St. Louis 2012
After the craziness of VBS/Swim Lessons week, we had a few days before we went to St. Louis. We usually make this trip over the 4th of July holiday, but we were really hoping I would have a job interview that week, so we moved our trip up a week. (That interview didn’t exactly happen, but the timing worked out okay anyway.)
We left for STL on the 26th. It was quite a long drive with our munchkins. About 2 hours into it, Nola started complaining that her bottom hurt. We got there about 3:30. Rudy had to do his online class from 4:30-6:30, so the kids and Rebecca and I hung out until Jerry & Sherry got home from work. We stayed in that night and caught up with them.
Wednesday was our zoo day! We love the STL zoo. Not only is it FREE, but it’s a really nice zoo with lots of animals to see and some cool exhibits. The kids loved it this year. Caleb is always interested in animals of any kind, but this year Nola was excited about them too. We were thrilled that Jerry and Sherry went with us to the zoo this year as well!
After the zoo, we took our annual trip to our favorite Italian restaurant on the Hill and then got dessert at Ted Drewe’s.
On Thursday, Rudy and I took the kids to The Magic House for a few hours. They loved every bit of it.
Playing in the mock Oval Office… (Villines for President?)
On the job and working hard!
Nola had a blast in the “Little Bit of Magic” area where everything was just her size!
After our time at the Magic House, we met my dear friend Monica and her family for lunch at El Nopal – near where we used to live. It was so good to see them. We didn’t get to see them last year, so it had been 2 years since I saw my friend! Caleb and Nola were enamored with Katherine.
On Friday, we went to the City Museum. I think it might be Caleb’s favorite place in the world. He loves the crawling and climbing and craziness of it. I just think it’s creative genius. We even got to watch the circus this time! AND…the boys conquered the 13-story slide!
On the roof… Caleb “drove” the bus that hangs out over the top of the building and rode the ferris wheel on top!
After the City Museum, we went to a restaurant on Washington for dinner before we went to the Cardinals game. It was horrendously hot, even at 7:00 PM, but we had already paid for our tickets and we couldn’t fathom throwing that money away. Plus – Caleb would have never forgiven us if he didn’t get to see the WORLD CHAMPION ST. LOUIS CARDINALS play! 
So, we toughed it out. Sherry had to take a little break in the cooling station because it was just so hot, but the rest of us kept cool with water and breaks in the shade. The cool (no pun intended) thing was that we got to see Carlos Beltran hit his 2000th hit.
We had a wonderful trip to St. Louis this year. It was absolutely what we wanted to do and we enjoyed it all! We are so grateful to Sherry, Jerry and Rebecca for their hospitality and for hosting us every summer. We look forward to our time with them every year!
