I realized in looking through all the pictures on my iPhone that I couldn't lump our St. Louis trip with our Florida trip into one blog post! Just too many pictures and too many good memories to describe. So first, here is our St. Louis trip and I'll try to get the Florida trip pictures posted soon as well.
This was one of my first tulips to bloom. Unfortunately it broke off from it's base so I rescued it, brought it inside and it opened beautifully. All the kid's and I's hard work last fall planting 100 bulbs really payed off. We enjoyed numerous tulip blooms this Spring and still are.
Simple beauty.
The weekend of April 9th we loaded up for yet another St. Louis 1/2 marathon. We always stop in Lincoln, IL which is about 1/2 way and scarf down dinner before hitting the road again. Wendy's is our usual spot. Happy smiley kiddos.
The Saturday before the race we met up with Aunt Diane and Uncle Brian at the Magic House in St Louis. It is like our Family Museum that we spend so much time at in Bettendorf but ON STEROIDS. It is amazing with several floors and rooms to explore with loads of hands on activities. It was SUPER FUN! There is an enclosed climbing structure which both kids enjoyed. You can see Maddox sitting on one of the platforms.
This is the bubble room…an entire room dedicated to blowing and learning about bubbles.
Both kids tried to get the bubble all the way up above their heads. The solution/wand was a bit persnickety but they managed to get it about half way up. So fun!
See the shark with the red eye, yellow fins, and striped body…..? This room was super cool. You could color a fish or a shark and then put it in the scanner and it would add your colored sea creature to the rolling video that was projected on the walls. Kennon colored that shark and we watched it 'swim' around the room several times. So cool!
This was by far Kennon's favorite area of the Magic House. A fishing 'hole' :) He got to fish from the little pond and then take his fish 'up stream' and watch it swim back down to the fishing hole. I'm certain he would have stood there all day catching fish and releasing them into the stream. He was a happy kiddo.
Maddox caught her fair share of fish too!
Watching his fish travel in the stream in the floor back down to the pond.
Maddox caught two and then had them race down the stream.
Maddox learning about power…using her own leg power to turn the light bulb on.
In the basement of the Magic House there was this gigantic art room…and I mean gigantic with all sorts of endless art supplies….paint, beads, sewing machines, paper, clay markers…the list goes on.
Maddox and I doing a little obstacle course.
Aunt Diane, Maddox ( Kennon in the background at the fishing hole) Eric and Uncle Brian
The construction room at the Magic House…this gigantic room with gravel and all sorts of digging 'utensils'.
Uncle Brian getting in on the digging action.
We took a break for lunch at the Picnic Basket Cafe in the museum, went outside to the garden for some pictures and then headed back to the hotel for some rest.
That is the actual Magic House in the background. We had so fun. I could go back to this House several more times. We barely even got through maybe 1/2 of the House. It was so bright and cheery with lots of windows. I just loved the atmosphere and more importantly loved seeing the smiles on the kids' faces.
We met Aunt Diane, Uncle Brian and cousin Hannah back at our hotel in downtown St. Louis for a pizza pool party. The pool was FREEZING but that didn't stop Maddox and Kennon from showing off their swimming skills that carried over from last summer's swim lessons. Eric was the 'lucky' one who got to get in the pool with them as I forgot my swimsuit…accidentally..really I swear :)
Getting in some extra special cousin time with cousin Hannah!
Race morning was a bit chilly but we warmed up walking down to the start of the race just a 1/2 mile from our new favorite St. Louis hotel. Both Eric and I had great races. I missed my goal time of sub 1:50 by just 49 seconds. Eric jogged or rather ran in with a blazing time of 1:42. We both had a fun time and got to see the kids with Diane and Brian 3 times on the course and at the finish line!
I thought these medals were really cool. Go St. Louis! always has great medals.
These beauties bloomed the day before we left for Florida! I love how simple and sweet they area. Their name is 'Rosy' and I"ll likely be adding some more of this particular variety this fall. Kennon assured me he'd help me plant the bulbs again this fall. Ok..no big long update entries on this post. I"m going to move on to the the Florida post as soon as I can this week. Thanks again to the Gillaspies for a yet another fun weekend in St. Louis. Such an Spring and Fall tradition.
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