Our Family Vacation

So, we just got back this past Sunday from a great trip to St. Louis. We headed out early Thursday morning and drove straight to Six Flags near St. Louis. Nana rode with Alex, Ellie, and I, and Papa drove Matt, Ben and Greg. Good thing Matt actually read the directions that I had Yahoo mapped, because at the top, it SAID it was sending us to Six Flags, but where it was ending us with the directions was in the center of St. Louis!!! Nowhere NEAR Six Flags by the way. So, he called right away and got the correct directions. Good job Matt!
The big boys had a great time there, the little ones only lasted a couple of hours, so I left with them and headed to the hotel to check in. We just hung out that night and then on Friday, we went to the zoo. It was a nice zoo, comparable to Henry Doorly I think, but it was so stinkin hot, most of the animals were inside or hiding in caves or something. A fun time altogether though. The kids and I experienced Dippin' Dots ice cream for the first time. Very interesting...
So Friday night Matt and Papa went to a Cardinals vs. Dodgers game. Poor Papa had to sit in St. Louis next to his son wearing Dodgers gear. I think Matt said he got heckled a bit. Good for them! So while they were there, Nana and I wrangled up the monkeys and took them to the Magic House Children's Museum in St. Louis. They had a GREAT time. We were there for about 2 hours, and I think we could have stayed for at least 2 more, but it was getting late for the little ones. They had that electricity ball that you touch and it makes your hair stand up. Well, my sons later informed me that they found out that they had hair on their bodies that they didn't know was there, in places that they didn't WANT to know was there! Thanks boys, little too much info!
Saturday was a trip to downtown St. Louis for some fine dining, visiting the St. Louis Arch (very cool, but no, we did not go up), and then all the big boys headed to the day baseball game. Nana and I took Alex and Ellie and trucked our booties about 20 million miles in the 100+degree heat (just up the street according to Papa!) to see Union Station. There were several times when I thought I was going to lose Nana on the walk. You know she was looking pretty rough when a security guard stopped us and told us it was only $5 to take a cab, and we should seriously consider it! Well, we opted to push on and we made it! It was pretty cool at Union Station, and Nana and I had our caricatures drawn...funny stuff. We also stopped at the Fudgery for some delicious fudge, which was made with lots of singing by the workers and crowd participation.
Saturday night was wind down night. Papa took Ben and Greg swimming at the hotel while the rest of us relaxed, and I tried to get everything together for our morning departure. We headed home early Sunday morning. Overall, the kids did pretty well driving. Although the last hour or so on the way home was ROUGH for Alex and Ellie (and for myself and Nana). They were worn out! But I think they had fun, or at least I hope they did!
Now it's back to real life. School starts next week. Football started last week for Ben. They didn't have enough players for the fall baseball team, so he decided to try football again. I think he's enjoying it so far, although he has told me that the pads are a pain! Greg will start soccer soon. They are smart and don't practice in the 100 degree heat, unlike the psycho footballers!
Alex wears his Sportacus costume every day and is as hyper as ever. I think I can officially say he is potty trained. No accidents for quite some time. Ellie has finally tackled crawling and is pretty sure that she can walk all by herself sometimes (she can't). She's also quite the drama queen. She lets us know very loudly if she thinks whatever happened to her should hurt. She's finally getting her two front top teeth, and has three of her bottom teeth. She's eating all kinds of table foods now and thinks she's pretty hot stuff.

I think that's all for now. I'll post pics soon.
Take care,
Lisa

Ellie's Birthday Party

Well, we celebrated Ellie's first birthday in Omaha at Erin and Kevin's house on August 4th, and it was a blast! They have an above ground swimming pool, and it couldn't have been a more perfect day for swimming! It was, however, too hot for the silly folks who didn't bring their swimsuits! Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

As for Miss Ellie, she totally dug (into) her cake! See photos for details. Apparently her foot wanted to get in on the cake action too! So anyway, we had a Backyardigans themed party because she really seems to like the colors and songs of that toddler cartoon. Yes, I know, it's sad that my not yet one year old has a favorite cartoon already. What are you gonna do... We grilled out and Uncle Todd smoked a brisket (thank you Todd), and had salads and chips galore.

Today, August 16th, is actually her birthday. We are going to take it easy, just have a little cake and a couple of presents. Today is also Class Assignment day for the boys, where we go find out who their teachers are and sign them up for activites, etc. etc., so thankfully Simi is going to watch Alex and Ellie for me! So that will be her big excitement for the day!

Have a good day!

Lisa