The Arch

We visited the arch while my mom was visiting.  It wasn't too crowded or hot and it rained a ton, but only while we were inside.  So the weather worked out for us.  Except that a crazy storm came through later in the day delaying my mom's flight out of St. Louis, but everything worked out in the end.  Here is the arch from just below it.

 

 Matthew and Anna thought my mom should touch the arch.

 We looked around in the Museum of Westward Expansion under the arch.

 

While we waited to take the ride to the top of the arch the kids got to sit in this old fashioned balance.

Matthew is heavier.

At the top of the arch.  It wasn't as crowded as last time, but still quite a few people.  It was also raining while we were up there.

 Grant and Scott at the top

 My mom helping John see out.

 And back down at the bottom.  We saw a movie about the making of the arch.

And we saw a lot of displays in the museum.

The animals were favorites.  It was fun having my mom come visit us and see the arch again.  We took her to the airport after our visit and then headed home.  The storm came through after we got home.  But she eventually got out of St. Louis and didn't miss her connection.

On the way home we drove over a new bridge that has been recently completed between Missouri and Illinois.  Our GPS didn't know about the bridge yet and was freaking out.  It was kind of funny.  It showed us driving across the water and kept wanting us to turn around.  :)

Missouri Botanical Gardens

We visited the Missouri Botanical Gardens this past week while my mom was here.  We went last summer but didn't get to see everything, so we saw some new things, and some favorites from last year.  They were having a special exhibit with Lego sculptures.  Here we are by the Lego Roto Tiller.

 Lego gardener

 Bald eagle

 Checking out the inside of a big tree

 Lego family of ducks

 Snake and mouse

 Lego praying mantis

 See the fear!

 Lego monarch butterfly

 Woodpecker

Lego bird feeder scene

 I think this flower used to be standing up

 There was a place to play with Legos too
Grant built this and told me it was an airplane.

They had a table with craft supplies too to make whatever you want.  Anna made this.

 Matthew made this Lego "ant"

 Lego sundial

 Sitting on a carriage

Lego mosaic scene.  I like how Grant is looking up at Matthew in this picture.  Lately Grant has been interested in doing whatever Matthew does.  Before I think Grant was a little too young to care.  Now he wants to do what big brother is doing more often.  They are four years apart in age.  So you will see Grant as Matthew's little shadow in a lot of these pictures.  Matthew is pretty patient with him.

 We walked around the Japanese garden area of the gardens.  This bridge was pretty cool.

 The pretty Japanese gardens

 Grant really liked this cool walkway in the Japanese gardens

 And we got to feed koi in the Japanese garden.  The kids had a great time doing that.

 And after enjoying the Japanese garden we went to the hedge maze.

The kids ran through it a bunch while I relaxed on a bench.

We sat on the big cake when we left.  St. Louis is turning 250 years old this year, so there are all these cake sculptures all over St. Louis.  We posed with the Botanical Garden one.  I'm glad we got to go back and had nice weather.  The Legos were cool and the Japanese gardens were really cool.  Always fun to see!

St. Louis Temple

While my mom was here we went to visit the St. Louis temple.  There was a wedding going on, but not many other people were there.  It was very beautiful and it was nice to see it up close after driving by so many times.  Like a lot of LDS temples, its right near a major freeway so we have passed it quite a bit.  Here we are out in front.

 Mingling with some wedding people at the back of the temple

 It was very beautiful.  We admired the little gardens quite a bit.

The kids really wanted to play in this fountain.  I had to explain its not the kind of fountain we play in.  They enjoyed looking at it though.  It was great we got to go see the temple up close.

Summer Vacation Day 1

Our summer vacation officially started this week!  The kids rejoiced about their last day of school, saying things like how much they were looking forward to sleeping in.  5:40 am on the first day of vacation Anna appears at the side of my bed asking when Mommy school is going to start.  I'll tell you when it's NOT starting.  5:40 in the morning.

At the slightly more reasonable hour of 6am I got up, 'cause all the kids were up.  What happened to sleeping in?!?  Oh well.  We played at the park for a few minutes ('cause I went to the library too early) and then signed up for the reading program at the library, and checked out our usual large quantity of books.  Here are the kids at the park.

 After the library we got ice cream cones

 And french fries.  Grant was in heaven.

Much later, after nap time (during which my mom entertained the older kids while the younger ones and I napped), we had Mommy school.  Matthew and Anna both wrote about our upcoming vacation to New England.  Matthew drew Niagara Falls and Anna drew Grandma's house.  Grant practiced writing some letters, made me draw some pictures in his book, then scribbled a bunch.

 I also had Grant do an "A is for Alligator" craft.

Anna saw it and wanted to do one also.  I think I'm going to have to go buy more googly eyes for the summer.  I liked how Anna spelled Rose (Roews).

 We did some sidewalk chalk art.

Anna drew some fireworks.

 Grant said his was a lollipop

And Scott and I even got to go out to dinner while Grandma watched the kids.  I surprised him with this picture.  Sorry Scott!  We went to Melting Pot which we go to about once a year, which is about how often we get a babysitter.  But, amazingly enough we are going out again sans kids next week as well for one of Scott's work dinners.  Twice in a two week period!  Amazing.
We also made ice cream this morning.  Wow, we were so productive!  My mom was visiting which allowed me/us to be extra fantastic today.  Not all our summer days will be quite to exciting.  :)  But it was a nice start to our summer.  Now can we please sleep in?