I'm the Tamamamma: June 2009

The kids and I just got back last night from a week long adventure in St. Louis. We had a great time. I was initially a little apprehensive about being on the plane with all three of them all by myself. They were angels. Here they are with their toys out (DS has Silly Putty, if you're wondering)

My dad and stepmom picked us up at the airport and took us to a delicious meal at the Pasta House. The next day we went to "Monkey Joe's", which is kind of like Kangaroo Zoo is here. The kids had such a ball. The inflatables were different from the ones we have here. DD2 even went down the 20' slides! I don't think she would have done it for me, but Grandma got her to try it.

That night we were watching my dad throw a tomahawk at a target and on the way back into the house, poor DD2 fell on the driveway and scraped her face up. We aren't sure how she managed to scrape up her upper lip area without doing much damage to her nose--it's a mystery.

The next day she sported the band-aid mustache all day long. We spent the afternoon visiting with my best friend Debbie. That night the kids spent a couple of hours playing in the hot tub and the band-aid came off (which was a good thing, because whenever I suggested taking it off, she would FREAK out!). We had some tasty Imo's Pizza that night and visited with my Aunt Vickie and cousin Tiffany.

The next day was Saturday and Grandpa took DS to a rendezvous at the nearby Fort de Chartres (a historical French fort). There were people dressed as soldiers and Native Americans. He got to see the drum and fife corps, hear black powder rifles being fired, and he got to taste home-made buffalo jerkey and root beer in a corked bottle.

While the boys were busy doing that, Grandma took me and my girls out for a pedicure. It was heavenly. The girls enjoyed sitting in the massage chairs and getting their finger and toenails painted. DD2 even let the nail technician clip her toenails! It was a victory. She hates it when I do it. I guess the peer pressure in the nail salon was a good thing : )

That night my brother Mike came into town with his two little boys. They played in the hot tub again--for 2 1/2 hours! Who knew a hot tub could be so much fun?

We let them stay up waaaay too late that night. In the morning, my brother's oldest wanted to shoot bb guns with Grandpa. My DS wasn't interested, but DD1 was!

This is what happened as soon as we arrived at Nanna's (my mom's) that afternoon:

On Monday, Nanna and I took 5 kids (my three, my brother's 2) to the city museum. It was quite a feat! We took them to the outside climbing area and they climbed and climbed to their hearts' content. This place is absolutely incredible. Almost everything in this museum is recycled--a lot of items were taken from old St. Louis building that were going to be torn down or refurbished. Anyone visiting St. Louis has got to go. Here they are climbing down from the airplane

Heading down the slide:

Using her sweet balancing skills:

Climbing, climbing........

Riding the train up on the third floor:

This slide goes from the third floor all the way down to the first:

Do you see the "V" over the slide? It's made of rolling tubes like they use on conveyor belts. The same things are used as rails on the stairs in the background. They're pretty cool because they let kids paint them and they are each unique. Fun to look at. They're also cool to spin as you come down the slide.

The next day we visited Grant's Farm. A tram takes you through a wildlife preserve. Here is DS and his cousin enjoying the ride: