Lions, Tigers and Stingrays......Oh my!

Today, we made an impromptu visit to the Zoo, one of our favorite places in St Louis. There is a Sting Ray exhibit that isn't permanent and it leaves in September and we really didn't want to miss it. Not to mention the fact that it was a beautiful summer day - too nice to stay indoors.

We went to see the Sting Rays first. If you haven't seen them and are in the St Louis area, they are definitely worth the trip. They charge a $1.50 for zoo members or $3 if you are not, but they only take in a small group at a time and give you plenty of time to interact with them. Well worth the money. (I may be wrong, but I think on the weekdays if you get there before 10am its free to get in.)


Sting rays of all shapes, sizes and colors swim around this pool. You can put your hands in and they swim right up to you and you can touch them. They feel slightly slimy but soft and apparently they do not sting. A small one they were weighing, weighed a surprising 19 pounds! The zoo keeper explained that they are made up almost entirely of muscle.

Next we headed over to the penguins, Ella's favorite animals at the zoo. They have adorable penguins and puffins that live in a very cold exhibit. The penguins seem to play to their audience and they come right up the glass or sometimes to the surface and you would almost swear that they are splashing people on purpose.

Ella and Aunt Charlotte get splashed by the penguins!

Check out this adorable little bear. Based on its size, you might think its a baby bear however, its actually full grown. We happened upon them during feeding time. They were given a variety of fruit: apples, mango, bananas and oranges. It was fascinating to watch them peel the fruit before eating. Especially considering the huge claws they have.

Riley was our Junior docent and made sure we knew the correct name for each animal, how many are left on the planet, what they eat.....you get the drift.

Next on our list: Monkeys!


My least favorite exhibit - the reptile house.
I am really afraid of snakes. A trait apparently I did not pass along to my daughter.


We ended our visit with some nice tame giraffes.

Watching that mama giraffe feed her baby reminds us that we are starving!
Off we go to Chee Burger Chee Burger!

Ella starts preschool!!

As I mentioned before, Ella gets to go to preschool this year for two mornings a week. Tuesday was her first day. We got to the classroom and she went straight to the play kitchen. I said "I'm going to the grocery store, see you in a little while!" She replies "Okay, bye" and turns her attention back to the play kitchen.

I left, relieved that she seemed so happy. But as I was walking to the car, and realized that my youngest child was now in school, I started hyperventilating slightly. I called Chris to let him know how it went. He thought I should just be happy to have a few hours of peace and quiet, so I hung up with him and called my friend E. She was much more understanding and commiserated with me over the phone while I shopped without a little child tugging at my leg or throwing things in my cart.


I have to share a little story that cracked me up. In the previous years when my kids attended preschool they never used backpacks but this year the teacher said they needed one. So on Monday, the day before school, I showed her a gently used old backpack of Ciara's and suggested to her that she might like to use this backpack for school. (Saving me a trip to the store and the expense of a new one) "No! That's sissy's backpack! I want a purple one!" She says this as she looks at me as if I am insane. Not wanting to dull the excitement of going to school I headed off to Target in search of a purple backpack. The only ones I could find were soo big I could have carried her to school in it, so we settled on a Ni Hao Kai Lan backpack. Who knew 3 year olds could be so passionate about backpacks and school supplies?!

Day two of preschool

I love seeing the preschoolers wearing their backpacks.
They are almost as big as the kids!

Cardinals vs. Padres

We love going to the Cardinals games but we rarely go as a family. Of course there is the expense to consider. You have to take out a 2nd mortgage on your house to buy a soda. Parking cost more than your actual car payment. Then you have to consider the girls attention spans. After their first glimpse of Fred Bird and once they've finished their snack, they are pretty much ready to go home.

So last Friday, decked out in our Cardinals gear, off we went. The weather was pretty nice for August - a little hot when we first got there but cooled down as the night went on. Ella kept saying "I want to go see that Woodpecker" Finally after much pointing at the various pictures of Cardinals I realized she wanted to see Fred Bird. Chris took her and Riley but Ella was afraid to go up to him when it was her turn.

Usually when I go to a game, the Cardinals lose. Some of my friends have even suggested during key games, that I should just "take one for the team" and stay home. But perhaps my streak is over cause the Cards beat the Padres with no problem whatsoever. Chris wanted to leave during the 7th inning but Riley (a serious Cards fan) would not have it so we stayed for all nine innings.

It was a great outing family outing and kind of a last summer hoorah now that school is back in.

The best part of the ballgame for Ella - snack time!

