st. louis fun

School is out and summer has started. With summer comes additional freedom and travel (for Anthony). We decided that the kids and I would tag along on his trip to St. Louis a few weeks ago.

We were mildly apprehensive going into things. The longest road trip we have ever taken with our kids was the day trip we took in March to Lincoln, NE. The drive to St. Louis went well, all things considered. The things to consider are we didn't bring them any portable electronics and they were both tired and ended up waking each other up. The biggest problem that arose was we had already driven about 10 miles past our exit when I looked at our directions to see where we needed to get off. This added about half an hour to the trip because it was rush hour and there were some construction congestion.  Because of this mistake we decided to get dinner first and then stop at the hotel.

We ate our first St. Louis meal at Fitz's. The food was good, but maybe I was just relieved to be out of the car. We were all tired and hurried over to the hotel to get the kids settled for the night. Because Anthony traveled so much last year they upgraded us to a suite (as opposed to a queen bed and pull out couch that we were planning on). That proved to be serendipitous.

Each kid got their own queen bed. We were so pleased when the going-to-bed process went so smoothly. Unfortunately, Lauren struggled to fall asleep without the walls of her crib and she kept Will up. Eventually Anthony put a bunch of pillows on the ground between the two beds to mimic the feel of a crib and moved Will to our bed. After the kids fell asleep we moved Will back to his original bed.

The next morning we enjoyed a great breakfast at the hotel. Then we drove though a blighted part of the city to take Anthony to his work meetings. While he was working the kids and I drove over to visit the arch. Will was fascinated with the arch, but made me promise him I wouldn't make him go up in it until he was at least 9. Whatever you say, Will.

After we spent a few minutes walking around outside, it started to get hot so we went to the underground visitor's center and museum.

We had a good time walking though, but Will asked me some tough questions about Native Americans. The older he gets the tougher the questions and the more clearly I need to answer him.

I think it was the last week of school while we were in town. When we emerged from underground the line to enter had quadrupled and I counted 26 school buses on the roads adjacent to the arch.

After the arch we picked up Anthony, ate lunch, and rested.

Lauren's bed

The Zoo was on the agenda for the afternoon. The kids took long naps so we only had about 2 hours to see as many animals as we could.

Will was a taskmaster with his map. He still needs to work on actually understanding how to use it though. Also, he brought the map home and I have to tape it about once a day. If I could go back in time I would have picked up ten of those maps.

gorilla gazing

"Whooping it up!" with the African Crowned Cranes

totally surprised to see this guy

watching the leopard dry heave

"Look at the big worm, momma!" Lauren called all the snakes worms and it made me laugh. Snakes totally creep me out.

pretending to roar like lions when we stopped for a drink

copying Dad's ingenious method for cooling off

After the zoo we found a spot to picnic in the surrounding park. 

Then we explored Forest Park for a bit. Anthony and I would have loved to have more time to spend there. We really wanted to check out the Missouri History Museum.

Cooling off our feet

Right after I took this picture we saw a sign telling us not to wade or swim in the fountain. Oops. In our defense there were a bunch of kids actually swimming in the water below. 

We decided to do something a little more honest to cool us down--Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. 

It was really good. You know when something comes highly recommended you almost expect it to be a letdown? Not the case here. It was delicious. Lots of good people watching too.

Friday we hit up the science center. Again, there were loads of buses filled with lots of kids who weren't supervised quite as well as I would have liked. We still had a good time.

Math nerds learning about probability.

Luckily we planned on going to the Discovery Room which was much less crowded.

Will fell in love with these drums and the acoustics in the teepee. 

Will and Dad built an arch

making music

We stopped by the St. Louis Temple on our way out of town.

I struggled to get a picture where you could see the kids and the temple very well.

The ride home was fine until Anthony got a ticket. It's hard not to feel a little bit like we were being targeted as out-of-staters being that there were cars driving faster all around us. The ticket incident put a damper on things, but overall we had a great trip. There is a lot of stuff we were interested in doing in St. Louis. Our kids were just too young to pack things in as tightly as Anthony and I would have if we were there by ourselves. I guess we'll just have to go back again. Thanks to my friend Holly for giving us some great suggestions of things to do and see in St. Louis!

This year marks St. Louis' 250th birthday, and one of the ways the city is celebrating is with Cakeway to the West. The city has placed birthday cakes at sites of significance around town. We saw a few during our visit and the kids quickly caught on to looking for them (and then climbing all over them).

Right outside Fitz's and near the St. Louis Walk of Fame

 

St. Louis Arch

Ted Drewes

St. Louis Zoo

Science Center

2014 :: week 23

June 1

Will loves putting puzzles together on the lds.org website. He's getting quite good at it. 

June 2

Monday we hung out with the Wilsons for a bit before bedtime. Lauren loves her baby cousin. She would hardly leave him alone, even when he was hanging out on the floor.

