This family of 5 doesn't get out much. An attempt is always made to have family dinners and work on projects together over the weekends. But with Jason's busy job and 1 hour commute, there can be a lack of time for good old family fun.
The first two days of our trip to Chicago were all about us. We saw the sites. We went up really high in the sky. We got a parking ticket. That part stunk, but I'm over it. We frolicked in the grass. We pushed our comfort level. It was all really great, except that parking ticket part. And the part where thousands of people playing soccer took all the hotel rooms in the area kind of stunk too. I felt like Mary and Joseph without the with-child thing and the donkey and the ending was different. After needing to stop for ice cream to drowned our woes, we found a hotel room. It all worked out for the greater good.
Our first stop was The St. Louis Gateway Arch. A national monument was a great place to start. We learned all kind of facts like how tall it is (630 feet) and how long it took to build (2.5 years) and that it can sway 1 inch in 20 mph wind. I had to google that information because I had forgotten the details and my encyclopedia of a daughter is already in bed. Why does she remember these things and I don't? I'm old.
Two fun Sam memories stick out from that day: calling a stuffed buffalo in the Arch museum a "buffamo" over and over; then as we ate dinner at Union Station, he watched a woman who worked in the food court sweep under his high chair and he promptly said, "Thank you!". This dear woman was shocked and told him that he made her day. Classic toddler talk is always endearing.
I am so thankful that my children haven't inherited, or yet developed, my fear of heights. Thankfully, the camera is in my hands and I had something much more wonderful to view, those little cherubs. Here are some photo highlights from St. Louis:
Owen took this one while standing directly under the Arch. Yup, we're going up there.
You want me to ride it what to get to the top? They made me get in this tiny little pod and ride for 4 minutes. They MADE me do it. Those kids are so mean. Don't they look mean?
Sam looking out the view windows from the top - watching the barges on the Mississippi.
The backsides of my children as they lay on the viewing area looking down 643 feet.
Owen thinks it's pretty cool.
A crazy shadow on the Mississippi.
Ella and the monument. Both are very dramatic.
Because I like lying on the ground in public places.....
If Ella wasn't smiling, this may look like something out of COPS.
"I promise kids! I won't make you do that again! Now can I please have some ice cream?"
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