Visit with the Caseys

June 8-9, 2016:  We were lucky enough to start off our summer with a visit to the Casey's and some St. Louis fun!  Tim was gone on a mission trip to the Ukraine so the kids and I made the trip to hang out with Liz, Hannah, & Cameron.  We had a fast but fun-filled couple days.  We spent a day playing at the park and going to the pool.  In the evening Liz and I had a sitter to sneak out for a movie (Me Before You--a book we both read!).  The next day we were able to take a trip to Grant's Farm (the first time for my kids!)  After our day of fun we had to hit the road to make it back in time for Kinnick's baseball game.  Liz is such a special friend and I love that our kiddos are building a friendship too!

Park Time:

Pool:

The kids rode bikes/scooters to the pool!

The boys bunked with me in Cam's room and the girls stayed with Hannah.

Grant's Farm:

The kids loved Grant's Farm.  It was nice to go on a week day, not too busy.  The highlight was feeding the baby goats (I remember doing this when I was little).  They also loved seeing the Clydesdales. 

Buddies!

Yeah for summer fun with great friends!

Spring Break

March 27-29, 2016:  We decided to plan a mini-trip for our Spring Break.  We planned a couple days in St. Louis after Easter at my parents.  We drove to Tim & Liz's on Sunday night and enjoyed hanging out for a bit.  Monday the Caseys (minus Tim) joined us for a trip the Science Center.  We had fun playing all morning.  The kids loved the dinosaur exhibit and also enjoyed using the radar guns to see how fast cars were driving by!   

After that, we said Good-Bye and headed downtown to check into our Hotel.  We had been wanting to try staying at a Drury Inn with the kids (because they offer so many fun perks--free popcorn and fountain drinks all day; happy hour each evening includes hotdogs, nachos, chicken strips, soup, and more; plus they have a hot breakfast buffet) so we decided to give it a try.  It was worth it!  The kids loved the snacks & breakfast and also had a blast swimming.  We missed the dinner hour because we really wanted to take the kids to Old Spaghetti Factory.  The weather was gorgeous so we enjoyed walking down to the arch and then to Spaghetti Factory.  Everyone had a yummy dinner and the kids got to try spumoni for the first time (they were so skeptical and they all loved it!)  After dinner, we had fun swimming and hanging out in our hotel room.

The next day my sister dropped off my nephew, Henry first thing in the morning.  She works close to where we were staying so it worked out great.  He had breakfast with us and then we headed to the St. Louis Zoo.  We enjoyed another gorgeous day.  We had lunch at the zoo and then drove to my sister's to take Henry home.  We finished our mini-vaca with a stop at "Pizza Ranch" in Bloomington for dinner on our way home.  Sadie chose this for her birthday dinner so it worked out great!  I loved being able to squeeze in this mini-trip and make some fun memories! 

St. Louis Science Center:

Drury Inn & Downtown St. Louis:

Hotel Lobby--the kids loved the statues & fountains!

The arch was undergoing renovations so we couldn't go up, but it was fun to see it!

Enjoying the street art!

Henry joins our crew!

St. Louis Zoo:

Our favorite picture spot!

These two used some of their allowance money to buy a treat!

2 tired boys from a fun day at the zoo!

Pizza Ranch: