We took another mini-trip this week, this time to St. Louis to visit the Magic House and zoo. We stayed with friends of ours from Chicago who have recently relocated to the St. Louis area. After spending a sweltering morning at Pirate's Cove pool with some girlfriends and their children we had a little lunch and got on the road and were so glad to see our plan worked- Kieran was thoroughly worn out and slept most of the way to Irene's house. We picked up our friend and headed off to the Magic House in St. Charles. Kieran visted this children's museum last year and remembered the model train area very well and made a b-line for it as soon as we got there! We spent a lot of time there pushing buttons and watching trains run on the tiny little tracks while Kieran ran up and down making his train sounds and yelling "All-da-board!"
We finally did manage to convince Kieran that some of the other exhibits might be fun too and he finally relented and enjoyed lots of other play areas before returning to the trains one last time ;) That night we had a yummy dinner with Greg and Irene while Kieran ran around their new home, making it his own with his potty chair in tow and Monster's Inc. on their TV! Once Kieran was down, we really enjoyed spending time with our friends and having a drink, or two ;) Kieran slept okay until about 4 am but after that he was awake most of the early morning rolling around and talking.
After a breakfast at McDonald's Kieran slept on the way to the zoo and so did mommy ;) Kieran had a good time at the zoo, but had a few melt-downs due to the lack of sleep the night before and the intense temps- upwards of 100 degrees- yuck! Of course his primary objective at the zoo was to ride the train- which we did and he loved every minute of that! He also really liked a "tunnel" that was meant to look like the belly of a whale (not sure he ever caught on to that). He loved the penguins and we went through that exhibit a couple times- he ended up convincing us he needed a little hopping penguin toy as a souvenir :) We rode the carousel and that was a moderate success. He also really liked a sort of hands on children's building with sand and manipulatives he could interact with- this was the place we saw "Dorie" from Finding Nemo ;) We ate a yummy lunch at the Painted Giraffe Cafe and then hit the road and as expected, Kieran was out in five minutes flat and slept the entire way home despite a pit stop and some serious traffic :)
We all had a very nice trip but as usual it is lovely to be home again in our own space. Next week we will take our last mini-vacation down to Onondoga state park to stay in a cabin and play in the creek. More to come on that trip soon...
We finally did manage to convince Kieran that some of the other exhibits might be fun too and he finally relented and enjoyed lots of other play areas before returning to the trains one last time ;) That night we had a yummy dinner with Greg and Irene while Kieran ran around their new home, making it his own with his potty chair in tow and Monster's Inc. on their TV! Once Kieran was down, we really enjoyed spending time with our friends and having a drink, or two ;) Kieran slept okay until about 4 am but after that he was awake most of the early morning rolling around and talking.
After a breakfast at McDonald's Kieran slept on the way to the zoo and so did mommy ;) Kieran had a good time at the zoo, but had a few melt-downs due to the lack of sleep the night before and the intense temps- upwards of 100 degrees- yuck! Of course his primary objective at the zoo was to ride the train- which we did and he loved every minute of that! He also really liked a "tunnel" that was meant to look like the belly of a whale (not sure he ever caught on to that). He loved the penguins and we went through that exhibit a couple times- he ended up convincing us he needed a little hopping penguin toy as a souvenir :) We rode the carousel and that was a moderate success. He also really liked a sort of hands on children's building with sand and manipulatives he could interact with- this was the place we saw "Dorie" from Finding Nemo ;) We ate a yummy lunch at the Painted Giraffe Cafe and then hit the road and as expected, Kieran was out in five minutes flat and slept the entire way home despite a pit stop and some serious traffic :)
We all had a very nice trip but as usual it is lovely to be home again in our own space. Next week we will take our last mini-vacation down to Onondoga state park to stay in a cabin and play in the creek. More to come on that trip soon...
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| Kieran and the model trains at The Magic House. I am surprised we don't have more pics seeing as how we stayed here for half an hour! |
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| A tunnel in the Magic House- Kieran said he was looking for a mouse ;) |
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| Water play... |
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| Kieran eyeing a "fish stick" so he could go fishing for a plastic fish in the pond. |
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| Build your own race car. |
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| Kieran is really into "cleaning" right now and took this dust pan all around the construction area in the Magic House "cleaning" up the rocks and dirt ;) |
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| Kieran in the Bobcat |
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| President Rother- has a nice ring to it, don't you think? |
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| President Kieran and his secretary of transportation discussing important train matters |
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| In the petting zoo... |
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| This is what Kieran was staring at :) |
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| Petting the rays and sharks with daddy at the zoo |
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| "Look mommy! Dorie!" |
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| Kieran checking out the "pigs" (guinea pigs) |
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| On the "shake shake bridge" (a Thomas reference) |
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| Kieran's new favorite animals |
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| Mommy and Kieran in the penguin house- this is a great exhibit on a hot day- very coooold inside! |
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| On the carousel- he was just about to loose it because he heard a train pulling into the station and wanted to get on NOW! |
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| Finally- on the train at last! |
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| I think next time we go we will buy a pass so that we can just ride the train around three or four times- he can't get enough! |
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| Kieran on the car ride home- completely zonked out! |
