St. Louis

Warning! There are a million pictures in this post! We LOVE St. Louis, and this trip was one of our best! We started out at Grant's Farm, a family favorite.

 Check out the simul-yawn that I captured on film!

 Riding the tram out to the Tiergarten. When we were kids these trams used to be diesel and they smelled so bad! The fun part was that they were different colors: red, blue and green I think. So our favorite game to play while waiting for the tram was to guess which color we would have. Grant's Farm has an overall German vibe to it, and I just love all the little details like this window.

 And of course! The milk house...where you can buy milk and food to feed the goats. And feed the goats we did...they are a little, um, aggressive...so Tyndale wasn't really a fan. You can see him on Brad's shoulders below.

It was Maylen and Gage's first goat experience! Maylen loved it!! Gage?

 Not so much.... Below are Brad and Tyndale getting ready for the elephant show.

 And of course we rode the carousel!

 One of my favorite parts of Grant's Farm is the trophy rooms where they keep tack and trophies. The Busch family was very involved in the horse world and it shows! Quinn could really appreciate this part of it this year.

Here we are having a pre-game drink in the lobby. We had a grown-ups night out for the night game and it was fun! We ended up losing to the Cubs, but had a wonderful time enjoying the game and each other.

 Here we are gaining entrance to the Coca Cola Deck.

 The coolest addition to our usual STL repetoire was definitely the City Museum. Unbelievable!! It is hard to even explain this place, and pictures surely do not do it justice. It is a giant building filled with salvaged materials from all over the world. Artists have worked together to build a giant playground out of these materials. Even that explanation falls far short of justice. The imagination needed to put something like this together is staggering, the imagination it sparks in its visitors is unsurpassed by any place I have ever seen. Look closely at the top of the building...see the bus going over the edge of the building? You can actually go on that bus and open the doors...so cool!

 Here is Quinn looking out of the bus window...it's a long way down! And below she is getting on the praying mantis slide.

 Kristy and Kate getting ready to slide on the Praying Mantis slide. Can you see the surroundings? Not only is it the roof of the building...but you have to climb up to it! Crazy!! Below is Quinn on the rooftop ferris wheel. Check out the white whales surfacing on the roof like it is water.

 Hadley and Quinn in one of the birdcages. You wouldn't even believe how high this is...all I know is there was NO WAY that I could do this!

 Noel and Christian climbed to the top of this dome while we were swinging on the rope swing below. Noel said that he had to override his brain to do this...every muscle in his body was telling him to stop.

 Here we getting ready to go down the 10-story slide. It was made from shipping and receiving chutes from the old shoe factory that used to be housed in this building.

 The slide drops you off in the enchanted cave area where you can wander in and out of tunnels forever it seems like! Check out the girls on the giant white whale below. The ceiling was covered with those white things that hang down everywhere...we figured it was simulated krill.

 Check out this elephant that you can climb up to get into a petrified wood slide. We must have said, "Look at this!" a zillion times while we were there!

One of my favorite parts was the rebar that the artisans had sculpted into beautiful foliage. It is hard to tell, but Hadley and Quinn are climbing some steps into a giant "treehouse" here. The limbs of the tree were dragons!

 I could NOT believe that Quinn did this!! This and the birdcage were the two things I just couldn't talk myself into..and Quinn did them. Here she is from a distance..I was trying to get the scale and height. Below is a close-up of her. She climbed this loop a few times.

 Probably the hardest we laughed was when we were in the shark tunnel. The aquaruim also housed sea turtles and the kids about died of laughter when a turtle pooped and then ate it...twice. They will never forget that.

 Brad, Tyndale, the Betzholds and Mom and Dad went to the St. Louis Zoo while we were at City Museum. They had so much fun! Tyndale got to ride the train and the conductor let him say "all aboard!" at each stop. He was in HEAVEN! He especially liked the lions and the penguins. Brad said that they were visiting the aviary and he saw a lady coming in on a hover-round type vehicle..she had an oxygen tank and tubes, etc. Brad saw Tyndale look at her for a long time and then he said, "I like your motorcycle!" Everyone cracked up!

After this train ride, Brad got Tyndale a conductor's cap and you will see it many times throughout this post!
 Below, the boys are at Charlie Gitto's...a family favorite for a LONG time! Charlie even said to Kristy..."you have been coming here forever, haven't you?"

 This would be Tyndale eating straight butter...that's right...hold the bread...

Best Italian food on the planet and Tyndale eats his body weight in bread and butter! Check out Maylen and Gage at their first Charlie's dinner (with a side of banana)...mmm! The restaurant so kindly gave us one of the upstairs rooms...we were a party of 20 including the Sullivans!

 One of the best features of our hotel according to the little ones was the fountains. They must have made a million wishes! There is one in the center of the lobby area and one with bronze sculptures of Lewis, Clark, York, Sacagawea, and assorted animals. This provided endless amusement for the kids while we were waiting for each other in the lobby.

 The Arch! We had one especially big fan of the Arch in our crew...Eric! Did you guess right? Well, the kids loved it too. If you are a consistent blog-reader you know that this is Tyndale's current "smile"...it is actually him YELLING "cheese!" as loud as he can. It is always amusing to others...it just doesn't look like he is having fun. I assure you that he is!

 Tyndale checking out the Mighty Mississippi. Hadley and Quinn at the Museum of Westward Expansion...sounds fascinating, right?

 Excited kiddos in our Pod...getting ready to go up in the Arch!

The views of the river and the city are just beautiful. Look at Busch Stadium! That was our next destination for the Cardinals vs. Cubs game.

Wonder who they are rooting for? Any clues?

 Tyndale resting up to do his best cheering. It worked! We won! Gage is showing off his bball skills below.

 A little pre-game lunch. Uncle Steve was successful in securing us the best tickets ever (he always does that!) and we truly enjoyed all the perks of the Bank of America box! I mean, unlimited Barbe-chos (or Nacho-que...we thought both names sounded good) and beer? And great seats? What more could we ask for? And just in case you need clearance about what exactly Barbe-chos are...Kristy created a dazzling example below right.

 I am not kidding you when I say that Tyndale held onto that cotton candy bag throughout the entire game and for the rest of the evening. I really thought that he was going to ask to sleep with it! That night we decided to walk over to the Taste of St. Louis, a festival where the best restaurants in town showcase a few dishes and sell them in their booths. They had live music and such diverse choices of food. On the way we walked through the downtown Art Walk.

Quinn even found a Bun Bun! Tyndale and Kate snuggled in the stroller...see? Cotton candy in hand...

 Quinn eating some Ethiopian food. We also had ahi tuna wontons, fish tacos, and some Indian food. It was all fabulous. For dessert everyone got these cups made of dark chocolate with mousse and berries inside.

We always love visiting St. Louis. We had non-stop action and fun and would not have changed a thing. It was so exciting to explore it all with family and make memories for a lifetime!