June 3

Emily and company headed back to Utah on Tuesday. We went over to my parents to say goodbye before they headed off. It was really to see them.

June 4

Wednesday evening we went to an outdoor concert. The kids had a great time running around and dancing with the music. It was a pretty great evening until a family sat down directly in front of us with expensive gelato. Both kids suddenly really needed ice cream. I ended up letting them split a hot fudge sundae from McDonald's because I'm a nice mom.

June 5

Lauren has decided she's ready for the big swings, at least at parks that don't have baby swings. I don't know if I am ready for this level of independence from her.

June 6

 Friday was National Donut Day. We picked up a few and enjoyed ourselves.
 

June 7

Hillary (and Ben) are moving to Detroit and Doug is helping her drive their car there. We were lucky they decided to add a few hours to their trip to stop and see us. The kids had a blast playing with them and Anthony and I enjoyed chatting with them and catching up with what's going on in their lives. Before they left we played a little baseball. We were really spoiled to get to visit with 5 out-of-town family members this week.

2014 :: week 22

May 25

Sunday I took a post-church picture of the kids by our rose bush. We were starting to get worried about the bush because it wasn't blooming while other bushes seemed to be. My dad helped us prune it and, voila! Tons of flowers!

May 26

Will and I slipped in a quick visit to the pool after our ward Memorial Day picnic and before Anthony and I went out for a birthday date.

May 27

Tuesday was my birthday. I had a good day. My mom watched the kids so I could get some work done around the house. In the afternoon I ran some errands while Will was at a birthday party for one of his friends and then went to the gym. That night my mom brought over one of my favorite desserts (peanut butter rice krispies). Thank you to Mom, Anthony and my kids for making it a great day!

May 28

I've been painting the trim in our upstairs hallway over the past two weeks. We are also in the process of replacing the hinges and doorknobs. Will likes to help Anthony when he screws them in to place.

May 29

The Wilsons are in Kansas! Emily, Matt and Tyler drove to Kansas to visit and introduce Tyler to his Midwest family. We went over to my parents house Wednesday afternoon so we could greet them as they arrived. Will and Lauren were very excited to meet Baby Tyler.

May 30

Pool time for the Crane cousins. This picture is also the first time Will held Tyler and he was very pleased with himself. In other news, Lauren has decided that she needs to have her puddle jumper on whenever she is wearing a swimsuit, even if she is playing in a backyard wading pool.

May 31

The spring on one of our garage doors broke Saturday morning. When it snapped it sounded like a gunshot. My dad came over and helped Anthony get the door back in working order. Spending so much time in the garage was a good excuse for us to clean and sweep the garage out too.

2014 :: week 21

May 18

After Sunday dinner at my parent's house we sang some primary songs together. Will helped Anthony play the piano and Lauren sang into the microphone. She is usually the featured soloist. Occasionally she permits the rest of us to sing too.

May 19

We've had a lot of dandelions in our yard this spring. Will loved watching Anthony dig them up and has taken to doing it himself whenever he spies one in our yard. Unfortunately, his digging usually leaves large divots in the ground.

May 20

Lauren loves playing with the toys in her room. She has such an active imagination. I enjoy listening to her and all the interesting things that she comes up with while she is playing.

May 21

Wednesday was Will's last day of preschool. He had a great year! Getting Will to school each morning by 8:15am required me to get up and going much earlier than I would have on my own. Will is up by 7:30am regardless of whether or not school is in session, so it wasn't a strain for him at all. I'm going to miss the structure his school schedule dictated, but am looking forward to slower mornings.

May 22

TJ had work in St. Louis so we decided to tag along! It was a fairly last minute decision, but a good one. While Anthony was working Thursday morning the kids and I visited the arch. Lauren didn't sleep well Wednesday night (which means NO ONE slept well) and opted to ride while we walked around.

May 23

On our way out of town we stopped at the St. Louis Temple and had a small picnic. The temple grounds were looking especially gorgeous that afternoon.

May 24

Will's latest obsession is baseball. Every morning we pull up yesterday's MLB scoreboard. Will then goes through and talks about each game. "The Cleveland Indians played the Baltimore Orioles and lost 4-8." He is able to correctly identify the team logos most of the time. He's only 4. I would say that I am worried about what this obsession could turn into, but there are much worse things to be into than baseball.

2014 :: week 20

May 11

Mother's Day morning I was treated to a breakfast in bed. It was my first breakfast in bed experience. I enjoyed it, but was pretty nervous about spilling my orange juice the whole time I was eating. Especially with the kids rolling around on the bed by me. Will was very excited about helping make my breakfast. It was quite sweet. I love my crazy kids.

May 12

When I opened our blinds Monday morning I was surprised to see this sight. Our poor tree sustained some damage from the thunderstorm Sunday night/Monday morning. This tree has had some problems for awhile. My dad brought his chain saw over and he and Anthony spent a few hours Tuesday night getting it cleaned up. We also got our trees worked on (canopy lifted, deadwood removed, etc.) later in the week, so our yard will be getting a bit more sunlight this summer.

