Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Science Center

St. Louis has a park called Forest Park, which is where the Zoo is located and also some other great attractions. One of the other attractions in Forest Park is the Science Center. We went in the afternoon which wasn't the best idea because they were very busy but we were able to have fun anyways. A lot of the exhibits were too old but they had a special area just for young scientists. You had to buy tickets but then you got a 45 minute session in the special exploration area. They only allowed a certain amount of people in at each session so that was great. In the toddler area they had a train table, a car track, a Native American exhibit and other fun things. I enjoyed taking pictures and Brayden loved playing with the toys and some of the other kids.



Which side goes faster?






Little scientist Brayden is doing some exploring.






They had a big dinosaur exhibit. Brayden wasn't too impressed with the big dinosaur.


Brayden was so excited to find the train table and we even had some friends come play trains with us.





I got in on the train fun too!




A great Native American exhibit, complete with a tepee. Andrew and Brayden played the drums inside. It was really fun.




Brayden is all dressed up. Don't mind the baby with no clothes on. That is the way we found her.




Of course we couldn't leave the children's area without playing with the race cars. Brayden loved watching them go down the hill and then he would go retrieve them and bring them back to try it again.

Anheuser-Busch Tour

You know since this was a family vacation we decided we would let Daddy do something he wanted to do too. Most of our adventures were something for me to do, so I decided to be a good sport and go ahead and go see a brewery. We took a tour of Anhueser-Busch as it is set in St. Louis. Once you get done with the tour you got to have samples of 2 of the different brews they have there. I have a long time to go before I ever get that opportunity. We had 7 different stops along the tour and we learned quite a few interesting facts and even got to see a can line #7. We even got to see some of the Clydesdale horses that they use on the Budweiser commercials. Here are some pictures from our tour. It was actual a fun tour and there were 2 other babies on our tour so I wasn't the only minor!



Who is excited? My Daddy is excited. Check out his leg kick on the way into Anheuser Busch.



These are some of Anheuser Busch's Clydesdale horses. Some of the other ones stay at Grant's Farm. They were big!


Here is one of the original wagons they used way back when.





This area was very hot and it was very pretty looking. It kind of reminded Mommy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as they had a little landing platform where we could look at the Mash Tanks.



Wow Daddy I guess this brewery business is kind of fun after all.

Hi Mommy! We are going to go into one of the production areas and actually see one of the can lines being run.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Grants Farm

Today we went to Grants Farm. When we got there we first got to ride on a train around the 92 acre farm. We saw lots of different animals like deer, ducks, and cows. I loved riding on the trolley out to the farm area. Once we went through the trails we got out and were able to go into the petting zoo where there were some goats. I think the mommy goats need to teach their babies to be patient because some of them were pretty feisty. Daddy got some bottles of milk and we were going to go feed the goats but as soon as we walked in they started jumping up on me and Daddy trying to get our milk. Don't worry Daddy saved me and we found a place to go so I could feed the goat myself. They also had some other animals at the farm like parrots, elephants, turtles, and peacocks. The peacock was out walking around so I tried to sneak up on him but I must have been too loud because he ran away and went and jumped over a fence to get away. It got pretty hot during the morning hours at the farm so thankfully they had some mist showers you could walk through to cool off. While we were we got to see animals got talent. It was a fun show. At Grants farm they also have stables for some of the Clydesdale horses from Anheuser Busch. We got to see some of their old wagons and then some of the horses. Wow those are big horses. We had a very hot and fun morning at Grant's farm.


Thank goodness we were riding in the train because those are some big horns!



Sit boy. Mommy he won't listen.




We only have one bottle but they are all jumping up on us.



Daddy, what are these crazy animals doing?

There we go. Look Mommy they drink milk out of a bottle like babies do.



They are following me!



Look, it's a pretty peacock!



Come here mr. peacock. It's ok I am not going to hurt you.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

So proud!

I had to share this post to tell you how proud of Brayden I am. A few months ago we got a small potty for Brayden and have just put it in the bathroom for Brayden to become familiar with it. He has gone potty on it a few times but I am sure it was by coincidence. He actually went the very 1st time we put him on it which was right before bath. After that if you asked him to go potty he would usually say no. Well this weekend our niece Grace was here and she is potty training so Brayden heard Aunt Crystal ask about going potty and praising her for going. Yesterday I knew Brayden needed to go so I asked him if he wanted to use his potty and he didn't say no so I quickly rushed him to the bathroom. Don't worry I will spare you the details and just share that he went both #1 and #2 in his potty. Brayden's potty plays a song when you go so when it started to play music Brayden had a big smile on his face and even clapped! We immediately called Daddy to share in the excitement. So thanks Cousin Gracie for showing Brayden how to be a big kid and use the potty. We know this is a long road to potty training and that is fine we just thought it was a great step for Brayden. Just another milestone to let us know how quickly Brayden is growing up. I am also working on some more posts from St. Louis so make sure to check back.

