St. Louis

We had a wonderful vacation to St. Louis. It was short but sweet. We left on Lacey's birthday giving us an extra day to spend in St. Louis. I'm so glad we decided to leave a day early!! We got to experience more and weren't rushed.

We stayed at Drury Inn and Suites in Arnold which is just about 15 minutes South of the Arch. Staying outside of St. Louis we got a GREAT rate for a room. The hotel was amazing. They had an indoor/outdoor pool. Half was inside and half was outside. You could swim from inside to outside. It was pretty cool!! The rooms have fridges and microwaves, great for storing the milk and lunch meat. They offer a free breakfast and what they call Kickback. Kickback starts at 5:30 and they have hot dogs, chicken fingers, hot wings, salad, fruit, veggies, mac and cheese, baked potatoes, and nachos. They also have a soda fountain, and during Kickback the adults are given 3 free adult beverages. So we saved tons of money by not going out for dinner or breakfast.

The first day we woke early had a great breakfast, and headed to the Arch. Before we left for the Arch Brandon decided that the kids and I needed hats and sunglasses. We could see a Wal-Mart but couldn't find the entrance to Wal-Mart. So we drove around for probably 30 minutes trying to find the entrance. Finally I punched it in my phone and we found it. Before leaving KS. I did my research. I called the Arch and asked when the best time is to get to there. The lady said before 10am. In doing my research I saw that our hotel offered coupons to the Arch. Buy 1 adult tram ticket get a child free!! Miles was already free because he wasn't 3 and with this coupon we got Lacey's ticket free too!! We got there a little before 10 bought our tickets and went and stood in line to go through security. I'm glad we got there before 10 it was already hot and muggy but had we waited until later in the day it would've been worse. Plus the line was short when we got there, when we left the line was so long!

We got through security, it felt like it took forever. Probably having 1 kid that had to go potty and the other who wanted to get out of the stroller and play probably had something to do with it. It honestly only took about 15 to 20 minutes. We got in went potty and got in line to go up the Arch. This was my 4th time up the Arch. I love it! Being up so high being able to see for miles, it's such a thrill!! Brandon has Vertigo, heights and him don't mesh at all, but he was a trooper!! The kids and I spent probably 10 minutes looking out the windows. Lacey pointing out EVERYTHING she could see. Brandon and I were both surprised that the Arch wasn't swaying AT ALL!

We walked around the Museum at the base of the Arch. I was very impressed with how interested Lacey was. She looked at everything, wanted to know what everything was. Wanted to know how it was used, what it was used for.

After the Arch we decided to head to get some lunch. We went to a cute little Cafe on the river. Called the River Front Cafe. The kids were more interested in feeding the birds and fish then they were with actually eating! It was fun watching them have a good time.

Following the Arch was The Magic House. A great Childrens Museum. With tons of stuff to do and look at. I found a coupon online for buy 1 adult get 1 child free that our hotel was offering. The kids had an amazing time. They had an Alice Wonderland Exhibit that Lacey LOVED!! It's probably one of her favorite movies. She got to have tea with Alice and the Mad Hatter, which totally made her day!! She also got to sit in the Oval Office and act as president. Around 4 Miles was starting to wear out. We headed back to the hotel and both kids were out before we hit the highway.

We went back to Wal-Mart that night and got stuff for lunches. We woke up packed up some lunch and headed to the St. Louis Zoo. Like the other places I had done my research and knew that we wanted Safari passes. The Zoo is free, but to do things inside the zoo you had to pay. They have a 3D movie, a carousel, a Sea Lion Show, a train, a Children's Zoo and a Motion Simulator. All which would've cost us $63, but with the Safari pass we only paid $30. We got to the zoo shortly after 9 bought our Safari Pass and headed into the zoo.

I was very impressed with the zoo. There was so much to do and see. So many animals. If you could think of it, they had it. Around 4 we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. We had dinner at CiCi's pizza...Brandon and Lacey's favorite place.

The next day we packed our bags loaded the car and went to Anheuser Busch Brewery. Brandon was worried the kids wouldn't enjoy it as much as we would, but they did very well!! After Anheuser Busch we headed back West. It was a short but sweet vacation. The kids did well, and now we kinda know what to expect in September when we go to Maryland for a week!!