The exotic island of St. Louis...

We totally went high adventure and splurged on going to a luxurious resort in St. Louis for part of spring break this year. I got tired of telling people where we were going and them thinking I said St. Lucia. Nope. But we had a great time and it was cheap, win-win. Here are the photos that will help us remember what we crammed in:

 We drove on Friday and got to town mid-afternoon. Decided to hit the Science Center for a couple hours since it is free and close to our hotel. They had special things you could pay extra to do there but we only had two hours, no time to pony up the extra cash. Kids didn't notice nor care.

 Hoisting up a bowling ball together. Teamwork.

 Since solar panels aren't in the budget this year, I think we are going to get this bike that produces electricity and hook it up to the TV, which will determine how much the kids can watch...

 They had to guess different scents here. I am betting that Anna and her sensitive sniffer won. The girl has to leave the kitchen if someone even opens a banana, she hates it that much.

 Someone is telling his sisters to BACK OFF. To get this going you really needed someone help but nope, he wasn't going to allow that. Time to go!

 We stayed at the Chershire near Forest Park which was supposedly 4 stars and a deal on expedia. It had a tea station, that gives it a 5th star in my book. We have to get 2 rooms, so there is a limit to how much I'll spend on a hotel... (As an aside, we found a huge roach on our bathroom towels one afternoon and spent the rest of the time on high alert and were grateful that the kids never found one in their bathroom because the entire hotel would have heard those screams. We did get to hear loud St. Patrick's partiers in the room in between ours for two nights. Forgot how much I dislike hotels...)

 Cool lounge where the kids actually played games without fighting. I guess the key is to have strangers walking around.

 We found some random Italian place on Yelp and it was in the middle of this residential area that was sketchy at times. It had good reviews and mentioned Nutella crepes and was cheap, so we had an adventure. They also had a chocolate cake that everyone but Megan fought over. Megan is the Nutella fan for sure, although Emily sneaks it from time to time (and kept sticking her spoon back in the fancy Italian nutella that Bridget sent us, so no one else got to try it!).

It's the line-up against the Arch. Such joyful children. When we left we followed a group through some construction area and totally ruined our shoes with mud. Emily sobbed the entire way to lunch and kept screaming that we had to go buy her new shoes NOW. It was so awesome.

 We finally learned that you have to book tickets the day before to go up in the Arch, so we headed there Saturday morning. Oh what good timing! The grounds were under construction, we had to park a mile away, and there was a race plus St. Patrick's Day parade and festivities starting. By the time we headed back to the car around 11am, the kids were seeing some real attractions walking the streets... ugh.

 Looks like Emily is taking a selfie as we waited to go up in the elevator thing to the top.

 Everyone cram in! No one barf!

 View of the construction from the top. I'm sure it will be lovely next year! It is the 50th anniversary this coming fall.

Made it to the top, only photo of me, proof that I went!

 Look who is hangry.

 We headed down to the Loop for lunch at Fitz's Bottling Company. Had to wait a bit, kids were somewhat patient hanging outside.

 This place is known for their root beer floats. Didn't realize how big they would be and I don't think the kids even liked the root beer part.

 Only Emily and Sean  had the good sense to split one.

 I don't know how they ate any of their food after this.

 After lunch we headed to the zoo which was also free, except for parking. This is where the family of six really wins. I think everyone liked the orangoutangs (sp??) best because they act like children, poking and hitting and chasing each other.

 This also held their attention...

 The lions! We always try to hit the "big name" animals that we don't have at our little zoo. Never did find the elephants, not sure they actually had them.

 This was the only thing we remembered to get Emily's preschool project out for. Now will I remember to print this for her report? Doubtful. Failing pre-k.

 Also with the giraffes, another one we don't have here.

 Splurged on the carousel. I'm telling you, these kids are so spoiled, ha.

 Anna was ready to race.

 Kitra and Linda both told me to go to mass at the New Cathedral, so I got up and went to the mostly empty 8am mass. So beautiful and elaborately decorated.

 One of the mosaics.

 On Sunday we realized that many things are closed on Mondays so we had to prioritize what to do. City Museum was top of the list so we went there right as it opened. Hard to describe this place. Loved the Big Boy like we had in Mt. Pleasant!

 So many areas to explore and thankfully it wasn't that crowded when we first got there. Sean took the big three and I stayed with Emily. It was always a surprise when we ran into each other.

 One of the ball pits in the little kid area.

 Some areas she could explore on her own and I could watch from the ground.

 One time I had to crawl through all sorts of tunnels with her and we ended up at this tube to climb down. She refused and we had to crawl all the way back out. Knees still hurt...

 Spinning chairs that she couldn't tip over but that freaked her out.

 I managed to see the kids walking across the outdoor tube.

 And going down the slide.

 Sean followed the kids all through the outdoor part and almost didn't make it at one point, a tight turn.

 Part of the crazy outside of this place.

 The outdoor part that I didn't go in...

 This is pretty creepy. I guess it's the plane in the outside area.

 Patrick going nuts in the ball pit.

 More of the outside climbing.

 The ten story slide that Sean took the big ones down.

 Anna getting a good workout.

The crazy pilot.

 Emily in the calmer ball pit where no one was hurling balls.

 We spent a lot of time waiting here for the big ones to show up.

 Her favorite hiding place.

 Let the kids recharge with some iced sugar. Emily finally fought her way in...

 But then I took Megan and Emily to PF Changs for a real lunch and Sean the good sport stayed behind with Anna and Patrick who couldn't bear to leave just yet. We went back the next day so he could get some good Chinese too. Our only chain restaurant, couldn't resist.

 Megan had lo mein and she was comparing it to what we get her from Dillon's grocery store. She couldn't believe it was the same dish. I explained that is why we didn't eat Chinese here for the first six years. Had to forget what PF Changs is like first.

 I went to the art museum for an hour by myself before it closed. The rest had no interest so they just dropped me off. This was one of my favorite paintings and I looked it up when I got home to see if I could find a nice print. Sigh, even Walmart.com had this as a poster. Pass.

 This is a dresser and I'm sure my kids wouldn't put their clothes away in it, just like a regular dresser.

 One of the main attractions at the museum and I almost didn't find it. I didn't want to be that tourist who stops and asks for it, only hitting the highlights... but I only had an hour.

 The weather was beautiful there too so everything was so busy. Forgot how annoying that is in a big city, it sometimes is impossible to find parking or get into at restaurant. Anyway, we had to pass several great areas because the crowds were too much and we ended up at Flamingo Bowl which was close to downtown. I wasn't thrilled but in the end the kids had fun bowling and the food was actually good. Not as good as the other Italian place that Sean and I went to without the kids up on the Hill on Saturday night, but still fine.

 Master bowler... I think he finally knocked a few down.

 Monday morning I forced everyone to go back to the New Cathedral with me. A fuzzy shot of more murals which I found unusual in that they showed people in modern dress.

Part of the outside. After we checked that box, we did a little shopping finally. Barnes and Nobles is one thing we really miss here and Megan and I checked out Nordstrom and it a good thing we don't have one here... Anyway, we made it back Monday night, had a few days of rain to decompress and get some space from each other and since then the weather has been perfect. Lots of walking, running, bike riding, yard work, etc. Sean is working now but doing a great job of tiring the kids out during the afternoon. And I finished painting Patrick's room!!! Now on to Emily's room and then the library...