St. Louis part 1 (the arch)

Since we now live so stinking far away from our Maine family and friends, having Missouri cousins a mere 400 miles away seems like it's practically next door.  So this weekend, kids and I hopped in the car and drove to St. Louis.  Unfortunately, we took a bit of a detour (about 80 miles) to see the sights of western Illinois, but we made it.

While there, of course we needed to see the arch.  I didn't really know too much about it, except for having seen all the pictures.  It's one of those thing I had to see, even if it was going to disappoint.  I'm thinking back to Mount Rushmore - we got out of the car and, yup, it looked like Mount Rushmore.  Thankfully, the arch was way more impressive in person than in pictures.  It's was bigger than I thought it would be, and had a great museum to visit underneath.  I also love the equations I came across that represent the structure.  Almost makes me wish I'd kept up on my geometry.  Who am I kidding, really, I didn't get far enough in math to make sense of this.

with the constants



Lu wanted to ride with the big girls.  The last time we saw Ashlynn & Caroline was Thanksgiving.  Lucy has grown up so much since then; there is a huge difference between just 2 and 5 but much less between almost 3 and 6.  It's always cooler to hang with the big girls than with your mom and baby J.

 Mama Ash here, taking care of my kids.  She desperately wants to be a big sister, and played with and helped Lucy and Jamie all weekend.  I think it's possible that Lucy could cure her of that ambition.

Aaannnnddd .... asleep.  Again.  Brandy kept on saying "is this baby for real?"  1st time in the pack-n-play and he had no problems.  Just wait until he's sleepy and put him down and he's out.  It's magic.

The big girls riding the metro.  Pretty exciting!

This is the arch from the metro station.  It's the historic section of St. Louis and there's some pretty neat brick and cobblestone work around the area.

Who knew Rob would be such a ladies man?

And here it is.  Like I said, really, really impressive.  Also impressive, the Sponge Bob ice pop that Lucy ate, or at least tried to eat.  A portion ended up in her belly, a portion in mine, some on the ground, and a good quantity landed on Jamie's head and dripped down his face and onto his shirt.  Did he scream?  Cry?  Fuss?  No, just licked his lips.

At the Museum of Westward Expansion.  I didn't (can you believe it?) get to enjoy this one at a leisurely pace and read all the exhibits, but Rob said they do a decent job of incorporating the native history and talking about the treatment of American Indians, etc.  Sometime I'd love to come back to the arch and go through the museum and look at everything plus take the egg to the top to see.  And no, mom, you will not scare me away from this one!

On the train on the way home this is Ashlynn teaching Lucy how to meditate.  It was hysterical to see the two of them bobbing around on the train with palms together and eyes closed.  Also, every person around us told me how much my daughter looked like me.  Problem is, they were referring to Ash.  Um, no, the one who doesn't look like me is actually mine!

The meditation must have worked.

And .... awake!  Just as our excursion ended, baby J woke up and was all smiles.  (Here's where you can see the red ice pop all over his shirt).  Always nice to be so happy at the end of a trip!

Who?

We're working on it.  This was totally independent, so I'm pretty proud.

Introducing my beautiful prodigy, Cyul.  (In addition to the shower cap she is also wearing crocs here.)  She's not Hollywood, so it's good we've got writing to fall back on.

The Gardens

This week we got a chance to finally visit Reiman Gardens, a beautiful indoor and outdoor botanical garden that boasts a fabulous butterfly wing (my favorite) and a current "big bugs" outdoor art exhibit.  We went with our friends Ann, Carson (3) and Hayden (6 mo) and had a great time.  Carson is a new playmate for Lucy, expanding her pool of eligible bachelors, and is as loving and huggy as Lucy is.  Though we love playing with Silas and Gabe, they often refuse her advances of hugs and love pats, but not Carson.  Actually, I think my little lover might have even brushed him off once or twice.  Ann and I spotted them holding hands walking and in several spontaneous hugs.  It's adorable now, but talk to me again in 10 years.

Warning, there are approximately one million pictures here.

 Part of the Big Bugs exhibit was indoors, these stone-and-metal picnic ants.  The kids were SO excited when they spotted a real ant crawling on the conservatory floor.

 Some of the outdoor Big Bugs.  These sculptures (?) were a little different, mostly wood, and really interesting to see.  You can get an idea of the size of some of them by the picture of the kids by the giant ant.  I'd like to know how one starts on being the creator of giant bugs.  And how I can get one for my front lawn.

 Watch out Lucy!  You're about to be bitten by the world's largest mosquito!

 Us by the spider web.  Per usual, Baby J's sleeping in the sling.  We were both pretty sweaty when I took him out of there at the end of the afternoon, but he didn't seem to mind, even when I kept a little blanket wrapped around us to block his poor little arms and legs from the sun.

 The kids had a great time smelling flowers ...

 ... running around ...

 ... stopping to relax with a beverage ...

 ... and even got a chance to cool off in the pool.

 Sorry Ann, I'm a picture sneaker.  Lucy and Carson shared the footrest of Ann's double stroller.  If you look closely, you can see baby Hayden peeking out from behind Lucy.  He also was a great sport.  What you can't see here is that Lu's not wearing any shoes.  She wore pair of sandals that are now in the "hurts-me" pile.  She has requested socks with these sandals a number of times, and now I know it's because they're not comfortable, not because she has no fashion sense.

