St. Louis, Day One

Sunday after church, with loaded cars and dozy children, we hit the road for St. Louis. We ended up staying about twenty miles outside of the city, in a hotel I've used previously (for Time Out for Women last year). We had a nice, big suite and there was a salt water pool which the kids loved (well, they loved the pool-ness of it, not so much the salt water part!).

The next morning, bright and early, we headed into the city:

After a pleasant few minutes in the underground museum, we took our places in line for our ride to the top of the Arch. Due to technical difficulties, we had to wait awhile:

Forty five (brief!?) minutes later, we found ourselves climbing into the "egg"(as the kids called the little elevator cars which take visitors to the top), and all was forgiven!

Quarters were tight but the ride up and down was a huge hit! The top of the arch itself, however, was something of a letdown. "Okay, Mom, this is nice. Now can we get back in the egg?"

So we walked down to the riverboat dock and had a little lunch. We boarded the boat and were captivated by river travel.
For about five minutes.

Did I mention that it was very hot?

Big Guy: Why are we on this boat?

Mommy: For fun.

Big Guy: Are we having any fun?

After a few more minutes of taking in the scenery, we found tables inside, and I sacrificed my electronics (iphone and camera) to the amusement of the small children.

Oh, and did I mention the popcorn?

The little ones spent about half of the trip taking pictures of EVERYTHING. The insides of their hands (note Sam's photographic technique in the above photo), the really attractive underside of my neck, the popcorn, random strangers, etc. (I spent an amusing fifteen minutes deleting the vast majority of them that night; I was tempted to post many of those pictures, but I figured they wouldn't be nearly as amusing to anyone else but me!!)

Peace, restored at last. The cost was merely a little air conditioning, some popcorn, and some smeary fingerprints on my personal electronics.

After that, we decided we'd had enough of the big city for the day and headed back to the hotel for pay-per-view movies, more swimming, and dinner at my favorite chain restaurant (California Pizza Kitchen, in case you couldn't restrain your curiosity). Once again, the camera was sacrificed at the altar of toddler amusement:

We will quickly pass over the tale of how our nights were spent, and simply say that we will not be staying in a hotel again until Little Guy is much, much older. Much older. Like twenty-five. And boy, how much do I love my Mom for making this crazy trip with us???