St. Louis - Day 3

Our plan for Day 3 was to visit Grant's Farm and then head home.  We were told to get there right when they open b/c the lines get really long.  That meant waking up and getting out of the hotel earlier than we had the other days.

Since I'm the one that takes forever, I decided to throw on some workout clothes and bum it for the day.  We were going to a farm after all.  The plan worked and we arrived at Grant's Farm at 8:45am, 15 minutes before they opened.  We made it on the second tram.  We had never been to Grant's Farm, so I really didn't know what to expect.  You ride a guided tram around the property first.  They point out all the animals and tell about the history of Ulysses S. Grant and the Busch family.

The tram drops you off where you can interact with several animals and visit some others. 

It's hard to see, but Darrin was covered in birds.  Miles and I wanted no part of it, except for laughing at Darrin from outside. Very entertaining.

I still can't believe that Miles did this by himself.  He wanted one of us to ride with him.  Since it was $5 a person for a couple trips around, that took less then 2 minutes, we just hurried him on the camel by himself.   

He didn't have time to think about it since there were no lines. That has to be the only reason he did it. 

We caught the tram back to the entrance and walked over to visit the Clydesdales.  

After that, it was time to go home. I liked Grant's Farm better than the zoo.  The animals are more active and much closer.  As we were leaving, we couldn't believe how long the lines were.  The people waiting in line were probably looking at least a hour, probably more. And, the cars lined up to get in went on for a mile or two.  It was crazy.  I am so thankful that we got there when we did. If not, we wouldn't have know from the entrance how long the line really was.  It would have been a nightmare with our not so patient child.  We enjoyed Grant's Farm, but it is not worth that kind of wait, in my opinion.

On the way home, we stopped on the side of the road at a look out point.  It's actually called Fort Jefferson Memorial Cross.  We've driven by it a million times, but never stopped. Since we had a little time we decided to check out.  Nothing to earth shattering, but it was a pretty stop.  

And, this is how Miles ended the trip....

It was a fun trip and now Miles knows a little about St. Louis.  Now that our vacation is over, it's time for volleyball season.  Preseason starts tomorrow.  Let the madness begin. 

St. Louis - Day 2, Part 2

After resting in the hotel for a little while in the afternoon, it was time to go to the Cardinal's game.  We spent the majority of our vacation budget on good seats at the game.  I second guessed myself a little on this b/c we aren't a baseball family, but I thought we would all have more fun if we were close to the action.

We had plans to walk to dinner at Pi Pizzeria, but when we walked out of the hotel, we were surprised to find out it was raining.  It wasn't pouring, just drizzling enough to make us decide to walk towards the ballpark instead of slightly out of our way to go to dinner.  According to the radar on Darrin's phone, it looked like it was going to get worse before it got better.

We walked through Ballpark Village, but it was packed and there was nowhere to eat.  Very cool place though.  We enjoyed seeing it and experiencing it on game day...

Darrin and Miles threw a baseball for a little while in the rain, while I camped out under an awning.

As soon as the gates opened we decided to get in line...

Once we got inside, we ate dinner for a small fortune.  It's all good though, b/c we think ball park food is legit.  Between the three of us, we had chicken fingers, french fries, hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, and peanuts.  Yes, the food was as much as one of our tickets.

The weather did get worse....

....so, we bought three ponchos.  I was afraid the rain wouldn't stop and there was no way I was going to sit in the rain.

Then, just before the game started, the weather cleared up and it turned into the most beautiful night ever.  The weather was breezy and a little cool.  No humidity at all.  It was unbelievable.  

Miles wasn't as interested in the game as I thought he might be.  He did get excited when Matt Holliday came up to bat since he was wearing a Holliday shirt...

It was a late night for Miles & that meant Darrin had to carry him back to the hotel. He's too big for me now.

It's funny b/c everything Miles loved on the trip was just ok for us and vice versa.  Darrin & I loved the game and hope to go back some time.  I'd like to be able to watch the game a little more intently without pleas for food and potty breaks every inning.  We all crashed hard at the end of Day 2.  It was a good one, but a long one.

St. Louis - Day 2, Part 1

Day 2 was a busy, busy day, so I'm going to recap this in two parts, day and night. We started the morning with breakfast at Panera or St. Louis Bread Company as they call it there.  Same thing.  Miles ate a cookie for breakfast, b/c what's the difference in a cinnamon roll or muffin and a cookie, really??  Nothing in my book.

Next, we headed to the City Museum.  I heard so many good things about it & it did not disappoint.  Wow, what a cool place.  It was by far the highlight of Miles' trip. He's already asked to go back to St. Louis for this alone.

 

He climbed over everything.  It was so hard to keep up with him b/c he could fit in smaller spaces than us and the slides come out at different levels.  We only really lost him once though :) Darrin & I had to divide and conquer to try to keep our eyes on him. 

