Our family vacation was a complete success, despite the stomach flu that both Andy and I had and the extremely hot temperatures St. Louis had. Nothing keeps us Chalupa’s from an adventure!!!
We kicked things off at the St. Louis Zoo. It is a gorgeous facility, and we had a great (but HOT!) day!
Charlie liked the fish in the tank so much that he missed the gianormous hippos floating by!
But he did spot the elephants, which made him smile ear to ear!
To cool down, we took a splash in the kid-friendly waterfall.
Soaked Charlie and Soaked Daddy
No surprise here – Carter was beyond excited to check out the butterfly garden!
At the children’s discovery center, they got to run around like crazy people! But, outside, Charlie had a romantic kissy moment with the frog!
Charlie’s 4-wheeled adventure!
Carter loves animals, ANY animal! She thought the snake was pretty cool (Parsal-tongue!)
But Charlie was a bit hesitant of the snake. He did, however, like the guinea pigs. He was being so sweet and so gentle that, in the two seconds we both took our eyes off him, it surprised everyone when he tried to pick on up and take off with him!
Ahoy, Matey’s! Ha ha!
Cooling down in the outside fountains. How BADLY Andy and I wanted the fountain sprays to get Charlie by surprise … no luck!
Splishing and splashing in the fountains!
Carter, Daddy & Charlie on the carousel
Carter and I on the butterly/caterpiller animal on the carousel
Two tired dudes, looking for some cool ice cream …
After the zoo, we met up with our pals, the Anderson’s, and went to the Arch (or the Arc, as Janine said!). Here’s the Little’s, Carter K, Madi, Carter J and Charlie on a fly-by to put things into perspective. This thing is HUGE!!!
Carter was terrified that it’d be “too fast” of a tram ride up and that it’d be “too high and scary” when we were at the top. It took a lot of cajoling to get her up there!
Once up, she had a blast! She and Andy looked at all of the St. Louis attractions. Charlie and I looked at Busch Stadium and the tiny cars along the road below.
The gorgeous view of downtown St. Louis
Totally altered, but a beautiful shot of a beautiful landmark!
Us on the Arch!
At St. Louis’s City Museum, quite possibly the most amazing place I’ve ever been!
Horsing around while Daddy’s got tickets. Charlie! My kisses do NOT burn!
To kick off our City Museum adventure, we tight-roped across this shallow pond. Carter was on one side with Andy and I was on the other with Charlie. He was VERY worried about his Sissy, and wanted her to get to his side ASAP!
We climbed numerous metal steps and tunnels to get to this, kind of like Level One of Weird Neatness. We checked out the gutted WW2 airplane (behind Carter)
From the plane, we crawled into the mesh-metal tunnel that was four stories from the ground (see the buildings in back?!). We climbed UP, switched positions of our bodies, and kind of slid down. We ended up at a three-story aluminum slide, taking us back to the safety of the ground!
Andy and I hanging out at Toddle Town, which Charlie LOVED!!!
Carter at the skate-less skate park, totally wiping out in the bowl! (Look in the back, at the little windows …)
Charlie peeked out of the windows, sneaking around with Daddy!
After a few attempts on my part, I finally made it up the skate-less skate ramp bowl with Carter and Madi. I am epic!
Look at all that weird, cool stuff! Oh, and the handsome group of whippersnappers!
Playing at the Museum, my favorite part of the trip (and I wasn’t totally sold on going in the first place! Lesson learned: ALWAYS give it a shot!)
Charlie’s first Cubs game, in St. Louis. It was a beautiful day for some Cubbies baseball!
Hanging out, having fun!
Charlie, in his Cubs gear, at Busch Stadium
Carter, in her Cubs gear, cheering on our boys in St. Louis
Carter getting the rules of the game from an old pro!
We started strong (1st inning, 5-2), but the 5th inning will forever be known as The End of it All in our home. When all was said and done, the Cards had scored 8 (EIGHT!!!) runs, we’d been through 2 (TWO!!!) pitchers, and our third base coach was ejected. It was painful!
The Cubs may have lost (badly, 13-5!), but these two were winning, sealing the deal with a post-game smooch!
