{Cousin Fun Texas Style}

My Brother's wife Allison and daughter Scarlett came to visit us from Texas for ten days! Her original hope was to visit somewhere a little warmer, but we were so excited and felt pretty special that she chose to come visit us in St. Louis!

These little cousins have only met each other one other time and it was two years ago so it was fun for them all to get to know each other better. Yes, they all had their moments of teasing, not sharing, and doing what every toddler does, but they also made some very sweet memories together. I know my kids loved having Miss Scarlett around and have been missing her ever since she went back home.

There is one thing Adalee has been begging us to do ever since we moved here . . . see the arch! We have been waiting for visitors to come who wanted to see it as well and we finally got some! She was completely thrilled.

 
Unfortunately it was a bit chilly outside and pretty foggy, but we made the most of our trip. So for those of you who don't know, you can actually take an elevator to the top of the arch. A whopping 630 feet up in the air! I have a few fears. Number one, heights. Number two, ferris wheels. Number three, claustrophobia. Put them all together and you basically have our ride up to the top of the arch!

Check out this teeny tiny elevator we all crammed into! We had three adults, three kids, and 2 babies in utero in that bad boy! They designed the elevator to move much like a ferris wheel does. It was a little scary, not gonna lie! It takes four minutes to get to the top of the arch and three minutes to come back down.

At the top there are really tiny windows you can look out of  to get a view of the city. Sadly it was a pretty hazy day so we couldn't see too far, but it was really neat to see the stadium where the Cardinals play and to also look down on all the big buildings.

FYI, I should probably address the elephant in the room aka "Funny Bunny." The kids in Addy's preschool all took turns taking Funny Bunny home for a weekend. There assignment was to document their weekend with Funny Bunny. We figured there was a good chance Funny Bunny had never been to the arch. Just a guess ;) We got a lot of comments and giggles about hauling Funny Bunny to the top of the Arch, but Miss Addy thought it was the funnest idea ever.

 

After the arch we boarded  the Tom Sawyer river boat and took a tour of the Mississippi River.

Moments before this picture they blew the horn on the boat which scared the living day lights out of my kids and sent them running and screaming while plugging their ears. They warned us that were going to do it again at the end of the boat ride so the last twenty minutes of the boat ride Adalee had her ears plugged . . . just in case ;)

We tried sitting outside. That lasted all of about 1 minute. Too cold and too windy!

Even though we were all freezing cold we decided to stop at Ted Drewe's Frozen Custard on the way home. After all, it is a St. Louis delicacy!  They just barely opened back up for the season and you can bet that in this freezing cold weather, there was still a line of people!

A little somebody was too tired to wake up for his ice cream!

On a slightly warmer day we headed to the zoo. Our first trip of the season! Apparently I have forgotten how to navigate my way around the zoo which may or may not have sent us hiking up a very large hill that we really didn't need to go up ;) And I may have taken the scenic route a couple other times . . . oops. We only had a couple hours to try to get in as much as we could because Addy had to be back for preschool. Let's just say, the preggo ladies were a bit tired after all the hill climbing and stroller pushing! 

Oh how this picture makes me laugh. This about sums up Eli and Scarlett's relationship. I told Eli to hold her hand in the picture and this was the result. Miss Scarlett, no thank you! Eli, sad. Ha! Oh goodness. These two were pretty funny together. 

Another day, another adventure. Lone Elk Park is actually super close to our house so I'm not sure why we haven't gone until now. Gotta save up some sight seeing to cover the next three years right? We drove for a little bit and didn't see anything. We were a little worried there would be nothing to see, but after a little while of driving we ran into some buffalo and a little further down the road there were lot's of Elk.

 
I think Allie and I were more excited about seeing the animals than the kids were! They just kept wanting to get out of the car to see them, but unfortunately that wasn't allowed. We will definitely be coming back here, it was really fun!

During some of our down time at the house we did a fun little project with the littles. We learned all about mixing colors to make new colors and they loved it! 

 

I have been wanting to sign Adalee up for gymnastics for quite some time so when this gym told us we could come try out a class for free we were all over it. They even let Miss Scarlett come try it out. They were so cute while trying to do everything the teacher asked them too. And to say they loved it would be a huge understatement. They have been gymnastic obsessed ever since . . . oh boy! 

What a fun ten days we had! Allie and I had a really good thing going. I made dinner. She made dessert. Perfection! Allie is quite the traveler I must say. She came up with a whole list of things to explore around St. Louis that I had never even heard of. Unfortunately I sent her off sight seeing solo a few times. Being 36 weeks pregnant I was not feeling up to being too adventurous with my two littles by myself. But I'm glad she was able to get out and see the city! She introduced us to Toasted Ravioli and Butter Cakes, which are apparently also a St. Louis delicacy. My kids LOVED the Toasted Ravioli. I will definitely be trying to make it sometime. 

Ten days came and went all too fast. Our house is back to being too quiet and there isn't near enough dessert options going on around here ;) I'm so happy these little cousins were able to play together and so glad Allie and I were able to have a couple girls night outs. She is one fun lady!