St. Louis - Day 1

We traveled most of the day yesterday, so this is officially Day 1 of our vacation activities. I am going to try to blog each night, so we have record of our little trip. We have a list of things we want to try to do while we are here and are deciding what to do based on the weather. A bad storm came through last night and it was supposed to continue to rain this morning. Based on that, we decided to do the City Museum. We were not positive that it would be the best place based on our girls ages, but we decided to give it a try since it was inside. I am so glad we did. It was really fascinating. "Genius" is what we called it as we walked out. We decided that we need to come back in about 5 years when the girls are 6 1/2 and 9 1/2. (that is strange to say) The City Museum has things to climb, tunnels to crawl in, slides to slide, balls to jump in, ropes to swing on, and a little aquarium. I don't really know how to describe it, but whoever designed it is a genius. It was really fun. The girls really liked it. Emma was very brave going down some big slides and walking through dark tunnels. There was a toddler area that was a smaller version of the "bigger kid" things. Most of the activities we have planned are free, but the City Museum was not. I was skeptical of paying $12 per person (minus B b/c she is under 2), but it was worth it.












We made it back around 2:00 for B to take a nap. She seemed so tired, but then barely took a nap. The sun came back out, so we decided to head to the zoo for a few hours before they closed. The St. Louis Zoo is the best zoo that John and I have ever been to. (and yes, we have made a point to tour zoo's in most cities we visit, so we are experts :) To be fair, we have not been to San Diego yet) We knew that we would need more than just 2 1/2 hours to get through this zoo, so we went for a few hours tonight and then will go back again. It is a free zoo, so you can come as go as you please. Emma wanted to see the penguins, so we slowly made our way to the back of the zoo where the penguin exhibit was. We visited many animals along the way including elephants, bears, hippos, anteaters, etc.....I got a great picture of this little girl and the hippos that we watched swimming. I tried to get Emma with the hippo, but I could never catch the picture fast enough. I'm glad someone was posing!






Two of the cute highlights of the day were:

We were walking to get some dinner and came upon the Carousel. Brooklyn was walking at this point and was mesmerized by it. She was pointing with one finger and signing "please" with her other hand. I wish we had a video of it, but the picture below is the best we got. It was sweet.

Emma is fascinated with numbers right now. A light bulb went off in her head about 2 months ago that once you get to 20, everything starts repeating. We have been teaching her the 10's such as 30, 40, 50, etc....She is now constantly wanting to count or wants us to count. I told her in the car today that maybe she will be a mathematician when she gets older and she said, "Mom, I am not. When I get older I am going to be a princess!"