Coming Soon......

We had Kyle's 5th birthday party on Saturday. His birthday isn't until April 5th, but because Ben & I were both on vacation this week we went ahead and had it early. Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate this special day with us. I can't believe my Baby is turning 5! I have SO MANY pictures to share from the party. They will be coming as soon as I find more time:)

Archery Practice

We headed to St. Louis Mills one day for shopping. Our first stop was Cabella's. This was actually a really cool store, surprisingly, I was impressed. They were doing an archery demonstration for kids the day we were there. Kyle was excited to try shooting a bow. He had a hard time pulling back the string, but did well with a little help. He was so excited to call his Uncle Jason and tell him what he'd done afterwards. I know Uncle Jason would love to turn him into a hunter.

Hotel Room

The kids had so much fun in the hotel room. Hannah just loved jumping on the bed and she WOULD NOT go to sleep!!! She was way too excited even after her full days without naps.

The Magic House

Whew! This is a long post. On Tuesday we went to the Magic House. I was especially excited about going because I remember going when I was little. I remember how cool it was to me as a child and with the recent expansion I knew it would still live up to my expectations even as an adult now. I couldn't wait to experience this place again through the eyes of my own children now. It was so much fun and I can't wait to take the kids again. Anyone for a carriage ride?

climbing the beanstalk

playing the bubble piano

Hannah loved this water table. It took a long time to persuade her there were lots more things to see & do.

Kyle & Hannah (& myself) had so much fun shopping in this grocery store. The kids got to get all of their grocery items & then pay for them at the cash register. They chose to do the scan it yourself way. They loved it! This entire section was set up like a little town just for kids. It was the ideal pretend play place. There was a grocery store, bank, post office, pizza parlor, house, tree house, pond for fishing, service station, electric company, library, news station, & ice cream stand.

Playing in the kitchen of the house

Kyle loved playing at the service station

time for a tire change

going for a drive

Scanning books at the library

putting on a news broadcast

all of their favorite things...crayons, markers, paint, scissors, glue & punches. They just love being creative. We spent quite a bit of time in this room.

Hannah seeing what it's like to make a wheelchair go

The wheel chair was hooked up to some electronic timer. It told you how far you moved the chair in 30 seconds. Kyle found out how hard that can be.

inside the bubble machine - Kyle is pulling the ring up to make a bubble form around him. He was only able to make the bubble form up to his waist before it would pop.

Steve - I'm all ready to go to work with you now -

Hannah played in these rocks the entire time Kyle was in the building zone. She loved just shoveling rocks & making piles.

laying the floor

This is hard work!

working on the plumbing pipes

putting in the insulation

making music

Coming Soon.....Having Fun at the Hotel

Big Foot

We realized that St. Louis is the Home of Big Foot; therefore, we found our way to the enormous Monster Truck. We knew Kyle would be so excited to see it as he just loves monster trucks. He had fallen asleep on the way. I knew he desperately needed the power nap; however, we couldn't wait to see the expression on his face when he got to see the real Big Foot. I'm not quite sure what this thing it, but it was sitting right next to Big Foot

It was guarded by a gate, so we didn't get to get too close to it. Kyle thought it was really cool. He asked lots of questions about it - "How does anyone get in that thing, anyway?"

Coming Next....The Magic House

The Science Center

After visiting the zoo we headed just down the street to the Science Museum. Ben & I had been there before we had Kyle. We knew it would be a whole new experience for us with Kyle & Hannah with us. Check out this cool illusion

Kyle was so into all the exhibits. He wanted all of them explained to him. It was fun for me just watching him be so fascinated with everything he was taking in. Here he is at the brain exhibit. I spent a lot of time with him at this exhibit just going over the different parts of the brain and what each one controls.

Hannah loved all of the hands-on exibits

Here is Kyle pretending he's doing surgery. We took all of the organs out and then he put them back in their proper place.

Hannah finishing up her surgery by stitching things up

Wow....a real Polar Bear!

We went to a science show while there. It was called Science with Peeps. The lady you see did all different cool things with Peeps candy. In this picture she poured liquid Nitrogen on them. Of course, they immediately froze and she pounded a hammer on them and they shattered to shreds. We were all impressed with this show.

Kyle especially loved this hands-on exhibit where he got to dig for real dinosaur bones. He worked on one of them for a really long time. They said it would take days of digging for one of them to be uncovered. Kyle was really hoping he'd be able to do it in just a short while.

The moving, roaring dinosaur - definitely a cool thing to see

Kyle & Ben trying out their skill at Laser Surgery - this simulates what it's like to do laser surgery on your eyes. There was another exhibit that simulated what it's like to do surgery with cameras. It was kind of scary for me - it was definitely difficult. Your brain had to think differently than what it was seeing on the camera. You had to move in the opposite direction of what you saw. It made me realize how much trust we place in the hands of our surgeons.

Coming Next....BIGFOOT

The Zoo

Just a few of the animals - there were so many there!

The kids got to pet & brush the goats in the Children's Zoo area. Kyle wasn't too crazy about it. He gave it a try and decided to just sit back and watch.

Hannah, on the other hand, just loved the goats.

Hannah getting to feel what a leopard feels like. This one was from a leopard that died of old age.

standing in front of the elephants

Hannah having a little chat with Mr. Turtle

Kyle was so excited to see the penguins. He kept asking all day if we were ever going to get to see them. The penguin exhibit turned out to be a favorite for Kyle & Hannah.

standing in front of the penguins

We had to wait in line to get inside the penguin exhibit, but it was really neat once we got in there. It was 45 degrees in the exhibit. Hannah kept saying, "Brrrrr....it's cold." The kids were fascinated with the penguins.

Next to come.....The Science Center

Visiting the Arch (twice)

The very first thing we did when we got to St. Louis on Saturday was visit the Arch. For anyone planning a visit to the Arch - DO NOT go on a Saturday. It was so busy. All the tickets to the top were sold out. Kyle was so disappointed because he wanted to go up in the top so badly. This surprised me because he gets scared of things so easily, but he was practically in tears because he wanted to go to the top so badly. We had some extra time on Monday, so I called to see if we could get tickets to the top. They said, "Sure, no problem." We got our tickets and went right on up. I thought Kyle would get scared once we were heading to the elevator, but I was wrong. He loved every minute of it! Kyle & Hannah outside the Arch

The kids had so much fun running around and playing on the big lawn in front of the arch

I thought this was just a cute picture. Ben & Hannah heading down those steep stairs in front of the Arch.

Kyle in front of the elevator to head to the top. He thought it looked like we were getting into a spaceship.

WOW!

So Cool!

The view of the stadium from the top

The four of us at the top of the Arch -

I was taking Ben & the kids picture when this nice lady offered to take a picture of the four of us together. I took 369 pictures in St. Louis and I'm in less than 5 of them.

Coming Soon......The Zoo