Friday, June 18, 2010

City Museum




















Today was our 1st full day of vacation and Daddy has got our days all planned for us. In the morning we got up and had a great breakfast at the hotel and headed downtown to the City Museum. This place was so fun but so crazy. It was like they turned an old downtown warehouse into a funky museum. There were caves you could climb and at the top there was a slide that was 10 stories high! They also had an Art area, block area, ball pit, and a giant maze outside to climb. I was trying to be brave but Daddy said we would have to come back in a few years because I wasn't old enough for those attractions. Mommy loved snapping pictures of me.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

St Louis Vacation - Day 1

After a morning nap, some snack time, stopping for lunch, playing with my toys and then talking to myself while mommy was trying to nap and daddy was listening to the NASCAR race on his phone while he was driving in the pouring rain, we made it to St Louis exactly 6 hours after we left home. I was relieved we had finally made it to the hotel.

I really didn't know what to do at first once we got out of the car, but then daddy told me to grab the suitcase and start walking, so I did. I felt pretty important while I did that. The hotel we are staying at has an elevator, pool and a nice big bed for me to sleep on. I think it is going to be a fun vacation!

Once we got to St Louis, we checked in and then went straight to one of my favorite places...the ZOO! We tried to make it a quick trip through the zoo because we would be back later during our vacation. But since we were having so much fun we ended up going through almost all of it! We saw a grizzly bear resting his head on the rock, a gorilla picking his nose, hippos swimming in the water right in front of us, penguins jumping in and out of the water and elephants giving themselves a mud bath. Of course, since it rained most of the way to St Louis, it had to rain while we were at the zoo...so we even got wet a little. All in all...I had a lot of fun on our first day and went to bed before I even got a chance to go swim in the pool.

Daddy and mommy say there is a lot planned the next few days, so I made sure to go to bed during my bed time. I will let you all know what we do each day.




There were lots of elephants, so I can't wait to go back and see them all again. This one was giving himself a mud bath.





I don't know what you're laughing at dad, but I don't want to get wet. We took about a 20 minute break to eat a snack in front of the hippos and wait for the rain to pass through.






Can you see me and daddy? Daddy is wearing the white cap. We are watching FOUR hippos enjoying their afternoon. They were so big!





These are special penguins because they don't need to live in the freezing cold. They sure do stink and poop a lot though.




These penguins do need to stay in a cold environment, so we got to cool off with them inside their home. They loved to jump in and out of the water, while the King Penguins just stood there thinking they owned the place.



This big bear looks tired. He should go take a nap like his other friends.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Uncle Dustin's Graduation

A couple of weeks ago we got to go and spend the weekend with my Uncle Dustin because he was graduating from high school. We are so proud of Dus. I promise I am getting better everyday at more than one syllable words :) Mommy took a ton of pictures but she will spare you the time of weeding through the 40 of me and my couins or the 25 of the family picture. She loves her camera so much that she just takes multiple takes of the picture and then picks the best one so in no particular order here are a few our our favorites from Dustin's graduation weekend.



Uncle Dustin with Oma and Papa


Introducing the class of Class of 2027!


My family with Uncle Dustin


Cousin Grace and I with Uncle Dustin


Daddy and his brothers


Taking a picture with 4 kiddos under the age of 3 is a lot harder then it looks!


With Daddy's family



Please pick me up!


A picture with my cousins Brady, Ashleigh and Grace.


Uncle Dustin and Oma.


So you think I can make it?


Mommy, me and Daddy!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Hanging out with Daddy

This is just a short post with some cute pictures in it. A couple weekends ago Mommy and I took Daddy to the zoo with us. He hadn't gone to the Blank Park Zoo with us so we thought a Saturday morning trip sounded great. Me and Daddy got to ride the train! We even got to wave at Mommy while she was by the coi pond. We had fun. I showed Daddy the ropes as we didn't take my stroller in so I could walk the whole time. We had lots of fun!


Don't I look like I am waiting patiently as other people board the train.


Posing in front of the pretty birds!


See Daddy there is one right up there. Mommy loves these kinds of pictures because you can see how much I am learning by the things I show her and Daddy.