St. Louis!

This year is turning out to be our year of travel. We took our second big trip over the last weekend of April to St. Louis to see my brother Jon, his wife Shannon, and my nieces, Hannah and Jordan. They very graciously welcomed us into their home and made us feel right at home!

This trip had been highly anticipated by the kids. They couldn't wait to see Hannah and Jordan "in their own house" as they kept repeating in the weeks leading up to it. They did great on the flights there and settled right in once we arrived. They were infatuated with their big cousins and followed Jordan around like little ducklings all weekend. They played, did lots of art, put on a performance for us, and just enjoyed being with their cousins. It was great to see!

We did a good bit of sightseeing as well. On Saturday morning we went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens which were absolutely beautiful! The azaleas were in full bloom and there were a few peonies starting to blossom. We had a wonderfully peaceful walk through the main gardens and then ended at the Children's Garden where the kids could have spent hours!

Setting the table for the fairies

Sheep!!

Adventurous kids in the Children's Garden!

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Saturday afternoon and evening were spent seeing some of the important places in Jon and Shannon's lives, chilling out, playing, and relaxing. Then on Sunday we were up early again and headed to the Zoo! Benjamin was thrilled that there were penguins! And Julia got to see her beloved flamingoes, ride a puffin on the carousel, and take advantage of an older cousin who can give piggy-back rides!

Other highlights of the zoo were the baby monkeys (so cute!) and the sea lion show! After a few hours of animals the kids were ready to chill out so we headed back to the house and they enjoyed their last few hours of playtime and even put on a performance for us with Jordan (who did a terrific job organizing and directing an opinionated Julia!).

I think that the amount of fun the kids had can be summed up by this picture:

She was done at the end of the day! Exactly how it should be! We had such a wonderful time and the weekend flew by! We're looking forward to a repeat journey in the future!