Mini Cooper's Mini Vacation

Okay.  I know I missed a week but we didnt fall off of the face of the earth or anything.  We're all fine.  Just really busy.  Our fall schedule has kicked in and let me tell you we've got something going every night.  If it's not Survivor, it's Dancing with the Stars, and if it's not Dancing with the Stars, it's Glee, and if it's not Glee, it's the Duggar's, and if it's not the Duggar's, it could be one of several other reality shows.  Ha ha!  Thankfully we now have that DVR recorder and I'm able to still have a life other than my tv addiction.  I had to spend most of the morning today getting caught up on all my shows though.  It's exhausting to keep up with all of these shows!

So here's what we've really been up to...

Last week Maleah celebrated Grandparent's Week at her school by having her grandparents eat lunch with her.  Grandma Debby, Great-Grandma Zelda, Grandma Sherrel, and Grandpa Clarence all took time out from their day to go eat with Maleah.  After lunch she got to take them to her classroom and show them around.  She loved having them at her school!  She thought it was very exciting.

Maleah and Great-Grandma Zelda

Grandpa Clarence, Grandma Sherrel, and Maleah

Grandma Debby and Maleah

We also took a short Mini Cooper Mini Vacation this past weekend.  It was me and Jason's 11th Anniversary (woo hoo!  yay us!) and we decided to get away for a night or two and take the kids with us.  We thought some fun family time would be great.  It was fun but there were moments when I was totally re-thinking the idea of bringing the kids.  I really do understand why some people leave their kids at home and get away alone for their anniversaries.  We stayed one night in the hotel and were more than ready to come home the next day.  My kids just sleep better at home.  My husband just sleeps better at home.  And I for sure sleep better at home.  It didn't help matters at all that all I've been hearing about for the past few weeks on the St. Louis news is about the bed bug problem that is going on over there.  That can definitely affect your sleep in a hotel.  Especially one that sort of smells funny. 

So we went to St. Louis, had a nice dinner out, and then swam at the hotel pool (brrr!!!).  Saturday morning we headed to Grant's Farm.  I hadn't been there since I was a kid myself.  All I remembered about it was feeding the goats.  I couldn't remember anything else.  Well, that's probably because there's not really much there but the goats!  Okay.  Not really.  But there wasn't as much to do as I thought.  We took a tram ride around the grounds and saw Ulysses S. Grant's log cabin (pictured below), saw some cool animals, and fed those ravenous goats.  We also met the author of I Don't Want to Kiss a Llama, Byron von Rosenburg.  He signed a copy of the book for the girls.  That part was pretty neat.  But after that we were outta there.  Grant's Farm was two hours worth of fun.

Okay, so after that we had Red Lobster for lunch, which was one of the highlights of the trip.  Here's why:  it was air-conditioned and the food was good.  It was really warming up outside and we were hot!  I don't know why it suddenly had to get so hot on the day we were supposed to be having family fun!  What happened to 75 degrees and breezy?  Saturday was 95 and not breezy.  Bummer for us.

So next we decided to explore the St. Louis Science Center.  I love the planetarium and really wanted to show that to Maleah.  I heard there was a room there for Maleah's age group and we thought it would be fun.  Here is what Carissa thought of the Science Center (actually this is what we all thought of the Science Center):

Carissa slept through the whole hour and a half that we were there just about.  So that part worked out pretty good because that kid needed a nap.  We missed the planetarium show and the next one didn't start for another two hours so we didn't get to do that at all.  And the Discovery Kids room was closed too so we didn't get to do that either.  I saw a mummified baby which only made me sad instead of curious.  My heart went out to that ancient Egyptian mother whose baby boy died thousands of years ago.  So I was bummed, Maleah was scared of the giant dinosaur model that kept growling and moving, Carissa was asleep, and Jason was disappointed that there wasn't more to do there.  Fun, huh?

Sooo, moving on.  Event number three of the day:  St. Louis Zoo.  We chose to do this because we obviously hadn't crammed in enough activities in our day.  We really needed one more.  Not!  Maleah really wanted to go the zoo.  It was right across the street and we usually love the zoo.  We know our way around pretty well and I thought we would "just hit the high spots".  So that's what we did.  That place was packed!  We were miserable.  It felt like it was a 130 degrees.  Maleah's energy was just about kaput.  She was now the one riding in the stroller and Carissa (who was by now very well rested just hot and cranky) was really wanting to stretch her legs and run.  She likes to run, not walk.  I don't know how many of you have experienced pushing a forty-five pound child up and down those hills at the zoo but for those of you who haven't done it, let me tell you, it stinks!!  Jason and I took turns pushing Maleah and wrangling Carissa.  It was a trade off really because Carissa couldn't keep up, so she had to be carried a lot.  What's worse, pushing the bigger kid up a hill in a stroller or carrying a twenty pound kid up the hill?  I still don't know.  It was around this time that I began thinking "What in the world were we thinking?"  It was also the time that I started daydreaming about a couples get-away without the kids.  I also started looking at the other parents.  We all seemed to have the same looks our faces - that look of misery and regret.  We were all wondering why we chose to visit the zoo on such a hot day and why we chose to visit the zoo at the exact same time as the rest of the world.  I don't have to tell you guys how hot and tired we all were because you were there too, right?  At least it seemed as if everyone was there.

Maleah took our picture in the butterfly house. 

But on the bright side, the girls were really pretty good and had fun.  We had good meals and we went home on Saturday night.  That was the best part.  But then I had to unload all of our laundry directly from the car into laundry baskets.  I quarantined everything that went with us on the trip that I couldn't throw into the washer.  I was more than slightly paranoid about bed bugs to say the least.  Do yourself a favor and don't google that.

On Sunday me and the girls went over to the Kinmundy Log Cabin Days with Grandma Debby.  We had a fun time and visited with our friends Bethany, Kari, and Trudy.  Maleah got a Christmas tutu made by Kari and let me tell you - she loves that thing!  She wore it the rest of the evening and added a few other accessories to it.  Check out her ensemble below (and ignore the quarantine/laundry area in the back).

Hear no evil, see no evil??

Carissa loves chocolate pudding.  She found an unattended cup of pudding in the kitchen this morning, left behind by a kindergartener who was hurrying to get ready for school.  Maleah is not a breakfast eater at all so anything I can get in her belly in the morning is great.  So she had chocolate pudding today.  Maybe not the healthiest choice but something is better than nothing in my opinion.  Anyway, Carissa ate what was left while I was catching up on my dvr shows.  Thank goodness for Shout! is all I can say. 

She loves chocolate as much as the rest of us.  That's the most she's eaten in a week.  I think I'll title this picture "Sweet Thing".  Hope you all have a sweet week!