Leave it to Weaver: The Gateway to the Midwest

For some reason, I have said since graduating college, that I could live in St. Louis. I had never been there but for some reason felt connected to it...strange I know. Well, I finally got to make a trip there, and I still can say that.

Damien was in Illinois for 2 weeks and he wanted us to drive to St. Louis for the weekend to spend some family time. Driving in the car or 7 hours with 2 kids, didn't sound like much fun to me, but I knew it would be worth it.

Midway through our drive, we stopped for lunch in Kentucky at Chick fil a. I thought it would be perfect to let the kids run and play for a bit, but those plans got spoiled even before we had lunch. We went to the bathroom as soon as we got there to change diaper, potty and wash hands. I washed Natalie's hands, put her down and picked Dylan up to wash his. Before I could stop it, I saw the door opening, and the bathroom was tiny and Natalie got whacked with the door. I was so upset and shaken. I felt so bad and all I could think was, we are 3 hours from home and 3 hours from our destination. I am in the middle of nowhere as far as I am concerned. The customers were so nice to me, and one of the eating area servers was nice too. I am thankful that it happened where it did. Many people told me they'd pray for us. We got our food to go and we went to urgent care to make sure Natalie didn't have a concussion. She was given the all clear. whew. Thank you God. Notice her boo boo and how she looks out of sorts here :(

When we finally made it to the hotel, we had some crazy kids on our hands. We ate dinner and turned in early for a day at the zoo.

We had breakfast the following morning at this little cafe. The weather was perfect to enjoy our meal on the patio.

Next stop, the zoo. The zoo in St. Louis is awesome. Not only is it free but they have great animals. I wish our local zoo was half of what this zoo was. Our first stop was the interactive kids area, because it was free until 10:00. The kids loved exploring all the things that was their size and seeing some animals up close.

We also did the carousel early because it was free until a certain time. Yes, I am thrifty. Natalie has carousel, so we took a spot on a stationery one.

The butterfly house was beautiful. There were so many different species. The kids weren't impressed so much, but Damien and I were.

We discovered that the zoo had a build a bear but with their zoo animals. Dylan has been asking for a penguin ever since Nana brought Natalie one home, so guess who got a penguin.

Natalie was happy to have anything. i thought we could get by with getting her a small one that was just a little toy, but Damien insisted she get the elephant. Here she is picking out the heart to go inside of it. Damien named her Allie (much like Big Al, Roll Tide)

I love the monkey/ape exhibits. They are by far my favorite. This little guy or girl was all the way up to the glass. Natalie didn't know what to think at first, but she gradually braved it.

The next day, we would head back home but wanted to do something before we made the journey, so we went to a local kid's museum. There were lots of things for the kids to do, just the right amount for a half day.

This cool exhibit spanned the entire 3 stories. It was like an obstacle course. Natalie didn't make it very far, but Dylan did it a few times. He was just never still long enough for me to get a picture of him.

We found this needle thing, you know the kind where you can put your hands and it outlines it. This is our family on the top row. Left to right, Damien, Dylan, Natalie, then me.