mini-vacay: st. louis part 1

a few months ago i was looking for a place to vacation that wasn't too far away.  john didn't want a beach vacation and i was stumped.  i sought out advice via fb and had many suggestions, st. louis being one of them.  as i begun researching the city, i was amazed with all there was to do that was kid friendly.  i was excited and started planning right away.  luckily, i also knew someone from st. louis who actually just moved back there so she also gave me some great advice of places to go and places to eat. 

being the planner that i am, i had an itinerary for each day.  of course, this was flexible, but it gave us direction for each day and we didn't waste time trying to decide what to do.  john was very appreciative of this and it worked out well.  we didn't get to do everything i had planned but we hit the major places we wanted to. 

we left on saturday and the kids did pretty well traveling.  they both had their moments but overall they did better than i expected!  i had packed some toys and placed them between the kid's seats so they could easily access them.  greyson's ixl came in handy and he played that a lot and we also had our family singing time...you know all the classics, old macdonald, five little monkeys, etc.  great fun! i also had purchased some new goodies that i gave to greyson every so often to keep him entertained.  this worked out well and he loved his prizes.  i had a few left over after the ride home so they will become stocking stuffers! ;)

our hotel was on the far side of st. louis so we decided to stop for dinner at pappy's smokehouse on the way to the hotel so we weren't back tracking.  we arrived at 3:30 their time so we thought we'd be able to walk right in and have the place to ourselves.  boy were we wrong!  the restaurant was filled and the line was half way around the block.  we were shocked! this was one of anna's suggestions and she described their ribs as "the best she's ever had and she doesn't even like ribs".  i had remembered seeing that there were take out options so i suggested we call and order take out...there was no way we would be able to entertain our-already tired of being in a car-children.  twenty minutes later we were on our way with two slabs of ribs and some sides.  let's just say, the ribs were AMAZING.  we now understand why the line was half way around the block!

the kids were playing in the dirt while we waited for our ribs

sunday we got up and we to grant's farm.  we rode on a train through the park and saw various animals (deer, longhorns, bison, geese, ostrich, etc.). the animals were so close to us and greyson loved it.  we got off the train and greyson got to feed the goats.  he was somewhat intimidated by them because they wanted their milk! john had to help him so he didn't get knocked over.  we watched a show where animals did various tricks. we got to see other animals like zebras, elephants, and other zoo like animals too.  grant's farm is owned by anheuser-busch so they had various types of adult beverages that the adults could try.  probably my favorite part was getting to see the clydesdale horses.  they are huge!!! very fun!

that night we went to bass pro (john and greyson were so excited because it was only a few miles away from our hotel) and then we went to ted drewes.  this was also suggested by anna and once again she didn't disappoint.  it's frozen custard and again, the lines were long but well worth the wait!

we had a great first two days together.  stay tuned for days three and four! :)