Every summer we go to St. Louis for the weekend to visit Mommy and Aunt Hilary's roommate from college, Jess (aka Aunt Jess.) This year we were going to go in May, but Aunt Hilary and Uncle Jake moved that weekend, so we went last week right after the 4th of July instead. Me, Mommy, Liam, Aidan, Aunt Hilary, and James all loaded up into Mommy's car on Friday morning and hit the road! I got to sit in the back with Aidan, so I was happy!
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| Loaded up and ready to hit the road |
When we got there on Friday afternoon, our first stop was Grant's Farm. It's not exactly a farm, but there are lots of different kinds of animals there. It was super hot, but we had fun! Liam and James and I all got to ride on a camel with Mommy! I was a little bit scared, but after we started going, I really liked it! It was bumpy! After visiting the animals and riding the camel, we sat in the pavilion and had ice cream and played with bubbles.
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| Checking out the big Clydesdale horses at Grant's Farm |
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| Riding the tram through the wildlife park |
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| Riding the camel with Mommy |
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| James's turn |
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| Aidan liked hanging out with Aunt Jess |
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| Ice cream break! |
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| Bubbles! |
After Grant's Farm, we headed back to Jess's house and ran through the sprinkler to cool off. Then it was time for dinner and bed. On Saturday, we got up and headed downtown to go on a Riverboat Cruise. We got to see lots of cool stuff in the city, including the St. Louis arch. Aunt Jess said when I get bigger, we can go inside and ride up to the top of it! We had a great time riding and watching the water, and it was shady and cool thanks to the breeze. After the boat ride, we went and had a picnic and took some pictures by the arch.
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| The Riverboat dock |
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| We had good seats on the boat, right by the edge in the shade. |
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| Admiring the view |
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Aidan loved riding around in his carrier facing forward
so he could see everything. |
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| Posing with Mommy and the boys by the arch |
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| Kids picture |
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| Cousins |
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| All the kids and the mommies |
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| Roomies for life! |
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Aidan loves to be outside.
Here he is hanging out on the blanket for our picnic. |
After that, we were all ready for some rest time, so we headed back to Jess's house for quiet/nap time. Then later we packed up and went out again to watch Jess's sister Jenelle's baseball game. There was a playground and splash fountain, free food, balloon animals, and face painting, but the best part for me and Liam was playing in the dirt! Mom cleaned us off by having us run through the splash fountain before we left! We brought our jammies to change into because after the game we got to stay up to see some fireworks. It was our first time staying up late to watch a fireworks show! I was pretty tired and my legs were sore, but I still really liked them. Liam wasn't sure about the noise at first, but after some Mommy snuggles, he decided he really liked them!
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| Liam and James argue a lot, but they really do love each other! |
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| I got a sparkly unicorn painted on my arm! |
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| Aidan had lots of fun playing on the blanket again |
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| Getting dirty is so much fun! |
We were exhausted by the time the fireworks show was over, so we went straight to bed when we got back. It was 10:30 at night! Then on Sunday morning, we went to the St. Louis Zoo before hitting the road. It's such an awesome zoo! It was super hot, but we had so much fun seeing all the animals. We got to see some of them super close up, like the polar bear, penguins, and monkeys. We also saw giraffes, donkeys, cranes, a tiger, and some lions, just to name a few!
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| The polar bear was right in the front, laying on some ice to cool down in the heat! |
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| Hi polar bear! |
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| Standing on 1 foot like a crane |
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| Silly Aidan and Mommy pic |
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| Practicing my rockstar posing by the giraffes |
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| James was excited to see the giraffes. |
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Liam and I rode in the sit and stand stroller
almost the whole morning.
We were worn out after our late night! |
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Checking out the monkeys.
Liam kept singing the 5 little monkeys song! |
After some lunch at the zoo cafe, we each got to pick out something special from the gift shop. I chose a neon spotted cheetah stuffed animal named Spotty, and Liam and James picked out new books. Liam's is all about ocean animals and counting, and it has dots that you poke as you count and they pop! James has a farm animal one just like it that Liam loves, so he was very excited to get his own! We also got a orangutan for Aidan since he has a jungle room with lots of monkeys. After picking out our special things, it was time to load up in the car to drive home. We didn't make it far before everyone crashed for a car nap!
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| It was the quietest, most peaceful hour in the car of the whole trip! |
