We were all supposed to meet on Friday around 3:00pm at the rental house. Our children do not do time changes, so they were up at 6am Friday. We were ready to leave the house by 8am. It's only a 3 hour drive, so we decided to use our science center pass to get into the already-free St. Louis Science Center for free. Did I mention that our children do not do time changes? We hit the center during naptime and what would have been lunch time. Graham had a breakdown when we left the dinosaur exhibit. Another (very loud) breakdown when his turn was up for the mini excavator. It was 112 degrees in the parking lot. We high-tailed it out of there, so there are no pictures. We should have learned our lesson from this little escapade, but alas, we did not. More on that later.
Friday night, we had a mini birthday party for Madeline (and Mom), and again, we have no pictures. Madeline was adorable opening her presents, though. What a sweet, sweet little baby! At times, I considered accidentally packing her up in one of my suitcases.
On Saturday morning, we went to Purina Farms, which was just about the right amount of activity for the kids. It was not ideal weather, as we ended up visiting during a heat wave that could singe off your eyelashes and possibly your bellybutton. And who knew the whole principle of heat rising applies to barns, too? We'll do anything for a good tractor experience, though, so we toughed it out, glistening skin and all.
We talked a lot about what to do on Sunday. It was hot. Too hot to be outside at the zoo. Too hot to play outside at the house. What do you do during a heat wave like this? You go to a cave, of course! 60 degrees all year round! We did not get going early that morning, though. Did I mention our kids do not do time changes? The lesson we should have learned at the science center was definitely hammered home at Meramec Caverns. What followed was 80 minutes of no-strollers-allowed-grouchy-hungry-whiny-screaming-clingy children, while we adults sheepishly hung back with an apologetic I-should-have-known-better look on our faces and frantically searching for the escape route used by Jesse James. We didn't find it. Chase single-handedly ruined the God Bless America light show at the end by screaming the entire time. Yes, we were THAT family. The ones you love to hate for ruining your tour. Believe me, we hated ourselves, too.
Madeline was cute, though.
That night, Will had the best idea of all: let's go play in a creek. The kids had a ball, the water was warm, and it was relaxing. It also wasn't underground. Graham wanted to spend his time in deep water, and Uncle Caleb was happy to oblige after Will got tired of it.
We left on Monday and spent the next few days at Mom & Dad's while Will was on a business trip. We got to see my friends Jay and Mary, do some shopping, and walk around campus. What a trip! We anticipate doing this again sometime in... Never mind, we are still reeling from the cave tour and can't yet imagine doing that again.
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