St. Louis Trip

Mom had a conference in St. Louis this past week. Dad and Syd decided to go along, since Syd had never been before. We had a great time and found some really kid friendly stuff, that is also fun for adults.

On Thursday, while Mom was at some meetings, Dad and Syd went to the St. Louis Arch and the Mississippi River, which happened to be right across the street from our hotel. Here are some pics from their adventure.

These are from the Arch.










And these are from the Mississippi.




As a family we went to the St. Louis Zoo on Friday. It's an amazing zoo and is free to the public. You have to pay $11 for parking, but admission is free. They have a really good collection of animals, including three different types of penguins, which are Syds favorites. They also have a train and merry-go-round, which were a big hit as well. Here are some pics from our trip to the zoo.



Here is a young tiger cub we saw. He was very cute.



Here is Syd on the Merry-Go-Round.



And here are Dad and Syd in the Butterfly Exhibit.



Friday evening we went to the City Museum, which is a decieving title. Dad didn't want to go, being a person who doesn't really enjoy museums of any sort. But he was really happy he went after we got there. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I'll give it my best shot. It is this old, very large factory that they have converted into a chidlren's museum. Inside, they have a lot of different exhibits including a huge room set up for skateboarders, a huge room set up for gymnastics teams, and other hands on stuff. There is also a foodcourt. Outside, attached to the side of the building is this huge, very tall structure made out of iron, steel, and other metals that is a massive jungle gym for kids to run around and play on. I can't possibly do this justice with my description. You would have to see it to really understand how big and unique this is. Syd, on her own, climbed up to the top of one part that is even with the top of the building. Up there was a piece of a fire truck that she slid down to another level. There was also a whole airplane up at the top in another area. I have no idea how they get insurance on this thing since it's all metal and at first glance doesn't look safe at all. We just kept hoping that the engineers and welders that put it together knew what they were doing. The really cool part was that down at the bottom of this structure they had a bar and fire pits for the parents. So, we got pizza from the foodcourt, Zack got a couple of beers and we sat around the fire pit and watched Syd run and climb for hours. It was great.



Here is Syd in the skate boarding area, running up and down the ramps.



Here is Syd in the ball pit, which was at the base of the metal structure. There were actually two ball pits, one open to everyone and one for 6 and under. This is the 6 and under, because in the other one kids were trying to kill each other with the balls. We're not entirely sure where the parents of any of these kids were, but oh well.



And these are of Syd climbing around on the structure. You'll have to look close for her in a couple of them. I was using my phone camera, it was dusk, and with all the metal, good pics were hard to come by.