Family Fun Time--Part Two (St. Louis)

During my sisters' visit home, we planned a short trip to St. Louis, because my sister Emily wanted to catch a Cardinals game (a fun family tradition).  We headed out in our three cars Monday morning.  Thankfully we got to ride in my mom's van, which is equipped with a dvd player, making the 5-hour drive so much more bearable.  : )  David wanted a quieter car so he could study, so we actually spent the trip riding separately, which was a little weird.  Instead my riding buddy was baby Ben, who couldn't be any cuter and sweeter!

I thought the drive would be miserable in my pregnant state, but it wasn't bad at all on the way there.  We stopped at a park halfway so the kids could run and play while we ate lunch.

David's photo of the arch--

We stayed downtown at the very fancy Drury Plaza at the Arch (been there a couple times before).  In the lobby they have a cool display of Lewis and Clark that David snapped a picture of.

It was an expensive hotel, but one good way that you feel like you're getting your money's worth is with the food!  Free unlimited popcorn and drinks until 11:00 p.m.!  After we got settled in we all sat in the beautiful lobby and enjoyed our free snack!  The kids especially thought it was fun that they got their own bag of popcorn.

Eli was all decked out to support his Cardinals!  (Even though he wasn't going to the game.)

The next free food was a whole dinner!  The hotel provided yummy pasta, nachos, hot dogs, salad, soup, etc.!  It was AWESOME to not have to pay an arm and a leg for a downtown dinner out, and mess with crazy kids who wouldn't have sat still for 5 minutes in a restaurant, but could run around the lobby during our dinner.  GREAT deal.  

Our little family and Beth's family were not going to the ball game (It didn't start til 7:00).  Instead we took the kids swimming at the hotel pool for a short time before bed.  It's so funny because Eli is incredibly cautious with water, while Holly and Ben are little fishes and could just live in it!  

After we put Eli to bed (he was so exhausted--didn't ever sleep in the car--he started falling asleep in my arms at the pool), Beth and I watched a movie in my parent's hotel room and David went out and about St. Louis to take pictures.  He got some great shots!

The Cardinals won (yay!) so the group was happy.

We ate a big nice breakfast at the hotel Tuesday morning, and then had planned to spend a good chunk of time at the St. Louis zoo (which is free).  There were some hold-ups that morning, and we got a late start at the zoo.  Unfortunately we only had about an hour and a half to spend there (and it's massive!).  David, Eli, and I split from the pack to go explore on our own.  

It was really neat to see this gorilla!

While walking through the glades, this bird walked right past us and right next to Eli.  Such a funny pose he made while looking at it.

Were so close to the giraffe!  It was eating and it was fun to see its very long tongue!

As soon as Eli saw the train he had zero interest in anything else.  We bought tickets to go for a ride, which turned out to be the WORST IDEA EVER.  The train ticket-taker said that a new train comes about every 7  minutes, so we figured we wouldn't have to wait too long to ride.  What they very poorly failed to mention was that there were several train stations throughout the zoo, all using the one train.  So people are getting on the train at all these different stations, and get to stay on for the whole ride.  Apparently we were at the slow station, because that darn train came by several times before there was finally room for us to get on.  We waited a very long time for the ride, then we stopped at every station letting more people on and off.  It really was a major disappointment for David and I (he didn't even go on it), and a very frustrating experience.  By the time that was all over we were very late to meet back up with my family to head home.  Both of our cell phones had died so we had no way of telling them our situation.  Oh my.  All for a boy's love of trains.

The car ride home was much harder, as we pretty much drove straight for the 5 hours, and didn't get home til past kids' bedtimes.  I was feeling so sick and achy and the kids (though overall great) began to get restless.

Even though it was a fast and rather crazy trip, it was still fun to spend the time with my family.  I think we're all hoping our next family together time will be much more laid back and relaxed!  : )  So glad I could hang out with all of my sisters, and that Eli enjoyed lots of great cousin-play!