One Final Blog On Missouri

Here are the final pictures from our Missouri trip.

St. Louis Science Center (this is like OMSI, and it is free!!)

We built an arch out of foam blocks with another family.
The kids got to hold and pet snakes and other reptiles.
I got brave and decided that I wanted to hold one too!
Benjamin had fun with his cousins Rachel and Claire.
There was a bridge across the highway. They had radar guns so you could record the speed of the cars going by underneath you.
You could also look down and see the cars go by beneath your feet.
My kids enjoyed the balance beam.
St Louis Science Center is one of two places in the world with a Build-A-Dino...
... so we let the kids all get a dinosaur.

My kids really did have a good time with their cousins! Poor Benjamin, the lone boy.

Cahokia Indian Mounds - Illinois


We climbed to the top of the biggest mound (I'm still not exactly sure why they built them, even after going to the museum. I'm not sure the archeologists know why they built them either)

The view was nice, and the different Indian ruins were interesting.

Ulysses S. Grant's Farm - (now owned by the Anheuser-Busch family)


We got to see the world famous Clysdale horses. They are really big!
We also took a tram ride through the estate grounds, which are basically a wild animal game park.
Next door to the farm is the National Historic site owned by the National Park system.
The kids played dress up in clothing that would have been like Ulysses S. Grant would have worn during his world travels during his life time.

They had a good time doing that.

St. Louis Temple
We were also able to visit the St. Louis temple. We didn't even know they had one until we saw it on the side of a freeway one day. It is pretty!
We had a good time on our trip, but we were glad to get home. I don't know if we will get back to Missouri or not. We are praying that Alan will get a job here, but who knows what the future has in store. We sure had a lot of fun, no matter what happens!

Freebies This Week

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Barnes and Noble -
Saturday, Sept 6 at 11:00 AM Special Guest Storytime: Corduroy Bear Visits! If you've ever dreamed of your toys coming to life, you won't want to miss our special storytime featuring Corduroy Bear! Bring your cameras and join us.

Home Depot -
Kids Club meets the 1st saturday of the month (Sept. 6) from 9-12.

St. Louis Zoo

We spent a lot of time at the zoo, because we had time to kill when we went to St. Louis for gymnastics (1 1/2 hours each way). It is free, and it is a pretty nice zoo.

Some of the days it was overcast and cooler. Those were nice days and the animals were moving around.

It was fun to see the hippos under water.

Once in a while we made the mistake of going out in high humidity and hundred degree weather. Notice the dripping sweat on their faces - even in the shade. (you can click on the picture to make it bigger)
So, it felt really nice to have the dinosaurs spit water on you!
It also felt good to run through the water in the children's area.
It made them nice and cool.
We took our cousins to the zoo, and they liked it too.
It was fun to pet the goats and guinea pigs in the children's zoo.
The playground was fun and full of neat things.
All in all we would recommend this zoo to everyone!

Sojourn in a Far Away Land - St. Louis Arch

We met Alan's brother Paul and his family for a weekend in St. Louis. They drove in from Kentucky and met us at the famous Gateway Arch.

The cousins were excited to meet each other. We had never met Rachel before, and it had been a few years since we had seem Claire.
We rode in these little pods up to the top of the arch. There are five seats in each one, but Alan and I were pretty crowded with only three of our children in one with us (the other one rode with Uncle Paul and Aunt JJ)
There were these little windows across the top that you could look out of.
The view was nice, but I got motion sickness being up there. I swear I could feel it moving.
Afterwards we went to the museum underneath the arch. It commemorates Lewis and Clark, since they started their journey west from St. Louis.
We ended the night by going to a flooded parking lot and touching the Mississippi River one last time. The kids wanted their dolls to have that experience too.

Sojourn in a Far Away Land - Mark Twain Cave

We went back up to Hannibal to go inside the Mark Twain cave. The story of Tom Sawyer is supposed to be based on Mark Twain's boyhood adventures, and this is the cave that he played in as a kid and used in his book. There are actually two different caves, but my kids couldn't get out the door soon enough for us to make the tour for both caves, so we just went in the one that is most famous.
We had to wait for Alan to meet us there after work, so we used the time to pan for fossils and gem stones.
They had a screen that they dumped the dirt in and then sluiced it in the water to see what was left in their screens.
When Alan got there, we took him up to the candle shop. I showed him a carved candle that I wanted and the kids dipped dinosaur candles.
They had a good time doing that. I just hope they can make it home without melting in the hot car.

We took some more pictures as Becky and Tom.
Then we went over and took a tour of the cave.
It was cool inside, so we wore jackets for the first and only time on our trip.
The rock is called Louisiana limestone, and it is only found in a 15 mile stretch between Hannibal and Louisiana, Missouri - apparently no where else in the world.
They had us stop at different areas to tell us stories about the cave. One was that some doctor chose the cave to try and preserve the body of his dead daughter in some kind of temperature controlled container. Apparently kids playing in the cave found the body and used it to scare each other. Once the parents found out, the town made the doctor remove the body and bury it.
This formation is called frozen waterfall.

The cave kind of reminded me of our hike through the narrows a few years ago in Zion national park, only this time it was underground.

After the cave we went to hike up to the lighthouse.
It was a fun day. There is a lot of neat stuff to do around here. I just wish it was cooler. The cave temperature felt really nice!