group pics at forest park...7.5

after we finished lunch, we went outside to get to our vehicles to head out for naps. we came upon this tree stump that OF COURSE all the kids wanted to climb up on! it ended up being a pretty great photo op! well, we got a few sweet pics and then the kids started being silly as usual!

lunch at the boathouse...7.5

after our fun morning playing on the playground, we went over to the boathouse to look around and have lunch. the outside pics happened before the inside pics but blogger insists they happened the other way around :) could drew look like more t-r-o-u-b-l-e in this pic?!?




ummm. not my idea of fun. 4 kids under 5 standing on a pier without life jackets. that lasted about 30 seconds before i had a heart attack and the kids were herded back to dry land.

we had a really delicious lunch in this AWESOME secluded booth in the back of the restaurant right by the bathroom. ideal for our bunch :) our kids didn't even bother the other guests!

our morning at forest park...7.5

on saturday morning, we met the yost's at forest park. it was the home of the 1904 world's fair where the ice cream cone was invented (just a little tid bit of info for you from my time giving tours of slu to prospective students). the park is HUGE and beautiful...in the middle of st. louis. the zoo, children's museum, butterfly house, lake with boathouse, an ice skating rink, and MANY more attractions are all there in one place. so cool. we started off at an awesome playground where the kids had a blast...the parents did their fair share of playing too!!!

our 4th of july in st. louis...7.4 ( a LOT of pictures!)

we started off our day with brunch with hannah, my friend from working at methodist germantown. hannah is from st. louis originally, and moved back there a few years ago. we ate at the cheesecake factory...yummy! hannah was such a great "aunt" and sat between the kids and even took sarah to the bathroom! we had a great time catching up!!! immediately after leaving brunch with hannah, we headed to lunch with the yosts. i know, 2 meals back to back...crazy. we met at st. louis bread company--i could eat there 8 times a day and not get tired of it! its my favorite restaurant of ALL TIME!!! and dumb ole memphis doesn't have one! the daddies and kids went out to the fountain to run off some energy while the mommies had a few extra minutes to chat.
our kids modelling their patriotic best...both just up from naps=no smiles.
brian and rachel warned us in advance that going downtown for fireworks was NOT a good idea. with all the flooding in st. louis, the arch grounds were underwater and the fireworks had been moved further into downtown. they estimated it would take at least 2 hours to get out of traffic once the fireworks were over. so, we opted to go to a great church celebration. it was very much like something our church, gbc, would do. there were bounce houses, a big playground, and free burgers, brats, hotdogs, soft drinks, popcorn, and snocones. everyone was happy. there was also a lot of space for the kiddos to run around freely. the best part was that the city park just over the tree line shoots off their own fireworks show. it reminded me of going to the city of germantown's 4th of july celebration. we had a great time...and we were out of the church parking lot in less than 5 minutes when the evening was over. it was a very busy, but very fun day!!!

the beginning of our st. louis visit...7.3

on july 3rd, we spent the morning with uncle andy, poppy, and mimi, ate lunch together, and then my little family headed to st. louis and my parents and andy headed to louisiana! whew! makes me tired again just thinking about all that travelling :)

for the past 2 years, my family has gotten together during the summer with the yost family. rachel and i were roommates our freshman year at slu and we have had fun letting our kids get to know each other as well. we got to st. louis in time to visit for a few hours before getting settled in at our hotel. we had dinner together and let the kids play/run wild for a while. their youngest, norah is a new addition since our last summer visit! and she is too cute for words! it was a fantastic trip! i will post pictures of our day-to-day events over the next couple of days. we had lots of great photo ops!!!

a sneak peek of our st. louis vacation...7.3 thru 7.6

i don't have time to make a whole post right now, but i wanted to get at least ONE new pic up on the blog before i started getting "encouragement" from my family again. we are leaving AGAIN in the morning for louisiana, but i will catch up on all of our travels and summer adventures when we get back!

p.s. i just realized i wrote this after midnight...so when i said we were leaving tomorrow, i meant monday, after i go to sleep for a while!!!

uncle andy is here...7.2

uncle andy came into town! the kids were so excited to see him! as were tim and i! we had dinner at mimi and poppy's house the first night he was here...lots of time for pictures!


this last picture is from earlier in the day when mimi thought it was a GOOD idea to give the kids 4th of july cupcakes with red, white, and blue icing! drew's face was stained the rest of the day!

mops park playdate...7.2

on wednesday morning, our mops group met at cameron brown park in germantown for a ride, walk, and stroll playdate. we all brought our bikes, scooters, strollers, etc to ride around the big lake. the kids had so much fun that morning! well, except for the first 10 minutes when both sarah and drew had bad falls off of their bikes with bleeding :( most of our time was spent chasing ducks...poor ducks! our morning ended with one of drew's classmates from last year randomly showing up with a momma duck and 2 ducklings to release into the pond. all 12 of our little ones really thought it was cool to watch the ducks fly out of the box and make themselves at home in the lake...our little science lesson for the day!!! an overall fun morning!!!