Look how cute they are when they aren't fighting!!

Round two of snacking!
This is Ella's "funny face"

Riley and I took one of those silly pictures where you hold out the camera at arm's length without really knowing what you are taking a picture of. Not bad huh?

Ciara took this picture of Chris and I.

Riley and Fred Bird

Mother's Day comes twice a year!

One of my friends from church sent me a message via facebook wishing me a Happy Mothers Day. She said Mother's Day comes twice a year: The traditional holiday in May and the day that the kids go back to school. Some might even consider it Independence Day.

Back to school is a big deal in our house as I'm sure it is for many of you with kids. A couple of weeks beforehand there is the dreaded school supply list. Teachers can be very specific in what they want. For instance, Riley's list had on it "blue highlighters." Nobody sells blue highlighters individually so I bought a box with a rainbow of colors in it and extracted one for him to take to school. Anybody need a pink, orange or green highlighter?

Then there is the debate. Who needs a new backpack, lunch box etc. We decided backpacks from last year were in good shape. Lunchboxes were too, but a certain little girl insisted she needed a new one and decided to buy an "ICarly" one with her own money. Another little girl decided she was not going to be left out and picked out a "Ni Hao Kai Lan" lunchbox.

So the momentous day finally arrived. The kids got up early, got dressed, ate breakfast yada yada yada. As is customary in our family we measured them to see how much they had grown from the previous year and took way more pictures than was necessary. Chris even takes the day off so we can walk them to school. I announce that it is 8:35 and time to leave. The kids grab their backpacks, lunchboxes, boxes of kleenex etc and we head out the door.

We made it about six feet and Ciara turns to us and says "Where are you going?" "We're walking you to school!" we reply. (Duh!) "What for?" (She asks this as if walking her to school was the most ridiculous thing we could possibly do) "It's the first day of school!!" we excitedly reply. "So what, we walked to school all last year by ourselves" she retorts. I guess at the ripe old age of 7, she doesn't need us anymore. (At least to escort her the half a block from our house to her classroom)

Anyway, they both had a great first day with their wonderful teachers, Ms D for Ciara, and Mrs O for Riley. We finished off our day with dinner at Red Robin - Yum!

5th grade and 2nd grade here we come!
( I love how they are standing there together like they actually get along!)


Ciara reluctantly lets us take a picture of her in her classroom


A much more cooperative Riley in his classroom

Fun Day at the Magic House

I absolutely love the Saint Louis Magic House. It is one of my favorite places to take the kids and they never seem tired of going. And since we like to use every single last pass of our season membership (which happened to run out at the end of August) we decided to run on over there for some good Magic House fun. They recently added on to the museum, doubling it in size and we hadn't seen the new stuff yet either.

Chris couldn't come because he had to work, so that left us with three extra passes so we invited some friends along. All the kids had a fabulous time!

Waiting for our friends to arrive

(I love pictures of all three of my children together)

Ella painting with Ciara's help in the art room


There's no escaping Riley's love of Legos.
He and his friend E. decided to see how tall of a tower they could build.


Ella, K and Ciara sitting on the musical chair.
Each chair adds in a different section such as winds, strings etc.


One of the new additions showcases our government.
On that podium is a karoke machine - my friend E bribed all the children with a dollar
each to get up there and sing Yankee Doodle. It was great fun to watch!

Cheeburger, cheeburger, fries!

Tonight we went out with our friends A and E. We decided to try out a new restaurant called Cheeburger, Cheeburger out in Chesterfield. It's a cute place that kinda looks like an old fashioned diner. They serve all kinds of burgers, in a variety of sizes. You can top them with about 10 different kinds of cheeses. You can also top your burger with about 30 different toppings - pretty much anything you can think of putting on top of your burger.

At Cheeburger they serve a huge 20 oz burger. If you finish the burger they take your picture with a giant hamburger toy and your picture goes onto their wall of fame.

Our friend E, decided to try the 20 ounce burger. It arrived at our table and immediately drew the attention of the diners at the table next to us. The husband at the table had apparently wanted to order one and his wife had dissuaded him. He was most dissapointed that he was not going to get the chance to prove himself. E quickly made it through the first half of his burger.

We continued to cheer him on as did the guy at the table next to us. E wasn't even breaking a sweat and finished the burger before A and I finished our puny ones.

So if you ever are in Chesterfield, head over to Cheeburger, Cheeburger and don't be afraid of the Pounder! (Please don't ask me why the pounder weighs 20 ounces - I don't pretend to understand the logic of any of this!)