May 13

Tuesday we headed back to the library. Will and I worked on several puzzles together.

May 14

I try to do only one big shopping trip a week. For the past weeks we've done it on Wednesday. This week our shopping included a trip to Costco. And we all know a Costco trip means buying treats you don't need but do anyway because they are on sale. This month it was popsicles. At least they are really good popsicles.

May 15

A friend in my old ward started a book club close to four years ago. It has evolved over the years as people have moved (both in and out) but it is something I consistently look forward to each month. We've read a variety of genres and I am always impressed with the discussions we have. Of course there is usually a lot of non-book related talk that goes on as well. This month it was my turn to host and we read Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling.

May 16

Friday evening Anthony and I went to see the 5 Browns in concert at the Kauffman Center. Anthony's mission friend Stephen Beus was filling in for one of the Brown sisters who is on maternity leave. I haven't seen Anthony this excited since we got our piano tuned by a Finnish man. I had never been to a piano concert before and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed myself. We waited after the concert to visit with Stephen for a bit and the men had fun catching up.

May 17

We spent the morning strictly reinforcing gender stereotypes. Not really. But our kids fall into them quite naturally. In truth, Will started to "mow" with his lawn mower when Anthony went out to cut our grass, and then Lauren wanted to use the mower too. Obviously they can't use the same lawnmower at the same time and I told her she had to wait. While she was waiting she decided to push Baby Addy around the yard. She has "candies" in her purse in case her baby gets hungry. I wonder where she learned that? These kids make me nervous sometimes with all the things they notice.

2014 :: week 19

May 4

This is Katie. We hang out during primary most Sundays. She has autism and can get a little overwhelmed with all that is going on during sharing time. It does feel a bit chaotic at times. I sit with her and take her out if she needs a break or I can sense she is getting overstimulated. Some weeks go more smoothly than others.

May 5

We decided to fill our sand table up with sand this year. Last year we did not because I got tired of all the sand that fell on our deck. Within minutes Lauren lived up to my worst fears and began spilling sand all over the place. At least this year it will land on a patch of dead grass.

May 6

I really love our library. This week they had a children's music specialist available to talk with parents about ways to encourage musical development in the home. While families were waiting to talk to the specialist they had a variety of toys and activities set up for the kids to keep them entertained.

May 7

Will and I spent a bit of time painting some cardboard "w's" for his room. I was trying to craft in secret, but he caught me and he wouldn't let it go so we crafted together. It is fun to see his creative juices start to flow.

May 8

Will is obsessed with sports--baseball and basketball specifically--and pretends he is playing a game all the time. He's usually the Royals, Jayhawks or Cougars. We found the Jayhawk basketball and Royals t-shirt he is wearing last week at yard sales for fifty cents each. One dollar for my child's happiness works for me. While he was playing in our yard he told me he was on the Jayhawk-Cougars and they were "gonna win all the games!"

May 9

Both kids were acting sick when they woke up Friday morning. Will said his mouth hurt and Lauren was sluggish and grumpy. Lauren actually had a low grade fever, but Will was fine after he ate breakfast and watched Robin Hood. We had a slow, quiet morning and it was a nice change of pace. There have been some bugs going around, so we laid low most of the day. Both kids were fine by the end of the day.

May 10

We finally got around to putting out the mulch we bought last Saturday. Lauren wanted to push the wheel barrel and actually got it to move a few inches before it hit another bag. She's a determined woman.

2014 :: week 18

April 27

Sunday evening the rain started to POUR while we were eating dinner. The sky went from dark, to light, and back several times. It was windy too and our trees lost a few branches.

April 28

The forecast said that Monday was going to be the only warm and sunny day until the weekend. It ended up being cold and cloudy, but at least it didn't rain. We took a trip to the farmstead and tried to stay out of the house as much as possible before it started to rain again. The kids loved the baby calves in the dairy barn. We ended up spending a lot of time in there, which was fine with me because it was a bit chilly.

April 29

The sky was dark and heavy with clouds for several days in a row. There was rain too, just not as much as I had expected.

April 30

Will and Lauren turned our dining rooms chairs over and pretended it was some sort of vehicle.

May 1

Thursday morning I was surprised when I opened our front blinds to find several police cars out front. Sometimes teenagers decide to make dumb choices with their lives.

May 2

The kids were excited to finally have a reason to wear sunglasses again. The sun came out on Friday. Several neighborhoods in our area were holding community garage sales and we found a few deals while we were shopped.

May 3

Saturday morning we made an early morning trip to the Home Depot along with about half of Overland Park. It was very crowded. After we loaded up our bags of mulch someone pointed out to us that there was a drive-through where HD employees would load bags of mulch straight into you car for you. Oh well. The kids enjoyed riding on the pallet with our mulch, so doing it ourselves was worth it.