St. Louis Visit Number 134,000

A couple of weeks ago, we visited St. Louis for a few days. We got lots of cousin time in. Our first day there, we went to the pool that my parents belong to through my Dad's work. They had an impressively sized water slide that the girls were both brave enough to go on.

As you can see, the lifeguard caught them at the bottom and they both loved it! Matt and I agree that Brooke is far braver than either of us were at her age.

There was also a playground for the younger kids that had smaller water slides. This was the perfect activity for a pretty warm St. Louis day.

For the first week after we got back, anytime I put Miles in his swimming trunks, he would say, "Papa wawa?" ("Papa's water" = "Papa's pool") I think he liked it.

We went during Paige's morning nap and she was content to chill in the shade with Grandma most of the time.

When we were home, her cousins took every opportunity they could to love on her. Lexi is a great helper with babies.

This shot cracks me up.

Of course there was also some television/movie watching. Sometimes it's the only way to get the house quiet for a few minutes.

We also spent some time at Grandma and Papa T's house. The girls always have fun playing on the iPad.

And the kids got to make snow cones with Papa T. Side note: I'm realizing that snow cone stands seem to be a St. Louis thing, or at least not a Chicago thing, and it's making me kind of sad. Not that I'd go often, but it's nice to know they're there if I get a craving.

On our last night there, the Timmerman family and Brooke and I went to the Muny to see "Tarzan." It rained for a bit before we got there, but cleared up by showtime.

Brooke was a trooper and stayed alert and into it the whole show; although she did start asking me how many songs were left pretty quickly into the second act.

It was fun to be able to take her. I remember my Aunt Judy taking me to (the age-appropriate) shows every Monday when I was younger.

She asked if we could go back "the next time they have a show there" - I told her we'd make sure we get to go again next summer.

On our last day there, we went to City Garden. It's a really fun splash park in downtown St. Louis. Paige hung out with Aunt Krissi most of the time we were there.

There are several fun interactive art exhibits that the kids enjoyed, probably more than they enjoyed the water.

We were also able to get in some visits with family while we were down there. We had dinner at Gigi and Grandpa Charlie's one night.

And made a visit to Aunt Esther the next day.

As always, it was a fun time and was over much too quickly!