St. Louis

The kids were off from school for a week in August so we decided to take a short vacation to St. Louis for part of the week. We had been talking about it at home and discussing what we might do while there. Ben was most eager to “march on the arch”. It was going to be quite the feat, but he was sure it was possible.

We arrived late Saturday afternoon just in time for naps and unpacking. That night we ate at Imo’s Pizza and enjoyed some St. Louis style pizza. Mom and Ben ate more than their fair share while Dad enjoyed some pasta. We enjoyed the downtown Kirkwood area and then headed to the hotel to rest up for our first full day.

On Sunday we visited a church in the area where some family friends are members. Everyone was so welcoming! Ben was even comfortable going to their children’s church and had a great time learning about Moses and the burning bush. We headed downtown for lunch at Morgan Street Brewery and then walked to the arch. Ben was a little surprised at the size of the arch and decided he probably shouldn’t march on it. We told him about going up in it and he would point to a lower spot on the arch and say that he wanted to go that high, but not to the top. We tried to explain that it was to the top or not at all and then agreed that we would enjoy some ice cream in the park instead. After naps we swam at the hotel and went out for Mexican food. Everyone slept well that night. In fact, it was the first and only time that Elizabeth has slept through the night. She slept from about 9pm to about 8am. Mom and Dad were shocked but pleased! Now if she can just repeat this at home. :)

Monday was zoo day. The kids did so well. The zoo was amazing. It was well designed and had lots of shade and beautiful animal habitats. Ben was so excited to see each animal and “announced” himself at each stop. “Hello, elephants! I’m here!” Elizabeth enjoyed the shade and watching Ben race between exhibits. Ben got to pick a treat from the gift shop at the end of our day and chose marbles of all things. But he did pick out a magnet for Elizabeth with a picture of a giraffe, so she won’t need to share the marbles.

Tuesday we went to the World Bird Sanctuary. They had lots of different kinds of birds including eagles, owls and other birds of prey. Ben really liked talking to all of the birds and also enjoyed seeing some reptiles in one of the building exhibits. We spent the afternoon shopping at the outlet mall. The girls tore up Gymboree and the boys enjoyed hanging out at the indoor skate park and the mall playground.

On our final day we went to Grant’s Farm. This is such a wonderful place for kids of all ages. I was amazed at how nice everything was and free! The trip started with a scenic ride into the farm where we saw buffalo, goats, sheep, cows and more right outside of our tram. It was fun to see the animals so close! At the farm, there were shows to see, animals to feed and snow cones to eat. Ben even got his first carousel ride!

Fun times in St. Louis were had by all! We highly recommend it to any family and look forward to going back!

Six Months

Our little lady is officially six months old! She went for her checkup yesterday and had a good visit. Here are her stats: 26.5 inches (78%) and 15 pounds 2 ounces (34%). Long and lean! The doctor said that she is growing well and doing great. Elizabeth is now sitting for shorter periods of time. She can sit by herself for a few minutes, but when she gets tired or off balance she can tip over pretty easily. She is also rolling and wiggling. Her doctor said that crawling isn’t very far off, but Mom and Dad can definitely wait for that! Ha ha!

We’ll be starting fruits and veggies now after doing the rice cereal routine for a couple of months. It will be fun to see how Ellie likes all of the new flavors and textures. Maybe it will encourage Ben to eat his vegetables too if Sister does. :)

Elizabeth likes to “talk” to anyone that will listen. We don’t have any real consonant sounds yet, but lots of cooing and “singing”. She also has a few dinosaur noises up her sleeve that she pulls out when she really gets going. Her belly laughs are increasing in frequency and she really enjoys being tickled and entertained.

We are so thankful for this sweet blessing!

We {heart} Three Day Weekends!

First, a quick recap of the parade that started off our long weekend. . . The kids’ school has an annual parade before the 4th of July. They decorate banners and flags and march around the building in red, white and blue outfits. This year they had the drum line from a local high school lead the parade. Ben was lucky enough to be in the class right behind the drum line. He waved his streamers and sheepishly smiled as he passed his adoring fans. Elizabeth was further back in the parade and was one of the lucky babies that got to be carried by a teacher rather than ride in the buggy. Ben has not stopped talking about the drummers since. He thought they were very cool!

Friday:

We enjoyed a couple of cartoons before heading to the “tree store” to check out some potential trees for our backyard. Ben thought the nursery was wonderful and asked when we could go back to play. We headed to the library after that. Ben got six new books and thought we were having the best weekend ever. Yea for two fun and free experiences all before 11AM.

We napped and ran errands in the afternoon. Friday night we got to have a special dinner with our friends Abigail, Claire, Lisa, Matt, Matt and Aaron. The bigger kids ate quesadillas and enjoyed giggling and running around together. Elizabeth studied faces and enjoyed being passed around. She was a little jealous of Claire’s high chair so we may have to try one next time. It was so fun to see everyone and we look forward to seeing Abigail and Claire again in a couple of weeks! Yea!

Saturday:

We started our 4th of July by going to a birthday party for our sweet friend Ella. Ella is also a new big sister so Mom got to drool over the new baby! He is precious and we will be visiting him again soon for a longer visit. Ella’s party was so fun! At the party we found out that Ben is going to be one of those kids that can’t keep secrets. He yelled out to Ella several times what we got her and asked if she would open her puzzle so he could play with it. I think I know where he got that trait from, Uncle Jeff. :)

We tried to recover from Ben’s cupcake high and both kids actually rested at similar times. That gave Mom and Dad time to pack up for the next event! We spent the evening at a cookout and fireworks show with some friends of the family. They host an annual 4th of July party and do a pretty decent size fireworks display after dark. This was Ben’s first year to stay up and watch fireworks, so he didn’t really know what to expect. He told us they would fly up in the sky near Jesus and that God would like to watch them. Pretty sweet. J Ben watched the first 5 – 10 minutes in Mom’s lap and then made a convincing argument that we would rather watch them from the porch. A couple of minutes later, he decided that he would enjoy watching them even more from inside the house through the window. We quizzed him later and he said that he liked them very much, but they hurt his ears. Fair enough.

Sunday:

We were a little groggy, but still got up and made it to church by 8:00. Little Miss E wanted to make sure she got her share of attention that morning so she proceeded to dirty her entire car seat. Yuck! We recovered though and enjoyed a nice service and class time. Sunday’s nap then allowed for poor Dad to disassemble, clean and reassemble the car seat and all of its accessories.

Mom’s family all gathered at the house around 3:00 to welcome home cousins Erin and Eric. They are home from a stint in Seattle and we are so glad to have them here! We celebrated with snacks and visiting. The three E’s finally all got to meet and Elizabeth quickly warmed up to her cousins. Ben eventually warmed up and proceeded to recount the weekend’s activities to anyone who would listen and showed all of his Hotwheels to everyone. We regrouped around 5:00 and headed to the bowling alley. We had one regular lane and one bumper lane. This was Ben’s first experience bowling and he was very excited. Luckily we had happened across an episode of Arthur a week or so ago where they all went bowling, so he at least new generally what might go on.Dad helped Ben pick out a light ball and try to roll it by himself the first time. It was the slowest roll we had ever seen and no one was sure it would make it to the end of the lane. It eventually did and then we got a special ramp to help launch the ball each time and not tire Ben out as much. Ben enjoyed the evening and ate pizza and hammed it up for his aunts, uncles and cousins. He was glad to have gone bowling but told us that he didn’t want to go again soon, because he was very tired from it. :)

So that concludes the last three days from the boring to the exciting moments. We are thankful for getting to spend time with so many friends and family. What a blessing!