St Louis

We finished up September with a mini trip to St. Louis. Kevin had  a work meeting and we wanted to take advantage of a partially paid trip before Kevin gave 2 weeks notice to take another job. We left on a Sunday and made a stop along the way so Kevin could visit his brother. During the visit I took the girls to a nearby park. We had fun wandering around and came across this HUGE slide. The girls insisted on trying it out and ended up having a blast. 

I took a few videos and my phone but I'm having trouble loading from my phone. They were pretty funny though. Jane would come flying down and had a look of terror as she came down (I was at the bottom to catch them) but then she'd get out, smile, and run back up to go again. I tried to get them to flex for this picture but they didn't really understand what I wanted them to do so this is the best I could get. I was pretty proud of my brave little girls though. 

By the time we made it to the hotel we were pretty tired and we all managed to snag a nap thanks to an early check-in. We missed out on an afternoon of checking out St Louis but the nap was delightful. Luckily our hotel had a pool and the girls were pretty excited to check it out. 

Ready to head to the pool!

On Monday we went to go see the St Louis Arch. We had planned to take the bus from our hotel but it was running really late and we ended walking (and eventually saw our bus pass us by). It was a hot walk but we made it and had a lot of fun. Kevin had been to the arch as a kid but it was my first time.

We all felt pretty small standing next to this huge monument! 

Waiting in line for a ride to the top of the arch!

It was a cozy ride but the girls did great. Ignore Anna's 'freaked out' face. 

Looking down on St Louis!

630 feet up!

Checking out some aerial photos of the construction of the arch. 

I love these pictures of the girls. 

Walking with Daddy. 

Another view of the arch.  

We grabbed some lunch nearby before making our way back to our hotel.  

I love Jane's cheesy smile.  

Made a quick stop at City Garden while waiting for our bus to take us back to the hotel. I wish we could have spent more time here but Jane was in need of a nap after an active morning. 

I stayed back with Jane during nap time and Kevin took Anna to the Botanical Gardens. I would love to take Jane sometime because they had a wonderful time. 

Being silly with Daddy

The gardens had a ton to see and the visitor center was full of things for kids to do. 

We did more swimming that evening and took advantage of the free popcorn in the lobby. Anna was a big fan. 

 The next day it was just me and the girls since Kevin had meetings. We decided to check out the Butterfly Garden just outside of St. Louis. The girls loved seeing all the butterflies. Anna's Young Explorer's Class for the month was canceled (low enrollment) and the topic was 'Birds and Butterflies'. She was disappointed but this visit helped make up for it :) 

It was so humid and hot in the butterfly area so we cooled off in the center with the various activities they had available for kids. At one point Jane had a meltdown and we had to leave kicking and screaming. I take partial responsibility because it was close to lunchtime and sleep had been difficult in the hotel.

We grabbed some lunch nearby and because we had some time to kill before we needed to pick up Kevin we went back to the Butterfly Garden. 

 

It was still hot but Anna and Jane had fun trying to find different plants and butterflies off of a chart they handed out. I was glad we were able to go back. 

Once we left the gardens we picked up Kevin to head back to Olathe. It was a brief trip but I'm glad we were able to go and make a few memories.