Family Road Trip - St. Louis, MO

After much debate, we finally decided that our family vacation would be a road trip to St. Louis. Surprisingly, St. Louis is close to home, fun-filled, and inexpensive (<$650 for entertainment, lodging, and food for 4 days).

We kicked off the road trip on Thursday morning with our first stop at the Magic House. The boys had a blast in the Children's Village where they had exhibits where the kids could pretend grocery shop, run a restaurant, play house, run a bank, and more. They had exhibits that entertained both kids and adults alike. My favorites were the recollection room where your movements were turned into art and the shadow wall. The Magic House is undergoing a 32,000 sq ft expansion, so we can't wait to return.

Friday, we started off at the City Museum which was made up of tunnels, caves, and slides that were made of recycled materials. At one point, Connor and I were 4 stories high in an airplane that required climbing through fused metal to get up to and back down. Not my best parenting decision, but we survived and had a blast! We then ventured over to the Science Center where we spent the afternoon building an arch, watching the Energizer machine, escaping the roar of T-Rex, played in the science park, and watched Peeps get tortured in a science experiment.

Friday evening, we were planning on seeing the Forest Park Balloon Glow. About 4:30, we decided to walk over to Central Field (from the Science Center) to make sure we knew where it was located. It turned out to be quite a walk and there were people and food/game booths everywhere. We ended up staying (even though we sent Chris back to the car to get a blanket and money) - we people watched, ate expensive festival food, and ended the evening with the Balloon Glow. The boys were out by time we got back to the hotel about 9pm.

Saturday morning, Mimi & Papa joined us for the remainder of the weekend. We ventured to the St. Louis Zoo for the day (which is a very well-maintained zoo and it's free). I was really surprised by the massiveness of the Elephant and Chimpanzee exhibits. We also were able to see the Dinoroarus exhibit which featured 16 life-like dinos. By the end of the day, the boys were exhausted and Connor even slept all through dinner. We ended the evening watching the end of the Balloon Race before heading back to the hotel for a quiet evening.

After a large breakfast Sunday morning, we went to Grant's Farm. The visit starts out with a tram ride through the farm where you can see animals roaming free and then the tram stops at an area where you can pet and view more animals. Feeding the goats bottles of milk was really neat - Brady enjoyed it, while Connor was scared and had a major death grip. We also saw the Budweiser Clydesdales, which I had no idea were so large!

After Grant's Farm, we decided to check out the WFPRR train ride (which I assumed would be similar to the one in French Lick). Apparently, I missed the key word "mini". It was a mini steam rail system where you take a scenic route along the Meramac River on 2 feet wide flat beds. I think everyone ended up enjoying the ride - especially since we had some comedic mishaps like the engine separating from the rest of the train.

There were times where the boys tested our patience and we were tempted to return home. Our naps and eating schedules were thrown off, so that is a lesson learned for future vacations. All in all, it turned out to be a very nice vacation for the family with lots of memories.