Thursday, March 31, 2016
Orthodontist
Carter had another orthodontist appointment this morning.
So at the last couple of appointments Carter had his appliance removed and a new one made since he'd broken the bracket on the right side. The new one was put on at the last appointment. At the appointment today Carter had a bracket attached to the 6YO molar on the upper right side and then springs put on both sides from the appliance to the brackets on the 6YO molars (to try to push them back so they stop coming in over his baby molars).
More kid had this in his mouth the whole appointment!
Carter's mouth was really sore tonight and it took him awhile to eat anything (but he finally got a little down). Hopefully it'll be a little better in the morning. Poor kid!
So at the last couple of appointments Carter had his appliance removed and a new one made since he'd broken the bracket on the right side. The new one was put on at the last appointment. At the appointment today Carter had a bracket attached to the 6YO molar on the upper right side and then springs put on both sides from the appliance to the brackets on the 6YO molars (to try to push them back so they stop coming in over his baby molars).
More kid had this in his mouth the whole appointment!
Carter's mouth was really sore tonight and it took him awhile to eat anything (but he finally got a little down). Hopefully it'll be a little better in the morning. Poor kid!
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
St. Louis - Day 2
On our second day in St. Louis, we went to the St. Louis Zoo. The zoo is located in Forest Park which is a huge public park that also includes the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Missouri History Museum, the St. Louis Science Center, a golf course, running/biking trails, playgrounds, and more.
The zoo opens at 9 am and we got there about 15 minutes early. We were able to find free street parking right outside the entrance at that time. Also the zoo is free which is awesome! Some of the attractions cost money but both the children's zoo and carousel are free the first hour.
We went to the children's zoo first. There is a cool see-through slide through the otter exhibit. I think the boys were able to time it so they slid down with an otter near by.
Next we headed over to the carousel while it was still free but we had to stop on the way and watch this playful polar bear! So cool!
All the boys (Gray on a gorilla, Rylan on a black leopard, and Carter on a penguin) ...
I rode on the Somali wild ass :) next to Carter ...
The penguins were one of our favorite exhibits (they had both an indoor and outdoor section). Carter and Rylan both did large units on penguins at school so there were able to tell us about the different types (like rockhopper, emperor, etc).
The one thing we did pay for at the zoo was the sea lion show. Because they are in "Spring Training", it was only $2/person. The show was probably a little shorter than normal, but still really good and probably the perfect length for Grayson. We made sure to arrive early and snagged some seats on the first row in the middle!!!
Hippos hanging out underwater :)
The St. Louis Zoo is huge! We saw so many animals (we even skipped some sections and still spent over 6 hours there). It makes the Nashville Zoo seem very lame :)
After we finished at the zoo, the boys needed a little sugar to keep going (we had walked a ton with no complaining). So we went to get yogurt at Orange Leaf.
Afterwards we returned to Forest Park and went to the Wonderland Playground. This brave boy loves him some slides!!!
Three very happy boys :)
After the playground the boys did what they like best - played with sticks around some rocks. We never stay on a playground for long :) While playing around the large rocks, Carter and Rylan randomly found a geocache. Rylan was so excited!
After an hour or so of playing we decided to get some dinner. This time we tried out Fitz's Root Beer. It was voted one of the best restaurants for kids in St. Louis when I was looking up places to eat before our trip and since it's only a few minutes from Forest Park, it was an easy choice for dinner.
Fitz's bottles their root beer on site and you can watch the bottling process as you eat.
Plus their food was surprisingly amazing! I got a turkey club and didn't expect much but it was the BEST turkey I've ever had.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel. It was a little later and Brian and I didn't have the energy for the pool again. Apparently the boys didn't either. Carter and Rylan sat on a bed and silently watched a show for an hour. They are usually crazy in the hotel room but we actually wore them out (which is nearly impossible to do!).
The zoo opens at 9 am and we got there about 15 minutes early. We were able to find free street parking right outside the entrance at that time. Also the zoo is free which is awesome! Some of the attractions cost money but both the children's zoo and carousel are free the first hour.
We went to the children's zoo first. There is a cool see-through slide through the otter exhibit. I think the boys were able to time it so they slid down with an otter near by.
Next we headed over to the carousel while it was still free but we had to stop on the way and watch this playful polar bear! So cool!
All the boys (Gray on a gorilla, Rylan on a black leopard, and Carter on a penguin) ...
I rode on the Somali wild ass :) next to Carter ...
The penguins were one of our favorite exhibits (they had both an indoor and outdoor section). Carter and Rylan both did large units on penguins at school so there were able to tell us about the different types (like rockhopper, emperor, etc).
The one thing we did pay for at the zoo was the sea lion show. Because they are in "Spring Training", it was only $2/person. The show was probably a little shorter than normal, but still really good and probably the perfect length for Grayson. We made sure to arrive early and snagged some seats on the first row in the middle!!!
Hippos hanging out underwater :)
The St. Louis Zoo is huge! We saw so many animals (we even skipped some sections and still spent over 6 hours there). It makes the Nashville Zoo seem very lame :)
After we finished at the zoo, the boys needed a little sugar to keep going (we had walked a ton with no complaining). So we went to get yogurt at Orange Leaf.
Afterwards we returned to Forest Park and went to the Wonderland Playground. This brave boy loves him some slides!!!
Three very happy boys :)
After the playground the boys did what they like best - played with sticks around some rocks. We never stay on a playground for long :) While playing around the large rocks, Carter and Rylan randomly found a geocache. Rylan was so excited!
