum enough if you ever find yourself passing through st. louis. just bring a flashlight! love.
one of the kids said something along the lines of the following: "staying in a hotel is something special; like chuck e. cheese or ice cream." and that sums up their opinion of sleeping in a hotel. we have found the one that works for us too - hilton place. we get a king suite. there is a slightly partitioned king bed and a foldout sectional. manning gets the "little bed." which he clearly loves.
so the sleeping arrangements work out fantastic and there is a full hot breakfast included! we totally get our money's worth too.
look at the private table for two matt and i found.
and now we are fueled for the road!
madelyn and manning were pretty thrilled about the carved dog bench we found at our lunch stop.
instead of waiting until summer we decided to take our trip to kansas over spring break. we picked the kids up early from school and hit the road (around 2:30). leaving in the afternoon is always more challenging because the kids have all day to mess the house up!
the kids are really pretty good travelers (well, who wouldn't be with a car full of dvds and a special tablet from the library?) we we love a good road trip. the excitement was a little hard to contain during our dinner stop. love.
