A few weeks ago, Chris scheduled a work trip to St. Louis that happened to be at the same time as the twins' fall break from school. I was kind of lamenting the fact that the kids were out of school at the time he would be gone when he said, "Well, why don't you all just come with me?" I thought about it for approximately two seconds before deciding that it was a great idea. He knows it doesn't take much to convince me to go on a trip!
Chris had set aside Thursday, October 14 as a driving day. It's a six hour drive, so we knew if we left early we could make it to the city in time to have some fun. Our goal was to leave the house by 5:30am . . . we were pulling out of the driveway at 5:40am, so we didn't miss it by much!
Road trip time!
The drive went smoothly for the most part. I drove a lot of the way so Chris could get some work done. We stopped for lunch in a small town about an hour from St. Louis, and it ended up being a scuzzy restaurant. There was still a smoking section IN the restaurant! We didn't know such a thing even existed anymore.
After lunch, the girls conked out for a while, which was great. We didn't want them to be too tired to enjoy our sight-seeing that afternoon.
Brooke and all her loot, haha
Brecklyn
We decided our first stop in the city should be the Gateway Arch. The last time we were at the Arch was when I was pregnant with the twins, so we thought another visit was in order. We ended up parking quite a distance away, and the weather was cloudy but nice. We were all excited to be there!
.jpg)
Yay for being at the Arch!
Chelley and Chris . . . photo courtesy of Brianna :-)
The Old Courthouse building
Brecklyn, Brooke, and Daddy
Brecklyn and Brooke
Brianna
Brenson and Daddy
Brecklyn, Brianna, Momma, Brooke, and Brenson
I thought this pic was really neat!
The kids were very excited and nervous to ride to the top of the arch. Of course, there were still mask mandates in place inside the building :-(.
Each pod that goes to the top only holds five people, so we had to split up into two pods.
Brecklyn, Chris, and Brianna
Brenson, Momma, and Brooke
As you can see by the look on Brecklyn's face, she was pretty anxious about riding in the pod. Me too, kiddo, me too!
Daddy, Brecklyn, and Brianna riding to the top
Momma, Brooke, and Brenson riding to the top
I don't love heights, so being at the top of the arch isn't really my idea of a good time. I put on a brave face for my kiddos, though, and certainly enjoyed watching them take it all in.
Me and my guy
On the way down, we decided to switch it up a bit. Daddy rode with Brooke and Brenson this time,
while Momma rode with Brecklyn and Brianna.
One thing that is new since we've visited the arch is the museum. The kids all got junior ranger books and had a great time going through the museum to fill them out. We also discovered the National Park passport books in the gift shop. We decided we needed them for each of the kiddos since we are planning to visit several more National Parks later this year (soon!).
After being inside for several hours, we were surprised to walk back outside and find it was raining. It had been cloudy all morning, but the weather forecast we looked at didn't show rain. Despite the rain, I wanted to be sure and get a family pic with the National Park sign. It wasn't raining too hard at this point, but we were starting to get pretty wet. No regrets . . . I'm happy to have the picture!
Like I mentioned above, we had to park a ways away, so that meant we had quite a walk in the rain to get back to our van. Some of the kids were happier about the circumstances than others, haha. They didn't mind taking a break in a dry spot to take this photo.
We spent the day watching TV, playing games, napping, and reading.
We ordered in pizza for lunch, and just had a really nice, relaxing day. I needed it!
Of course, the kids loved seeing the arch again as we crossed back over the river from Illinois.
The architecture of this neighborhood was beautiful!
We parked several blocks away, and enjoyed our Saturday morning walk!
We hit the road for home around noon, but soon stopped for lunch at White Castle. There's something about White Castle that screams "St. Louis" to me, but I don't think I've ever actually eaten there. While we were all thankful for lunch, we weren't too impressed with the food.
Right next to a gas station where we stopped to fill up was this place called Dickey Bub. I don't know why it made me laugh so hard, but it did! I thought the girls needed their photo in front of it since they were both dressed in overalls that day, haha.
Once Daddy got home that evening, we went to the pool for an hour or so.
Brecklyn and Brianna
Daddy, Brecklyn, Brooke, and Brianna
Brenson
Since it was a Friday night, things at the pool were LOUD and wild. We weren't even sad to leave the pool, grab dinner, and turn in early for the night.
Saturday morning, we decided to make a few more touristy stops before heading home. The first thing on our agenda was the "World's Largest Ketchup Bottle" in Collinsville, Illinois. Not only was this a good excuse to take the kids to Illinois, but it was a fun sight to see.
Brooke was especially impressed by it because it says "Brook's" on the bottle.
Brooke
Yay!
Our second stop was the "World's Largest Chess Piece", located right outside the World Chess Hall of Fame in the West End neighborhood of St. Louis.
Another stop on the way home (and one that we regret) . . . Uranus in Missouri on Route 66. We were less than impressed with the gift shop and didn't spend much time there. We didn't realize it was so adult themed. Sigh.
However, just down the road was a much better attraction . . . the World's Largest Gift Store. We enjoyed buying candy and a few souvenirs before hitting the road hard for home.
This was such a fun, spontaneous trip, and I'm so thankful we got to take it!
No comments:
Post a Comment