Saint Louis

This morning (July 26) happened to be my birthday, I don't remember a time that I was on vacation for my birthday. Because of the fact that when you are on vacation you lose track of time and what day it is, it took a bit of time to realize that it was my birthday. The kids were all excited to be able to tell me Happy Birthday and they were all excited to give me their gifts and cards as well. Celebrating your birthday brings excitement when you celebrate it through the eyes of your children. This day we were bound for Saint Louis and so off we went for the 3 hour drive from one hotel to the next. After many u-turns because of missing our exits and at times driving in circles trying to figure out where we needed to be headed we made it safely to our hotel. It is custom for our kids when we get to a new hotel for them to check out the space including the bathrooms. We also like to gather many pamphlets and plan our stay in whatever city/place we are in. After our customs were completed, the kids were anxious to try out the swimming pool and I was ready for a nap-sitting all day in a car can sure make you exaughsted. After our priorities were taken care of it was time to take Mommy out to dinner for her birthday. The only place nearby where everyone can find something that they liked was Olive Garden. We filled our tummies, but because it was a birthday we needed a treat but our tummies were too full for a treat. We decided to get it to go and Grant and I being the sneaky parents that we are enjoyed the very yummy white cake with Lemon filling after the kids were asleep. The kids picked out their own cards for me and you could really see their personalities shine through their cards. Grant did not help them but let them chose the card of their choice. Spencer's card had his personality all over it. Spencer loves letters, especially the letter "S" and he also loves the Wiggles. So he found the perfect card with lots of "S" as well as the Wiggle colors spread throughout; being a birthday card was not a priority for him. On the front of the card it says "Yessss" in nice big letters and the letters are colored in Wiggle colors. On the inside of the card it simple reads "You did it!" This is a Spencer card. Yes I made it to another year. Spencer was so proud to show me the letters "S" on his card as well as all the wiggle colors, he was very proud of his card and I was proud of his card too. Madeline's card was decorated with butterflies and on the inside was filled with her drawings. Anthony's card was sentimental but you could tell the words were from the heart. After I read his card I looked up at him and in his eyes you could tell he agreed with the author's words. Being a mother is hard and at times I wonder if I am doing a good job. Something I have learned from being a mother that at times the reward doesn't come until years later. I have this fear that I am going to screw up my kids, that they are going to see my weaknesses and that they are going to be louder than my love. However, Heavenly Father sprinkles moments like these that tell me that despite my many weaknesses I am a good mom and that my kids are truly happy and feel my love for them.

The next day we were off to explore Saint Louis. We noticed that the Saint Louis Zoo was free and hey free is always good so off we went to the zoo. It was definitely hot but the kids enjoyed going to a zoo that was different than the only zoo that they have ever known. They like looking at the animals some were the same and some were different. After we had sweated a lot and drank lots of water we saw the peguine exhibit and it was indoors. Now we know that penguins need a cold environment and at that moment we needed a cold enviornment as well. It felt so good in the penguine exhibit that I was willing to spend the rest of the day with the penguins. However, the kids quickly got over that and were begging to outside where it wasn't so cold. We were able to spend a couple of hours at the zoo before we headed over to the arch. Grant and I have seen the arch before but my beautiful pictures that were taken in the old fashioned camera (the one with film) didn't turn out so my main goal was to take nice beautiful pictures with my digital camera. This time I was guaranteed to get some pictures and I am proud to say that my goal was accomplished. Grant took the kids up to the top of the arch and I graciously stayed on terafurma and watched the stoller. The kids had a blast sitting in a small cramped cart and being wheeled up hundereds of feet just look out some tiny windows and seeing all of Saint Louis hundereds of feet in the air. Me on ther other hand had a nice safe and peaceful experience watching the many visitors coming and going throughout the museum that they have there under the arch. After my family safely joined me we took the kids through the museum where they could answer questions from the exhibits and in the end earn a Junior Ranger badge. This made the museum exciting for them and not a drag. The kids enjoyed racing from one exhibit to another answering the questions and then quickly moving on. This was okay for Mommy and Daddy because we didn't really have much time as we needed to be at our Riverboat cruise.

Speaking of our riverboat cruise it wasn't all that it was hiped to be. Sure the heat didn't make it fun, but I would have expected more (food, entertainment, etc.) for the money that you spent. We had a very knowledgable captain that shared with us the history of the various archeitecture buildings and bridges that we passed along the way, but for the most part we sat in the heat as the boat putted along at 15 miles and hour. The boat was an old paddle steam boat that they used in the late 1800s and early 1900s; so the nastalgia was neat, but nastalgia can't hold your attention or make the heat a pleasant experience. We finished up the day around dinner time and we were all hot, tired, and hungry. We cooled off in the car on our drive back to the hotel, filled our tummies with left over food from Olive Garden and we washed off in the swimming pool. After all our priorities were accomplished it was time to accomplish the last one, and to bed we went.