St. Louis

For months we had been planning a secret trip to St. Louis for my mom's younger brother's 50th birthday. He knew we were coming to St. Louis, but he thought it was going to be a week later. We were successful in pulling off the surprise. We flew in Friday and just hung out with my Grandma and Grandpa. Uncle Mike got in that evening so the adults had a late night up chatting.

Saturday morning all of us went over to Randy's house while he was out running and hung out waiting for him to come home and SURPRISE! He saw Nate first and wasn't sure what was going on. We spent the day there visiting, jumping on the trampoline, eating Lion's Choice, and playing the Wii. Nate did quite well playing a video game for the first time. The next day was spent at Grandma and Grandpa's with everyone visiting and celebrating Sarah's 16th birthday. Nate absolutely loved his older cousins. Well they are my cousins so I'm not sure what exactly they are to him, but for simplicity's sake we'll say cousins.  Mike had to fly home that evening and Josh had to drive back to college that evening as well. We were sorry to see them go.

Remote control bug with Great Grandpa on Friday.

Doing a puzzle with Great Grandma.

Picking up Uncle Mike from the airport.

Watching cartoons with Amanda and Sarah while waiting to surprise Randy.

Shirts from all the 50th birthday parties.

Happy 16th Birthday Sarah!

Monday and Tuesday were our sight seeing days. The weather was quite cold and windy so we weren't sure how going to the arch would work out, but we took our chances on Monday. It was chilly, but not nearly as cold as we thought it would be. We all took the Metro downtown to the arch to save on the trouble of driving and parking downtown. We thought Nate would be more interested in the train than he was. It was about a 30 minute ride from the station downtown. Then we did the tram ride up of leg of the arch so we could see from the top. I've done this on several occasions, but it's been probably about 15 years since the last time I went. Nate really enjoyed it. Afterward we walked about the museum and took lots of pictures. Nate love dthe gift shop of course.

The door to our tram.

Looking out over Illinois and watching the boats pushes barges.

The view of Busch Stadium from the top of the arch.

Inside the tram on the way down. It's a tight squeeze.

A stuffed buffalo in the museum.

There are some interesting facts on here.

Tuesday we were flying home later in the evening so we still had some time to play. We went to see Bigfoot, the monster truck, the Puzzle Warehouse and the Butterfly House. Fun day!

Archie, Nate's little bear from the arch.

A butterfly landing on the camera.

The carousel next to the Butterfly House.

Nate sleeping on the plane.

We had a great trip, but we sure did miss the guys back in Vegas. Nate did really well, but he was definitely sleep deprived from early mornings and late nights. We are still catching him up on sleep after our trip and the monster truck show. Hopefully it won't be so long before we can visit St. Louis again. Last time Nate was 8 months old. Thanks to all of the Malmstroms for a great trip.