July mini break in St Louis

The weather has been so gorgeous this month that Kel and I decided to take a rare free weekend (absolutely no scheduled activities!) and head for St Louis. Since Nic couldn't join us, we added camping to our adventure. Nic hates camping. Kel and I love it! We packed up the car and headed out on Saturday morning. First stop, the City Museum. This is our first visit since they opened the rooftop and, consequently, we spent the bulk of our day on said rooftop. The City Museum never disappoints.

Here is Kel in the parking lot with the museum (quite possibly the best place on earth) in the background. You can see the exhibits on the rooftop. There is a ferris wheel, a swinging rope, some slides, a water area, lots of places to climb and explore, and the school bus (of course!).





Here's a look at the school bus taken from down below, in MonstroCity. I must have been standing up by the airplanes, since there's nothing above me and the vantage is pretty high.



And now Kel, in his favourite exhibit of the day, smiling back down as he climbs up to board the school bus. Yes, that school bus, the one on the rooftop!



Driving the school bus. Which means that he's hanging out over the edge of the rooftop here. The background is washed out, otherwise you'd be able to see that we're above the surrounding buildings, way up in the St Louis sky.





The ball pit is crazy!



This is the water feature that eventually ended our day at the City Museum. Playing here again later, Kel took a wrong step and fell right in. All the way in. Soaking wet, from head to toe, and it was a chilly day, so we had to pack it in. See those shoes? They are no more. Because we were camping, I had no way to dry them. And since it was chilly, they only sat out and stayed wet overnight. By the time we arrived home the next evening, they were stinky and off to the trash. Monday morning required an emergency run to the shoe store.




The very cool rooftop ferris wheel.




A happy (and chilly!) Sunday morning, waking up in our tent.




Next stop, the Magic House! They have really updated the exhibits and expanded since our last visit two years ago. We spent the entire day here and could easily have stayed twice as long.



Wet jeans during the garden water play time. Seemed to be the theme this weekend. Luckily it had warmed up enough that we could go back to the car for shorts after he'd finished here.







The new construction area was a huge hit.




The expression on his face here is priceless. This is when I see Nic in him. Oh so worried!



Sitting back to watch a kinetic art exhibit do its thing.




Hey, if you make a face like this when your mother asks you to smile, just remember that it may be posted on the internet for everybody to see!

Zoo and Children's Museum with the Widgas

Friday was a holiday. And being a holiday, it was the perfect opportunity to celebrate not being stuck in the dark, cold, windowless office with some friends from work and their kids. Illinois State Museum employees set loose upon the unsuspecting town of Decatur. We can bore you to death before you know what happened!

These first two are actually at the Children's Museum. Out of order, but cute to start off the post. Kel playing cashier at the grocery store.





At the zoo. I think that Kel was being a frog? Or a dinosaur? Chris, Stacey, can you remember?




Kel and Henry. Henry is almost two years younger than Kel, but they adore each other. Henry does not, however, adore having his photo taken. He stuck his tongue out in every picture!





Kel is trying to figure out this whole tongue issue.







As a huge and special treat, the train engineer asked Kel if he'd like to drive with him! He even got to announce, "All aboard!" over the speaker as we set off.






The carousel was a popular attraction for both boys. This was Henry's first ever carousel ride.





Petting a goat.




I had to post a couple of the adorable Sophie, Henry's baby sister. And also my sometimes walking companion when I do my lunchtime walk at the office.

Alan and Charlie come to visit

Alan and Charlie came to stay with us last week and we were able to play tourist and take them to all of the local Lincoln sites. Alan is Nic's best friend since they were in grade school! Alan and Charlie are Kellan's godparents. Here are some random excerpts from their visit.