Roadtrip 2016 - St. Louis (Day 3)

Since it was a Sunday and we weren't on the road, we decided we should go to at least Sacrament Meeting that morning. We went to a small ward that met downtown. The members were SO friendly and several asked if we were moving in and tried to hide their disappointment when we explained we were just visiting. It was nice to be wanted! The meeting was good, and a good reminder that the church is the same wherever you go. I was also reminded that my children misbehave in church wherever we go. They are no respecters of wards...

I don't remember why I took a selfie on the way home, but I did. Probably to bug Cole.

We decided to go to the Science Center that afternoon. (Once again - free. St. Louis has a ton of great free things!) It was SOOOO hot again that day, the only option was to do something inside. There was so much to do and see!  The kids loved helping generate some power to run the 'perpetual' motion machine.

Maybe we should set something like this up to power their computers in the basement...

We saw lots of different exhibits. Cole loved the weather and tornado displays.

Tess and I went to a science show about fire and explosions while the boys played some games with Lance. The show was pretty good, and we learned about how different chemicals create different colors in fireworks. Lots of fire and even a couple of explosions - always a good time!

Then we headed over to the planetarium. Cole was in heaven checking out all the space stuff. He's been reading up on this Mars rover all summer!

There's a sky bridge that connects the Science Center to the Planetarium that goes right over the freeway. They had several windows like this in the floor and you could see cars go speeding right under you. It was pretty cool!

You could also use these motion guns to measure how fast the cars were going.

We decided to see a planetarium show. We went in thinking we'd get to sit in comfy seats that lean back. Nope. You could either lay down on a mat on the floor or sit in rather uncomfortable folding chairs. No wonder the tickets were so cheap. Still, the show was decent, although Cole and I knew most of the information already since we have been reading about space all summer. (True story: right now we're in the middle of reading something like "The Encyclopedia of Space for Kids". I miss my Harry Potter and Percy Jackson days with Josh.)

I had gone grocery shopping on Friday night so we could have food for breakfasts and meals on Sunday so we wouldn't have to go out to eat. I didn't particularly want to cook, so for dinner that night we had easy mac and frozen lasagna. I threw in some frozen peas because I felt like we should have some sort of veggie! The kids declared it awesome (minus the peas) and asked why we couldn't eat Sunday dinners like that more often. Punks.

It was nice to spend the evening in our little rented house, with the AC cranked up and fancy cable channels (like AMC - ha!) that we don't get at home. (My poor kids and their basic cable parents!)

Roadtrip 2016 - St. Louis (day 2)

The next day was HOT. I mean baking and broiling and frying and whatever other hot adjectives you can think of. It was mosty toasty.

And we spent a good chunk of it outside. Because that's how we do.

But no matter - it was Arch day! Cole had been looking forward to this all summer. We had gotten books from the library about the Gateway Arch, and had learned all about how and why it was built. It was pretty dang exciting from a 7 year old boy's point of view.

Pretty much everything except the Arch was under construction, which meant no nearby parking, no museum, and a good 20+ minute wait in a line outside in the sun just to get in. Blergh, it was hot. But worth it.

We all agreed it was like waiting in line for a Disney ride.

Very 1960's futuristic. Josh was determined to be the first one in.

The elevator ride up was pretty cool - the kids were quite impressed as we slid past staircase after staircase.

The NPS needs to repaint the inside of some of those pods!

Despite the 1000% humidity, the view wasn't too hazy - in fact, it was great!

I had more fun watching the kids, though.

This boy was enamored and kept spouting off different Arch fun facts. He could've been a park ranger! (And a good one. The ranger up there kept dinking around on his phone...)

This is probably one of the best pictures ever taken of Cole and me, and I'm a hot, sweaty mess.

The Arch's shadow over some of the of the construction. I'm sure it'll be amazing once it's all done, not that we'll probably go back to see it. (I think the Arch is kinda like Mt. Rushmore - once you've done it, do you really need to do it again?)

Once we'd had enough of the views we made our way back down and bought an obligatory magnet in the gift shop. (Because everything else is closed, but the gift shop is ALWAYS open.) That's when things started falling apart.

