Our Last Days in St. Louis

Our time in St. Louis came to a close about a month ago.  We have had a really crazy, busy few weeks since then.  Hence, I am just getting around to blogging.  More on that later.  This post is dedicated to our last week or so spent as Missourians.  Wow.  The last month that we lived in St. Louis was insanely busy and cram packed with things to do.  I helped to plan a baby shower, a surprise 30th birthday for my Sweetheart, a graduation party, tried finishing all we had to with Anna's school, made some tearful goodbyes, tried to visit all of our favorite St. Louis attraction spots, and this is all on top of packing up a FULL house of our things to move across country.  Josh, thankfully, took care of all that had to do with buying our house, dealing with lenders, setting up insurance, setting up utilities and internet and such, switching addresses, and so much more.  We were both going at full speed but tried to remain calm so we could enjoy our last few days with some of the most wonderful people we've ever met.

Josh had the great idea to spend our last week taking our sweet kids to all of their favorite spots in St. Louis.  He didn't work much that week, and I think we were both glad of that.  It ended up being a super fun and totally exhausting week for us all.  These first pictures are of our zoo trip.  The zoo is definitely something I will miss.  Not only is it FREE, but it is also an AMAZING zoo.  We lived there for five years and I left still completely baffled that you get in for free.  We have made so many great memories at that place.  I can't even count how many times we've been there.

Daniel really loves the merry-go-round.  Look at that face.  That is a happy boy!

We had a girl row and a boy row.  Anna loves that she is always on the girl team and can't wait for our new little princess to join us.

The kids LOVE this slide.  It goes through the water and is clear so the kids can see the animals living in this pool as they slide down.  It's pretty awesome.

They love petting the goats.  These goats are pretty tame, especially compared to the insane ones that are at Grant's Farm.  This is much more their pace.

Anna was learning about butterflies in school that week so we had to go to the butterfly house.  It was really cool to see so many butterflies in one place.  Anna was in heaven.

Our next stop was to Purina Farms.  We have never been there but really wanted to make the trip before we left.  It was really neat and REALLY BUSY!!  Holy cow.  Supposedly it isn't usually that bad but the day we went was packed.  The Easter Bunny was there too to greet the kids.  The kids liked getting their pictures taken with him.  Well, most of our kids anyways.

It looks like Anna is about to punch this pig but I promise she didn't.  There were so many animals there to pet.  All three of them loved seeing and touching all of the different animals.

We met up with our dear friend Cynthia and two of her boys.  We watched the dog show together and the kids loved it.  The dog show was pretty cool.  Who knew that dogs could do so many tricks?

Anna LOVED the rope swing.

I don't remember what I was trying to get a picture of with Andrew here but he REFUSED because he really wanted a picture of his stamp.  Hence, the picture of his hand.  Sigh, my kids and I are both super strong willed.

Our next stop was to Grant's Farm.  Grant's Farm is also a favorite of our family.  We've also been here one billion times and it never seems to get old for the kids.  They just love it.

Waiting to go in....

The goats are so insanely hyper and hungry that it is hard for the kids to actually be inside the fence with them.  Instead, we learned to just go on the outside and they will come to you.  Everyone is happy.

Elephants are really cool animals.  The kids LOVE watching them roam around.

Of course, we just HAD to get a couple of snow cones.  It's the rule!

The first time we came here, Anna couldn't even walk.  Now look at how our family has grown.  Crazy!

Feeding the llamas and camels is probably their favorite part of Grant's Farm.  They LOVE doing it.  Look at Andrew's little face.  Such a happy kid.

Even Daniel got in on the action.

Anna was scared at first but as soon as she did it, this was her reaction.  Pure happiness!

Camels seem so calm all the time.  The kids think they are really cool animals.

We also went to the Science Center.  We haven't been there in a long time.  Last time we went, we thought it was pretty boring.  Our kids were just too young.  This time though, the kids were super in to everything they saw.  We spent a long time here just because the kids were so intrigued by everything they could see.  We did all of the experiments and learned a lot in the process.

There is something about boys, dirt, and digging.  They just cannot help themselves and are their happiest with a shovel in hand.  

Trying all of the experiments.  Anna was especially inquisitive.

Check out that t-rex....and I'm not talking about the huge one in the background.

If there is a button, Daniel will push it, especially if it's red.  ;-)

It was tiring doing this every morning and packing every evening, but we wouldn't trade the memories for anything.