St. Louis

The girls had a long weekend for fall break and my original idea was to take the whole week off and go to Chicago.  Then field trips got scheduled for both of them for the short week, so we ended up going on those and downgrading our vacation to St. Louis.  It was still a city vacation, just not so far away (or expensive).  On Thursday we walked on the Katy Trail while Steve ran.

On Friday we went to the City Museum.  We've been there before, but Olive was too little to remember it.  They are at the perfect ages to enjoy it now.  They both love climbing and exploring.  We got there around 9:30 and stayed until 4:30.

Hannah and Olive in the tube

This is the steepest slide I've ever seen.  I was scared to go down, but I did it!

This was our first time on the roof.  You have to pay extra.  I'm not sure it was worth it except for the ferris wheel.  Definitely the coolest ride ever with views of the city.

They rode without a grown-up!

View from the school bus that hangs over the edge of the roof.

 Exploring the caves.

The floor is the largest continuous mosaic in the US.

Hannah is too tall to ride the train so she is waiting to surprise Olive.

We watched a circus show.

We were planning on deep dish pizza in Chicago, so since we ended up in St. Louis we needed St. Louis pizza: Imo's.  Or as I like to call it, cheese crackers.  We also found a cake from the 250th birthday celebration in 2014.

Saturday we saw the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, or "the Arch."  They are renovating the museum so you have to get your tickets at the old courthouse.  Which we found out was the location of the Dred Scott case.

We played at the new park at Kiener Plaza and ate lunch there, too.

We got late tickets to the arch so we could do some more sightseeing like Okoberfest at Soulard where we saw oldest farmers' market west of the Mississippi.  It is huge and reminded me of Seattle.

And we stopped by Citygarden.

Back to the Arch!  It is part of the national parks department so Hannah completed another junior ranger badge!  She said, "I can't believe we have been to St. Louis so many times but we have never been to the arch!"  Me too, kiddo.  But we finally did it.  And her class is now studying national landmarks and they read about the arch.  She thought it was so cool that she just went there!

And then I met Barry at the St. Louis Wax Museum!

Somehow we have 0 pictures with the McGuires.  They didn't go sightseeing with us because they had school/work/soccer games, but we stayed at their house every night and played so many games!

Weston Applefest

 We went to Weston's Applefest for the first time.  Grandma and Grandpa met us there in the morning because they were going to go Hannah's soccer game in the afternoon, but it was canceled because of wet fields.  So they took the girls to Chillicothe to babysit that night and we drove up the next day to pick them up and go to apple cider making (except I didn't go because I got sick and Steve didn't take any pictures.)  It was a very apple weekend!

A parade that throws candy overjoyed the girls!  Olive was quick to run out and get the candy.

zipline in the park

Olive found a black bear in one of the shops.

Grandma bought the girls new winter hats in one of the shops.  They were excited to find their favorite animals.

Making apple butter.

Shatto Dairy Field Trip

Even more field trip fun!  The first graders took the loooong drive to Shatto Dairy near Osborn, MO.  Unfortunately it was on the first really cold day of the fall and most of the field trip was outside. :(  Lunch was very cold!  We still had fun and learned some things about a dairy farm.  Most of the kids had never been on a working farm before so there were lots of new sights...and smells!  Olive had been there before when we took our own "field trip" when she was two.  This time she was brave enough to milk her first cow!

Arabia Steamboat Field Trip

More field trip fun- this time to the Arabia Steamboat in City Market!  I'm so lucky to be a substitute teacher so I'm able to take off any day I want to go on field trips with my kiddos.  The third graders got a tour of the museum and even got to meet one of the men who dug up the steamboat!  

I remember taking a field trip to the museum when I was around 4th or 5th grade.  Although they have been cleaning items continuously since they uncovered the steamboat in 1988...it still looks pretty much how I remember it from the early 90's.

We had lunch outside the gift shop and the girls in Hannah's class all sat together.  They are such a sweet group of kids.  Then they went to Loose Park to play at the park.  It was a fun day!

Meneely Reunion

 Justin and Becky live in Idaho and Marissa and Casey were on vacation in Florida, so it was just us at Meneely Reunion this year.  My cousin Amanda couldn't travel because she was about to give birth, so there weren't even second cousins there.  And it was raining.  We had a good time anyway.  No door prizes this year, instead there were jars of candy.  Whoever guessed the closest won the jar.  Steve got some mints!

Neither of us had sisters there, so we were sisters for the day. :)

Meneely three: John, David, and Sarah.

It was too rainy to play at the park, but we explored the Locust Creek boardwalk for a little bit.  We need to come back when we have more time.

First Lost Tooth

Olive lost her first tooth!  She was complaining that her tooth hurt when she was eating snack.  I told her it was probably loose.  Ten minutes later she had a whole in her smile.  Hannah lost her first tooth in kindergarten so Olive has been waiting awhile.  On the night before Olive's last day of kindergarten Olive said, "Mom, I don't think it is going to happen for me."  I agreed it probably would not.  But her wait is over and she is very happy to be in the toothless club.  Her other bottom tooth is now loose so I think it is going to be a big year for the tooth fairy!

Adventures with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa came to KC to see Hannah's first soccer game of the season we took the opportunity to have a City Market adventure.  We visited new shops, we rode the street car, we went to Union Station, and then ate dinner at Minsky's, oh my!  Basically the perfect Saturday.

When we were at Union Station, Olive wanted her picture with this poster.  Her grade is involved in Battle of the Brains to design a new exhibit for Science City.  She is SUPER into it!  She came home from school the first day and started making plans.  Her idea is an insect habitat where kids can climb through spider webs, honeycomb, etc.  It was one of the top 3 ideas chosen for her school, now it goes on to the whole city.  Fingers crossed!

Rooftop garden downtown.  I have no idea what Olive is doing.

Beanstalk Garden Field Trip

I went to Kansas City Community Garden (Beanstalk Garden) with the 3rd graders.  It was so much fun!  We got to taste lots of food straight from the plants.  We tasted plants that were bitter, sweet, minty, and one even numbed your mouth!  We tried some peppers, berries, spinach and more.  Best of all I got to spend some time with Hannah and her two best friends.  I caught them walking together holding hands.  Too sweet!

A few of the things we tried...

This plant (I forgot the name) closed up when you touched it.  The leaves on the left are still open and the ones on the right have closed.