For a kid that is supposedly scared of heights, he climbed to some pretty high places.  I think he climbed a few times without really understanding where it was taking him. There were a few things that were definitely too high for him.

Darrin & I tend to have short attention spans when it comes to places like this.  I was exhausted from following Miles up, down, and through everything, so I suggested that we go to the zoo and he took the bait.

Darrin & I went to the St. Louis zoo before Miles was born, but Miles has never been.  We all love a good zoo.  I remembered not being a huge fan of this zoo and not much has changed for me.  It was just ok.

I would say that the zoo was the low point of the trip, but we still haven't discussed my screw up. We'll get to that in a minute.  After a couple hours at the zoo, I turned to Darrin and said that I was over it b/c I hadn't seen an animal move in over an hour. I don't know if it was the time of day or what, but it was a very boring trip to the zoo.  Again, my feet were killing me, so we went back to the hotel to rest before the Cardinals' game that night.

So....the week before vacation, I was trying to find the details for our hotel reservation that I thought I booked through Hotels.com a month earlier, and couldn't find them anywhere. I searched through email, tried to log into an account online, and finally called Hotels.com to find out that they did not have a reservation for us. I had spent some time booking that exact hotel and it was full now, so I had to find another one. This time I used Priceline.  It was frustrating, but it all worked out...or so I thought.

At breakfast, Darrin said he had to make a call and stepped away from our table.  Just knowing him, I thought that he was either planning a surprise or something was wrong.  I gathered that it was the latter.  Long story short....I did book the hotel the month before like I thought I did, but it was through Booking.com. It must have been a pop up on Hotels.com or something b/c I have never used Booking.com.  He happened to pull up our account that morning and saw the extra charges.  Thankfully after several calls, Darrin was able to get the extra room refunded.  He was so nice to not involve me until he pretty much had it cleared up, b/c he knew I would FREAK out.  This trip was just not my A game.  I'm usually so organized & on top of everything. This trip was anything but.  If I didn't know otherwise, I would think it was pregnancy brain or something.  Trust me y'all, it's not.

That sums up the first half of Day 2.  Exhausting & hot for the adults & heaven for the kid.  The second half of the day was not without it's highs and lows.  We'll discuss tomorrow. Good night all!

St. Louis - Day 1

Well, vacation is over. So sad!  The first part of the week was far from the staycation that I called it. We worked so hard around the house...I'll try to post some pics of our projects soon.  We got a lot done & with volleyball season just around the corner, there are things that had to be crossed off of the list.  After all the work was finished, it was time for a mini vacation in St. Louis.

This trip. There's just so much to say about this little trip that I'm not sure where to begin.  We left on Thursday morning.  The plan was to have a picnic at the Arch & walk around, tour Busch Stadium at 2pm, and then have dinner with some volleyball parents. 

We arrived later than expected and had to eat our picnic lunch on hand towels in the hotel room.  The room was tiny, Miles was excited, and I was low on patience. We had been warned about construction at the Arch, so it actually turned out for the best. Our hotel was right next to it, so Miles was able to see it. We asked him on the drive to St. Louis if he wanted to go up in the Arch. He replied and said, "Dad, you know I'm scared of heights." I have no idea where that thought originated, but he's very consistent about it. After seeing the Arch, he was terrified. I finally had to tell him that we would never make him go up in it and that we would not ask him again. His fears seemed put to ease finally.

After lunch, we walked to Busch Stadium for our tour.  When they called the 2pm tour group, I pulled out the tickets I bought online only to realize that I had brought our game tickets, not our tour tickets.  At this point, I was not a happy camper and near tears. I asked Darrin if we could just buy some more and he kindly said yes. I told the lady taking the tickets what I had done and asked if there was anywhere to buy more tickets. She was very nice and just let us go in.  I'm so thankful for her kindness.

As interested as Miles looks in this picture, he was just the opposite.  I thought he would think it was cool and that it might make him more interested in the game, but no such luck. You just never know with kids.

Miles took this for us...

He always takes one portrait and one landscape :)

After the tour, we rested in the hotel. Miles needed a break, and honestly, I did too.  I didn't feel good and my feet were killing me.  I think our hard work at home caught up with me during our trip.  I felt lousy pretty much the whole time we were there.

After a little down time, we met the parents of one of Darrin's volleyball players, Bret & Andrea, for dinner.  They live in St. Louis and were so helpful as we planned our trip. We ate at an Irish pub called McGurk's. If you ever go to St. Louis, I highly recommend it.  The food was excellent and the atmosphere was great.  We ate outside and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.

So, that's Day 1.  The biggest screw up for me occurred on Day 2.   Check back tomorrow and I'll fill you in.  It was a doozy.