A Visit Down South

This weekend we loaded up the mighty mini and braved the long trip down to the St. Louis area. The car ride down may have been the best one yet! Because we timed it right, leaving right after lunch, the kids napped and we only had to make one stop because Gracie had to go to the bathroom! Thank goodness for DVD car players right? I think the kids watched Tangled twice! We got to Uncle Frog's house and had dinner and then went on their dock to feed the fish. The kids thought this was great. All of them were just chucking food into the water and laughing!

Of course I was a little scared that one of them might fall in the water and that water didn't look that pretty to jump into. Thankfully no one did.

Then we had some fun playing outside and Gracie found the tire swing and sat on that for awhile.

The next day, we had family coming over to see us. Uncle Corndog had fun making cupcakes with Evie and Presley.

Gracie had fun playing Barbies and being silly with Maddie.

Gracie even got some early birthday presents. Papa and Grandma Vicky gave her a Barbie doll. That's awesome because she is starting to get into them. I need to find my old ones speaking of that.

They also gave her an anniversary Barbie and a Ken that we didn't let her open. Maybe they will be worth some money one day!

Uncle Frog and Aunt Christie gave her Moon Dough. I wasn't sure what it was, she has seen commercials for it on TV. It's like Playdoh but it's more like foam I guess. It's different. But she likes it.

She also got a Sit-n-Spin! Wow! I always wanted one of these as a kid. She is lucky!

Lots of people stopped over. Cousin Hannah had fun holding Little Miss Evie. She wanted to get her hands on Mr. Presley but he wasn't having it.

Gracie figured out the Sit-n-Spin. Afterwards she told me"I'm dizzy Mommy." Yep, that's what happend honey.

Then we had cookie cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She loved that. Uncle Frog put 4 candles on her cake for her to blow out. The video is at the bottom of the blog if you hang in there.

After eating some cookie cake, the kids were wired so they took it out on Daddy. I don't think he minded though.

Then we tried to get some, at least 1 good picture with Papa and Grandma Vicky. Evie was about the only one who cooperated.

Here is one of the many pic that were attempted. Oh well. It will make for good memories later right?

But once we threw Daddy in the pic, all was good.

The next day, the kids, Aunt Christie, and I headed to the St. Louis Zoo. This zoo is absolutely beautiful! Brookfield Zoo is nothing compared to this zoo. You walk on these trails that are surrounded by flowers, trees and bushes. The animal habitats are so clean and up close and personal. We really loved it. The girls thought that the hippo that was right up on the glass was neat. Presley was too scared to get too close.

Then we saw some Cheetahs.

And elephants too! Our zoo doesn't have any elephants anymore. They even had a baby elephant here but we didn't get to see it.

But the ones we did see were pretty cool.

Then we rode the choo-choo train around the zoo. The kids loved this, especially Presley. He was waving at everyone.

After the train ride, it was time to see the monkeys.

And then we headed to the merry-go-round. Gracie and Evie hopped right on with Aunt Christie. Guess who didn't want to ride?

Yep. We sat on the bench and went around instead.

Then after walking around some more, we finally made it to Miss Gracie's (the boss) destination. The giraffes! They had quite a few of them and even a baby one too!

Then we saw some camels.

And zebras. Some of them even put on a "circus act" for us but I couldn't get my camera out in time.

On our way out, we saw an alligator.

We would have loved to stay and see the rest of the zoo but these kiddies were getting crabby and hot.

So my little family picture did not go as planned.

But we had fun anyways. It was great seeing everyone down south there. Next time we will have to go back to the zoo. Thanks Aunt Christie for taking us and thanks Uncle Frog for letting us crash your pad.

And Happy Birthday to my baby girl who will be 4 this Friday!