Tess started having a fit. I can't remember why. Probably because we wouldn't buy her $8 gift shop fudge. Who knows? But she wasn't cooperative, which set Cole off as well. Then Josh got grouchy. (Grouchier... that boy was grouchy pretty much the entire trip. It's his natural state now.) So only Spencer deigned to pose for a picture next to the Arch.

Brooding.

The crazy thing is, Cole REFUSED to take a picture by the Arch. The Arch he had been waiting so anxiously all summer to see! Seriously, in the days leading up to our trip he told me on many occasions "I just can't wait to see that arch! And to go up the arch!" But now? Total refusal to take photographic evidence. So Lance and I took a picture instead.

Josh finally allowed one picture.

As we made the long walk back to the car, Cole whine and cried pretty much the whole time. And refused to take a picture by the arch. I had to sneak this one, which he got pretty mad about. "You can't take a picture of me now! I'm not cute!"

Obligatory Arch selfie.

We decided to hit a St. Louis institution for lunch: Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. (Lance and I kept thinking of it as "Ted Cruz Frozen Custard". Stupid election.)

It was delicious - a perfect lunch for a sweltering day. Not that the kids would admit it. "When are we going to have real lunch?" Punks.

I don't know if it was really super delicious, or just because I was super hot and hungry. Either way, my strawberry/chocolate brownie custard hit the spot!

We had originally thought about going to the St. Louis Zoo, since it's free and supposed to be pretty great. But we nixed that idea since it was so dang hot and hit Grant's Farm instead. (Also free, but $12 parking. Worth it.) I'm not sure how to describe Grant's Farm. Kind of a farm with a zoo vibe, with a random collection of Anheuser Busch family paraphernalia, including the famous Clydesdale horses.

I can't remember for sure why I took this picture, but I *think* it's because we thought the fan looked funny with all of those other animal heads on the wall. This was in the little tram station - we took a tram ride all over to see the animals and such. It was pretty cool. Also - most importantly - shaded. And free.

This boy. THIS BOY. So grouchy. Whining and complaining the whole way to Grant's Farm. As soon as we get on the tram? Happy as could be. Go figure. We had fun looking at all the long horn cattle, deer, sundry antelope, zebras, etc.

He was also excited to find his and his BFF's names at the gift shop.

We got off the tram and looked at all the other animals. It wasn't a full-fledged zoo, but it did have cute guinea pigs!

And camels! This one wouldn't pose for the camera with me at first.

Hooray!

Part of the draw (for most people) of Grant's Farm is that if you're an adult you can get 2 free beers when you go to the Bauernhof. They even had hofbrauhaus music! We were more interested in the humongous horses in the stables. So big! (But not big enough to take a picture, apparently. Dang.)

There was also the Busch family's collection of antique carriages, which was pretty cool.

But it was just so dang hot. Seriously.

After Grant's Farm we decided it was time to hit Sonic for half-priced happy hour. Because sometimes you need a gigantic slushy to help you cool off. Only Josh got mad because we wouldn't let him get a caffeinated soda, and so instead of ordering something else he "punished" us by refusing to order anything at all and suffered in silence, with lots of glares and moaning, so not so much silence. Yeah, that really taught us a lesson. (No. No it didn't. Punk kid.)

We went back to our house to clean up a bit before dinner. We knew we needed something low key for the kids - there was no way they'd handle another hour long wait. So we went to a place recommended by the owners of the house Bellacino's. It's a small chain that serves pizza and grinders and such. And it has lights like this one, which tells you just about all you need to know.

It was warm in the place because of all the hot ovens, both inside and outside the restaurant. Sheesh. But it smelled heavenly and there was no line.

As we waited for our food Cole started asking why I didn't take a picture of him at the Arch. "Why didn't you take a picture of me at the Arch? I liked the Arch!" He seriously got after me for not taking his picture. It was AMAZING. The nerve of this child.

We decided to get the toasted ravioli, because that's a St. Louis thing. It was pretty good.

My beefy-garlicky-cheesy grinder was delicious! Probably not a St. Louis thing, but who cares? Yummy.

We just lounged around the house that evening because we were so tired from baking in the sun that day. It was nice to just sit in the magic that is central air conditioning!