Saint Louis

Friday we checked the kids out of school early...we were going to St. Louis!  We had planned a DOC (Diabetes Online Community) meetup for this weekend (but at the last minute it fizzled out), and since our room was already paid (and we couldn't get a refund!), we went anyway.

Friday night we only had time to eat out and go to the Chesterfield mall-the temperature had dropped so we needed a visit to Justice to get a sweater. ; )  We only checked out a few stores since we were all really tired-and the mall closes at 9! : )

Saturday morning started bright and early-the kids couldn't WAIT!!  We told them the first place they got to go..(Clay prefers it to Disney-even the RiDeS!)..was the City Museum.  I'm sure if you've been following me, you've heard about this at least a couple times already.  We always think we've done it all...but then they add caves, secret passageways-and we found the 10-story slide for the first time and a HUGE rope swing!  They evolve too-love it!

Here are some pictures from our City Museum visit (before my camera went kaput.) : (

We usually park in paid street parking, but this time-we were so early, there was room in the PARKING LOT!  We usually come in the evening-DAY is where it's at! : )  Check out those airplane fuselages and caged tubes to crawl through!

There is the school bus hanging over the rooftop (above the 10th floor), and see that big cage with a metal spire (remember where that is for future reference!)

The kids super excited planning their day!  And doing some oooh's and ahhhh's!

But first?  A train ride.  Through tunnels and around the third floor of the museum.

And then some fun new goofy things, like the Midwest Spatula Museum. ; )

And the hall of mirrors, where flashes aren't really your friends.

And something to make you think.  "What if imagination and art are not frosting, but the fountainhead of human experience?" -Rollo May      ...I always agree.

So..use your imagination.  Who wore the largest underwear in the world? ; )  Oh, and don't touch them.

Love an opportunity to stick your head through a hole!

A good visit with creatively built robots would foreshadow the remainder of our day. ; )

Fun Zone!  I don't know if you can see, thanks to the gorgeous sun, but Clay is crawling across the ceiling in those white bars, Mary Claire is crawling over the rainbow bridge, and Ethan is in the big ball pit.  Love the exercise they get!!

Toddler Area..only lasted a few minutes.  And there are movie theater seats all around the kids' zones. = Happy Mommas.

Big quarter and half pipes.  They run up them after getting a good start, then s-l-i-d-e!  All around us are little holes/walkways in the walls-they are all part of a huge maze with tons of exits.  Clay assures us he knows his way around, and he comes out where planned.  Is that possible?

Then on to the concrete inner shell shapes.  Ethan is a conqueror.  He has to run up the steepest side, and hold on for dear life.  Then he slides to the bottom. : )

I got a picture...of all three!  Then they scattered again.  If I'd never been there, I'd have panicked, but they really do know their way around.

Love the rope swings.

And then they played piano.  Can you see all the carvings in the wood?  There isn't a bare spot on it!

Clay's happily playing solo.

And then...I check out, and check into Watching/Photographer Mode.  They are crawling through the wire tunnels out to the first airplane fuselage.

And now..they have crawled out to the second airplane, and onto the castle rooftop.  Can you see the tiny red on top?  That's Clay standing on the roof, outside the caging, me freaking out. Ches is with them, but I'm still freaking out.

Then they crawl back to the first airplane.

I'd be petrified!  Even when I'm not pregnant, I've never crawled out there.  Ches has to be the brave one.  I do Disney roller coasters, he does wire crawling.  It's a deal.

And then they are crossing over to the tree house-thing.  There are two people in front of them going v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y, and Ethan is right up on them.  I can't figure out where Ches is.

A little boy freaked out (like I would do!), and his mommy had to set him on her legs and crab walk out of there!  (Who would take me out?)

He finally crosses when they are almost done-he said the tunnel was shaking with that many people, and he wasn't going out till he could go straight across!

Then..on to the ROOF!  There's so much more to do!  They started with the giant slide.  You walk/pull yourself up the right side, then slide down.  (There are steps along the left side if you aren't into the climb.)

Another slide.  You walk up the caged area on the top, then slide down under the walkers!

Remember that caged spire on the roof top?  Eleven stories up, by the edge?  Yep, there's my boy at the very top!  Ahhhhh!!!!

Very proud of himself.  It makes me nervous.  But I think...how would it be to keep them in a bubble, and not let them live?  What if he got sick in a couple years, and I'd kept him safe at home for years?  I'd totally regret it.  I vote Experience.  I hope it pays off in the future..and not with a daredevil career.

The sister can do whatever her brother does..and with style! ; )

Above the city.

Hark-a new toy!  It's a HUGE dome, and you can crawl up the insides, and swing from the thick rope swing!

Looking up..and there's my little monkey!  He's fast.  Ches ran up the stairs outside-to be on the top when he came out!

Clay in the cage right above the rope-and he bounced.  Fear strikes me here.

Mary Claire scaling up the wall (they are caged against the wall by welded bars)-who invented this place??

They certainly have a sense of humor.  This is the mens/boys/rooster bathroom.

And the women/men/disabled bathroom.  This is where my camera broke.  I hung it on the door handle, locked it, and Mary Claire thought it'd be funny to wiggle/shake the door handle from the outside.  When the door handle was turned, the strap fell down, and the camera hit the floor.  Now the lens won't totally go in, so you can't get the lens cap on..and it won't focus anymore.  So, a few scratchy pictures later...and it died.

So, from here on..no pictures till I get a new camera. : (  We still had fun, and after some lunch, caves, and the ten story slide, we left for new territory.

We went back to the mall, watched Real Steel in IMAX, then had some Macaroni Grill for dinner.  The kids just love to color on the table! ; )

(and we found a gas station in St. Louis that is giving out free car washes to black and orange cars on Halloween.  Cool.  (Ches claims discrimination, but my van is black!) heehee

Ok, a note on the movie.  It was PG-13, but the only thing they hadn't seen.  We checked the ratings, and it was the same as Dolphin Tale...but I'll tell you: LOTS more language.  Lots of words I didn't like (some just used over and over again), some robot violence-they are boxing, and one adult kiss.  Mary Claire was grossed out over the kiss and language, so I had to apologize profusely to her, Clay said it was fine, and Ethan didn't really notice.  He just did some boxing moves afterward (and I wondered if he'd continue..but they're gone!)

Now it's Sunday, and we are headed home.  Only one trip back to the room to get the blanket I left (and a small panic attack over my sunglasses-but we found them!).  We are planning to stop at Ches' mom's house on the way home to visit, but we'll be home by bedtime.  It's a long drive!

And..I think we finally figured out her on-the-road pump basal!  We tried adjustments a couple times on the way here, and kept rechecking (you'd think we'd have nailed it on our 24-hours-each-way trip to the east coast this summer, but no.).  But, 170% seems to be her magic number.  I think we may have had other issues on that trip, but she's fine now.  We did really well!

At the City Museum, we had some constant checking-all that activity kept driving her low!  So she had a free mini-lunch.  We can't mess around with those 50's.  She left her meter with me while she was in those high-in-the-sky wire tubes, so I made her take her vial of Nerds with her...just in case!  That makes me as nervous as the high climbing, I just try not to let on too much-I hate to ruin a great day.  And it was pretty great. : )