St. Louis, MO

I have been waiting two decades to see this.

We all know I'm just a little bit crazy, right?  We're all on the same page with that?  Good.  There comes a time when the responsible *cough* adult needs to recognize that everyone in her household is under just a tiny bit of stress.  No kidding, each one of us had our own challenges.  

Sat my crew down with a calendar, a marker, an idea and made a plan.  

We ran to the boarder.  Seriously.   All the way to the IL boarder, stopped at a truck stop in the lanes the semi's park in.  Every one inside and outside my truck are giving me weird looks.    (I'm used to that)  I put the truck in park and informed everyone, "We are throwing all stressors, aggravations, irritations and annoyances out the doors.  They stay here.  Then we are going to run around this truck three times to make sure they don't stick to us before we get back in."  

Woke them all with the first line of "Would you like to build a snowman???"  They each took a verse and continued it.  

It's a privilege to have the oldest at our breakfast table.

And that's just what we did.  I heard this 'thunk' and one had thrown her school books out the door.  Another made like she was tossing her phone.  Then 5 people ran around the pretty blue truck, arms in the air, laughing and yelling.  *giggle*  'Cause that's the way we roll!


The whole weekend we led the crowd. Everywhere we went, the people followed us. We were the 3rd car to the parking for the Arch. We walked right up to purchase tickets and spent half an hour looking through their museum while waiting our turn. It was so neat! They had wax figures that moved. Freaked us all out the first time one moved. It was hilarious!

Space pod

There are these little tiny pods they put you in. My oldest described it as futuristic space pods. It was a bit unnerving as I could look out the glass, straight down as we rose. The top is awesome. There are tiny windows at the top to peer out of. It reminded me a lot of being on the top of the Statue of Liberty. It does sway with the breeze (which has to be at least 50 mph), up to 18 inches. 

145lbs tall vs 145lbs short

The best pictures were the ones where you press your forehead to the glass, angle the camera just right, and get the straight to the ground photo. That view, combined with the sway, yes, I shuttered a bit. Still was too excited to be afraid. 

Straight down....aye...

Tell me that's not pretty

We came, we saw, we conquered

No way to adequately express this place

The city museum. I was dreadful disappointed in their website when I looked the first couple of times. I can see now they have changed it. Oh thank God!  http://www.citymuseum.org/site/ This was an absolute blast! Mind you, this is for children from 1 yr to 100. I don’t even know how to adequately describe it. There are nooks and crannies all over this place. A child goes in one little hole and comes out…….anywhere else. 

We did it all. On the trip back, we all think we probably didn't actually cover all of the 10 floors. We visited all 10 floors, we aren't sure we adequately explored the whole place. There was just so much to see, do, learn, visit, explore and play! On the outside, there are two ball pits. Great. We all split up. I just told the boy not to leave the outside. He took one look at the pit filled with other boys, Mom did no longer exist. 

Is this frog eating my daughter?

Two of my girls went one way, the oldest and I went another. We climbed and climbed. You twist and turn. Climb over stuff. Through holes you are just certain you shouldn't be able to fit through. 

This place is mind boggling. We made it up this one tower and there are re-bar ‘tubes’ all throughout this place. We crawled through to one tube; you come out on the wing of an actual airplane suspended. Wow. It still has the buttons and wiring. Climb out onto another re-bar tube suspended by a cable in the middle. Oh yeah. That means it sways with your weight as you climb up the arch of this tube and down the other side. In the middle, you are suspended over the top of the entire play area. How I did not have heart failure is beyond me. 

Oh yeah, I did that.

We climb through and I’m standing on this metal disc. I swear, it gave birth to a 2 yr old. I about died. She was followed by her Mother. I’m freaking out in amazement. Where was there room enough for this? Then, some poor tall fellow who’s first reply to my still shocked face was ‘I didn't think this through.’ Ha ha ha ha – none of us did…..

You can climb on everything

There were rooms with history. A whole remade diner with all sorts of …..just stuff. One that stood out was the tiniest pair of underpants and the largest pair of underpants. The oldest National Geographic magazine. Old pin ball machines. One of the fortune telling machines that reminded me of the movie BIG. A whole history on plaster. One room was dedicated to bugs, skulls and snakes in jars. There is no way to adequately describe this place, you must grab a child and go. (I volunteer as tribute)

Just look up

Yes, that's a bus on roof.

Oh yeah, we went through that plane.

You get outside and it was amazing.  There was something everywhere for everyone to do.  I would just like to see the entrance exam which has to be preview to the job interview.  "What does this ink blot look like to you?"  "What is the weirdest dream you've ever had?"  "If you ate too much candy as a kid, how would you want to burn it off?"

Yes, they were hot.

Yes, they were thrown.

Frog legs.....yum!

 When we finally stopped for a breather (and to refuel), we decided we weren't ready to head back home. The only other thing to do was but of course to head two hours south towards Lamberts Café in Sikeston where they throw rolls at you. Oh yes, once again the crowd followed us and once again it was completely worth it. The experience alone cannot be beat. I would like to add to that, watching my vegetarian daughter choose frog legs off the menu was a plus.