 And finally, though we had already gone through the Butterfly Wing on our way into the gardens, it made impression enough on the kids that they asked to go through again on our way out.  It's an amazing place, with hundreds of species of butterflies.  We had visited the Butterfly Kingdom at the York Zoo when we went last summer, and sorry Aunt Grace, but the BK doesn't hold a candle to this place.  It's a much smaller room, probably has tons more money, and definitely doesn't have the crowds of sweaty kids that the zoo does.

 Lucy and Carson checking out the butterfly on Ann's shoe.  He probably liked her pink laces.

 The volunteer who gave Lucy the magnifying glass to use tried also to show her how to use it with no luck.

 The close up look at these butterflies was just amazing.

 It was a wonderful day!

Grandma Goes Global

My parents recently went to Costa Rica for a wedding, and we're mildly jealous.

So we colored our bath water blue and used our imagination.  Ahhh, smell that salty ocean air as we splash in the surf.

 

 In other vacation news: on skype Grandma told Lucy a story about being on a boat, seeing monkeys, and one actually eating a banana out of her hand.  Lucy's take?  "A monkey ate Grandma!"

Science Center

Last Friday was a rainy day, so we headed to Des Moines to hit the Science Center, the central Iowa museum for kids.  Lucy called it the "Science Contest" after the Curious George promo that talks about introducing kids to math and science concepts.  An aside, a friend here told me she saw a t-shirt for sale in a DSM shop that said: "Des Moines, come let us exceed your already low expectations!"  With that in mind, we had a great time.

As usual, we arrived about an hour after we planned, partially because I got 15 miles down the highway and had forgotten the baby rider and had to turn around (or carry Jamie in my arms or the car seat the whole time - yikes!)  The photo of me and Jamie was taken by Lucy, one of her better shots.  I could have included the one of my can of seltzer that she snapped, to then look up at me and say "The seltzer just said cheese!"  You, however, can imagine that one.

The Science center has just three large rooms for exhibits.  One spaced themed, with a planetarium-style theater, one action room with lots of cause-and-effect and interactive displays, and one for the littler kids.  We started with the non-toddler themed rooms, as I was afraid if we began with the toddler activities, we'd never leave.  Lucy actually went into a show at the planetarium and sat for about five minutes until she got scared off by the big bang.  She came home telling Eric about the "talking horse" at the museum, referring to the Horsehead Nebula.  :)

The "Ball Wall" kept Lucy busy for a while.  The contraption was kind of Rube-Goldberg-esque, with lots of balls that kids could put in different baskets where air flows sucked them through tubes.  It was really too hard for Lucy to follow the track of a ball, but she really enjoyed the transfer of balls from place to place, and worked to share with a friend here, too.

A train set never disappoints.  It was hard to wait our turn behind all the four-year-old boys!

Blocks?  You mean we don't have these at home?

Finally to the toddler area for a quick show of how far Lucy can jump.

We love magnets.  And robots.  And especially magnetic robots.  This wall was covered with the different parts for kids to assemble their own robots against a background that was supposed to look like another planet.  Lucy must have spent 20 minutes there, changing out the legs of her robot.  "These legs.  No, no, no, these legs."

Iowa style, this is some sort of farm-production exhibit with conveyor belts and cloth fruits and veggies to send to market.  I'm not sure why, but around 4:30, right before we left, the place really cleared out, allowing Lucy an uninterrupted shot at working the conveyors. 

And the Bubble Bay!  Yes, the floor is as soapy as it looks.  I saw at least four kids (including mine) hit the ground.  I believe it might have been Lucy's favorite spot.  We spent a ton of time here; trying out the giant wands, chasing bubbles, and getting soapy.  This seemed to be a girls-only hangout.  Do boys not love bubbles too?  We actually came home with 2 of these wands, and now have the stuff to make our own giant bubbles in the back yard.  I'm thinking a bubble party in the near future.

Can you see the exhaustion?  What a fun day.  Only problem is that now, Lucy thinks that whenever it rains we're headed to the Science Center.

And beautiful Baby J?  Not a peep.  This is what he looked like all day long.  Hey, who knows.  Maybe we will go back next time it rains!

Mother's Day

I celebrated my 1st "mother-of-2"s day this weekend in numbers:

1000 kisses on the sweet cheeks of children
100 loving hugs, most willingly given
20 minutes at the park to play
13 hours with no-nap Lucy
10 dirty diapers
7 trips to the potty
5 charms on my mother's bracelet
3 perfectly written letters on my card
2 wonderful children
1 happy mommy

 Eric made a card with Lucy.  The blue is the pond and the yellow stripe are the 5 little ducks who went out to play, over the hills and far away.

 Did I say she was a prodigy?  Eric tells me she wrote the letters totally backwards.

 Excited park face. 

Little Prodigy

 It's been a long-standing joke in my family to call Lucy my little prodigy whenever she does something spectacularly silly, such play peek-a-boo by covering her ears.  Here, I'm half kidding but still really proud.  This is Lucy signing her name to a card, where you can (if you know what you're looking for) make out the fact that everything but the C looks almost like it should.  We've been working on pre-writing skills like holding a pencil and drawing lines and shapes, but this was the first time she actually wrote more than one legible letter.  Unfortunately for everyone who didn't receive this particular Easter card, she refused to repeat it.

Maybe this was what the Easter bunny was so proud of?