Eves Garden: St. Louis

Lincoln and I were able to spend some time in St. Louis with Tori, Dan and Lexie in April. Despite all the rain, we had a great time and we loved being able to be with that crazy Cox family. Along with the crazy rain, Lincoln was able to experience his first tornado warning siren. Tori and Dan live very close to the Fire Department so the siren at their house was incredibly loud. Fortunately, everyone handled the siren well and we didn't have to go to the basement to be safe. The tornadoes did not come too close to the Cox's house.

We spent some time at the Transportation Museum. There, they have lots of old restored trains. The kids loved going in and out of the trains. There was also a fun little train ride that you could do. We had a great time.

We spent Easter Sunday in St. Louis. The Easter Bunny left a candy trail from Lincoln's room and Alexis' room which lead to their baskets of goodies. Lincoln was very excited to discover that the Easter Bunny had come to visit.

After our morning Easter celebration, we got ready for church. Lincoln looked so handsome in his new Easter Sunday clothes.

Church in St. Louis was a little rough. Lincoln was very much out of his element. I sent him to Sunbeams and went to Sunday School. Later, I went to check on him. When I poked my head in, it looked like his teacher was ready to wring his neck. I decided I better go in and sit with him. I immediately noticed that all of the kids had an Easter Egg sitting under his/her chair, but Lincoln didn't. I assumed that he had already got it taken away. All of the kids were struggling keeping their hands off the eggs. I wondered why the primary had chosen to give these little children these eggs at the beginning of primary. Didn't they realize that it would be difficult for them to leave them alone for 2 hrs?
After church, on the way home, Tori asked Lincoln if he had fun in primary. He said, "no." Tori asked if his teacher was nice. He said, "no." She then asked Lincoln what his teacher said that made him feel that she was mean. He told Tori, "She said, Don't OPEN it!" (referring to his little egg) We thought that was pretty funny.

During Lexie's nap, the Easter Bunny came to visit again. These are some lucky kids!

During our visit, we were able to visit the Children's Garden at the St. Louis Botanical Gardens. The Botanical Gardens is a very beautiful place. There were so many plants and flowers that I had never seen. The children's garden had fun things to do. There were tree houses and all sorts of equipment to climb on.

A favorite place for us to visit when we go to St. Louis is the Magic House. It is filled with all sorts of activities for kids to do and play.

This is Jack's Beanstalk. Kids can climb all the way up to get to the next level of the building.

Electricity!

In the construction zone, they have a pretend house being built. You can go pick the colors for the walls and counter tops, there are pretend tools to use to help build, and lots more things. Lincoln liked sitting in this little tractor.

We sure love the Magic House.

The zoo is another favorite.

Lincoln and Lexie loved watching the otters. Lincoln said they were funny.

The zoo has a great area for children with goats. The kids can brush the goats with these little brushes. Lincoln loved that.

The carousel at the zoo is beautiful. We rode it about 5 times. :)

We went to the transportation museum again and the kids got to play in a big room with all sorts of neat toys and dress ups.

One day we decided to go out on a paddle boat ride at Forrest Park. Tori and Dan paddled while Lexie, Lincoln and I enjoyed the scenery. Lincoln wanted to take off his life jacket the whole time.

A trip to St. Louis would not be complete without a visit to the Gateway Arch. Lincoln was not as enthusiastic about the arch this time. He was more interested in throwing rocks in the Mississippi River.

One of the benefits to lots of rain is lots and lots of puddles. Lincoln and Lexie were constantly walking and jumping in puddles. Good thing those kids had rain boots.

Throwing rocks at Forrest Park is always a hit. Lincoln probably would have been happy to do that all week long if we would let him.

Before heading home, we decided to pay another visit to the zoo. Lincoln loved the outside penguins the best because they are not inside a dark, cold building like the inside penguins.

While at the zoo, it began to rain quite hard. We decided to seek shelter by the monkey exhibit. We were standing by the glass and suddenly, about 7 monkeys came over to where we were standing to get out of the rain as well. We got a really up close look at those guys.