After an hour or so of playing we decided to get some dinner. This time we tried out Fitz's Root Beer. It was voted one of the best restaurants for kids in St. Louis when I was looking up places to eat before our trip and since it's only a few minutes from Forest Park, it was an easy choice for dinner.
Fitz's bottles their root beer on site and you can watch the bottling process as you eat.
Plus their food was surprisingly amazing! I got a turkey club and didn't expect much but it was the BEST turkey I've ever had.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel. It was a little later and Brian and I didn't have the energy for the pool again. Apparently the boys didn't either. Carter and Rylan sat on a bed and silently watched a show for an hour. They are usually crazy in the hotel room but we actually wore them out (which is nearly impossible to do!).
Monday, March 28, 2016
St. Louis - Day 1
In the past we have always stayed home when the kids have spring break. But now that we are in "real" school (not preschool), we try not to miss any school for vacations and need to take advantage of the time the kids have off. And Brian has been working non-stop lately and the only way he'll take a break is if we get out of town.
Someone offered to take our picture. It turned out blurry but I'll still share it :)
After our tram ride down the Arch, we headed back over to the Old Courthouse. Proof that it was really windy ... look at that hair on both boys!!!
Carter and Rylan finished up their worksheets in the courthouse and got their first junior ranger badges. Gray got one too (it is special one with a hook on the back instead of a pin!).
Next we walked a few blocks over to the City Garden.
There are a bunch of fun sculptures throughout the two block garden. The kids were allowed to climb on some of the sculptures and they enjoyed running around for awhile.
After playing for awhile, we walked over to Bailey's Range for dinner. It's a local burger and shake place with AMAZING food.
So yummy!!!
So this year we decided to go to St. Louis for spring break. St. Louis is only about 5 hours away which is nothing compared to our usual 10-12 hour drives to Florida or North Carolina. We left early on Tuesday morning and drove back Friday night. It was a GREAT trip! We fit in a lot while still not feeling over-scheduled.
On Tuesday, we left our house around 7am. The drive was easy and even Gray did pretty well. We stopped around noon just before crossing the river into St. Louis in East St. Louis for an easy lunch at Chick-fil-a (we haven't been there in forever and the kids were stoked!).
We stayed at the Hampton Inn Downtown and were able to check in early so we went ahead and unpacked the car and left it there for the day. Then we headed out on foot towards the Gateway Arch.
The grounds around the Arch and the tram rides to the top have been closed due to construction for awhile. But we planned on visiting the Old Courthouse which is the current visitor's center for the Arch.
The Old Courthouse was the site of the first two trials of the Dred Scott case in 1847 and 1850. Because it is part of the National Park system, I thought it would be fun for the kids to finally do one of the Junior Ranger Programs. Carter and Rylan had a huge worksheet to fill out about the architecture and exhibits in the courthouse.
The Old Courthouse was the site of the first two trials of the Dred Scott case in 1847 and 1850. Because it is part of the National Park system, I thought it would be fun for the kids to finally do one of the Junior Ranger Programs. Carter and Rylan had a huge worksheet to fill out about the architecture and exhibits in the courthouse.
As we were going through courthouse and answering questions, Brian noticed that it looked like tickets were being sold for something. Surprise, surprise - the tram rides to the top of the Arch had just started back up that day!!! We decided to take a break from the courthouse and get tickets. I'm so glad we did because when we had finished, a lot more people were figuring out that the Arch was back open and the lines were much longer!
As were waited our turn to take the tram, we listened to a tour guide tell us lots of information about the Arch. The boys did a great job being patient and paying attention :)
It was finally time for our ride!
Each "pod" has 5 seats so we got one to ourselves. We had plenty of room but I'm sure these would be tight for five larger adults!!!
Gray did fine but he was not a huge fan. He held on tight to me! It was only a few months ago that he'd scream whenever we got into a normal elevator.
The views from the top were great, of course. We enjoyed finding things like our hotel and the baseball stadium.
The river side view ...
The Old Courthouse ...
St. Louis Cardinals Stadium ...
Our hotel is the one on the far right next to the Edward Jones Dome ...
The construction going on below the Arch ...
It was super windy on Tuesday - I think about 20 mph winds with higher gusts. And you could definitely feel the Arch swaying when at the top. It didn't make me nervous at but Brian had to keep an eye out a window so he didn't get motion sick :)
All the boys ...
All the boys ...
After our tram ride down the Arch, we headed back over to the Old Courthouse. Proof that it was really windy ... look at that hair on both boys!!!
Carter and Rylan finished up their worksheets in the courthouse and got their first junior ranger badges. Gray got one too (it is special one with a hook on the back instead of a pin!).
Next we walked a few blocks over to the City Garden.
There are a bunch of fun sculptures throughout the two block garden. The kids were allowed to climb on some of the sculptures and they enjoyed running around for awhile.
After playing for awhile, we walked over to Bailey's Range for dinner. It's a local burger and shake place with AMAZING food.
So yummy!!!
After dinner our little city explorers walked with us back to our hotel. The Hampton Inn had an indoor pool so we joined the rest of the people at the hotel in the very crowded pool. The boys didn't seem to notice and loved it (including Gray). All the unsupervised crazy kids drove Brian and I a little nuts but we survived :)
We had a standard two queen bed room and tried to spend as little time in there as possible on our trip. Brian and I had a bed, Carter had a bed, Rylan slept on his inflatable mattress with the sides, and Gray slept in his playyard. The room was fine but that's a lot of people in a small space :)
We had a standard two queen bed room and tried to spend as little time in there as possible on our trip. Brian and I had a bed, Carter had a bed, Rylan slept on his inflatable mattress with the sides, and Gray slept in his playyard. The room was fine but that's a lot of people in a small space :)
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