St. Louis Visit (Sorry for the Delay!)

This post is about three weeks late, and for that I apologize. I'm going to blame a combination of summer busy-ness, illness and laziness, in no particular order. At the end of June/beginning of July, we went down to St. Louis for our Big Summer Visit. We were down there for five days and it was really nice to be able to get in some concentrated visiting with family and friends, as well as enjoying some St. Louis activities. Paige had fun poking at playing with Grace.

It'll be fun to see her and her cousins grow up together since Bri and Grace are both so close in age to her. Lucky girl!

Amy and her kids were also in town for part of the time that we were so we had a play date at Gigi and Grandpa Charlie's.

It took most of the morning, but Paige finally warmed up to Gigi and had fun being silly with her.

On Saturday afternoon, Matt and I took the non-nappers to watch Joel and Jen in their sand volleyball tournament. I'm not sure what the context was, but while we were waiting to play, Lex busted out a few (pretty good looking!) push ups.

Brooke tried to follow suit. Bless her heart.

I'm not going to say we were good luck charms, but they went from barely making the playoff cut to winning the whole tournament after we got there.

My parents watched all four of the big kids (thank you!) while the parents and Joel and Jen went out on Saturday night. The next day, we went to Six Flags.

We had a great time, despite the kids being a little tired. I will say that Disney World is such a well-oiled machine that we've been spoiled for any other amusement park.

We spent some quality time hanging out at Tim and Krissi's. Lexi led a "gymnastics class." The girl is a drill sergeant.

And I took my kids to see my high school best friends, Amie and Renne. The eight kids had fun playing together, despite hardly knowing one another (and poor Miles being the only boy). It was so great to see them and makes me wish we lived closer.

Monday night we met my parents and grandparents for their traditional Monday dinner (at 4:30) at Applebee's.

The kids loved swimming in my parents' pool.

And Paige had fun scooting around, trying to find the cats.

On Tuesday, we took the kids and met a couple of Krissi's cousins' kids at City Garden.

This is a classic "older brother" picture.

All the kids.

They had fun on the "stage" feature.

I'll spare you the gross picture, but Tuesday was also the day that I had to take Paige to the doctor for a strange bit on her knee. I still have no idea where it came from, but it cleared up within a few days and I didn't have to give her antibiotics for long. Also, Tuesday night Matt and I went to the Cards/Sox game while my parents watched the kids (thank you again!). Once again, no pictures of that. So here's one more of the kids.

This girl is too sweet!

Miles and Uncle Joel got some quality time in on the way home.

 

 

On Wednesday, it was supposed to rain, so we went to breakfast instead of the zoo like we'd planned. But the rain cleared while we were eating, so we made a quick trip down there. I think the rain had scared everyone else away, too, because we were able to do quite a bit in a short time, including seeing the new polar bear, Kali (I have a video, but it's too long to post).

We also got to pet the stingrays.

And the kids were spoiled by getting to pick gifts out at the gift shop.

It was a really great visit and since I've waited so long to post, we'll be back there in a couple of weeks!

Spotlight Camp

Every season, I get a little overwhelmed when deciding what to sign the kids up for and what to pass on. I had originally signed Brooke up for a "Safety City" camp that was to take place a couple of weeks ago, but then found out about a summer camp that Spotlight was sponsoring that same week. Wanting to take her opinion into account, I gave Brooke the option and she enthusiastically chose the theater camp. I was hesitant to send her only because the camp was from 9-3 and she's my baby. But then I was honest with myself and realized that she hasn't been napping for years and certainly has a flair for the theatrical. So, off to Spotlight camp it was.

The week really couldn't have gone much better for her. She loved the themed days (Crazy Hair day - one benefit to her having such fine, short hair; Color Day; Princess and Pirate Day) and loved taking her lunch and buying a snack there. Kali also signed up to go, but was sick the last two days. When Brooke was still excited to go without Kali, I knew she was having a great time.

In the meantime, these two (and I!) had to figure out how to make things work without Brooke around. Let's be honest - she can be bossy and opinionated and certainly runs things where Miles is concerned. Usually by lunchtime, Miles was asking if we could go pick her up yet. We still had a lot of fun and it was a good little taste of how things will be when she goes to first grade. It also made me very grateful that I don't have to send her to full day kindergarten.

On the last day, the camp put on a little performance where each kid got a couple of lines and a solo.

Brooke's team did a mini-performance and the older kids had a longer show. She was SUPER excited and seemed to be having a great time. I was so proud of her and happy for her.

My friend Joy brought her kids, Tye and Olivia. Tye brought her a flower (oops, should have thought of that). Olivia does the real Spotlight shows. Maybe someday they'll be in one together...

Aunt Jamie and Grandpa Brian were also there to cheer her on.

Matt was at Will's bachelor party, so he couldn't make it and Miles wasn't interested in sitting for a picture after he'd been sitting for half an hour watching a play. And as usual, Paige wasn't impressed.

It was such a great day and I'm so happy that we found Spotlight. Here are Brooke's biggest lines and her solo. Enjoy!