Cahokia Indian Site in IL

We crossed the river over to IL to visit an old Indian site called Cahokia.  There are a series of mounds built up by hand hundreds of years ago and a cool museum to learn all about them.  Again, I'm sure we'd have learned a lot more if we weren't chasing the crazies around, but still really cool.

 On top of the largest mound overlooking the city of St. Louis in the distance.

 The girls always love a chance to run wild on a trail...

 ...or make sand (rather, gravel) angels.

 It's amazing how flat everything is there and how just 100 ft of elevation seems so dramatic. 

When I can convince her not to pull my hair out, I really enjoy having my little shoulder companion.

We can't believe our vacation is over already.  It went by so fast, but was such a wonderful experience.  Libby loved it so much, she's convinced she wants to move to St. Louis!  (We think it's the whole idea of vacation that she's always sold on at the end of a trip.  No matter where we go, she's convinced she wants to move there.  I mean, really, an entire week together with the family where no one has to go to work or do anything real...yeah, I'd want to make that permanent, too!)

St. Louis Basilica

Brad had done a bit of research before we left and said we had to see the Basilica.  So glad he did - it was awesome!

 Hanging out on the grass with my girls.

 The girls liked this cool angel statue in the courtyard.

 They had a koi pond that the girls enjoyed, too.

 The entire ceiling was a giant mosaic and was absolutely gorgeous!

 Libby and I at the front of the church.

Our tour guide at his chosen destination.  Good choice, Brad!

The Magic House

Turns out we're quite the house crashers since Julie and Dimitri had to fly out to CT to visit his family for Easter on Thursday, and we didn't leave till Friday.  We originally thought we'd stay elsewhere that last night, but didn't realize we'd scheduled our flight for 6:30am Friday morning.  Didn't make much sense to go elsewhere, so we house-crashed our guests and enjoyed one last day in the city.  We started our day at the highly acclaimed Magic House.

 It was a fantastic kid's museum with all sorts of fun.  Lexi loved the impression board!

 They had sand areas, a water area, a bubble room, and all sorts of fun everywhere you turned.

 In their pretend city area the girls had a blast at the grocery store.

 Daddy made sure they hit up the construction site and got to play with some of his favorite toys!

 This is the back of the house with a cute little garden area outside.  Don't you love the blossoms?!

 What a fun trip to the Magic House.  We would definitely be members if we lived here! ;)

And, of course, another birthday cake picture.

Lafayette Square

That evening we headed down to Lafayette Square, one of the oldest surviving neighborhoods downtown.  They have this amazing park in the center of it, and a famous "Gooey Butter Cake" shop we had to hit up.  (Have I told you yet how much we ate on this trip?!  Oh my goodness - it was crazy!)

 Gotta love a good selfie every once in a while.

 Andi and Libby on the bridge.

 Such cute girls!

The fam

The willow trees, the reflection in the water - it was gorgeous!

And included an awesome playground, too!

One of the houses Julie and Dimitri looked at and almost purchased.  So cute, but too much work!

We ate dinner at this cute place with some fun Mardi Gras statues that the girls sure enjoyed.

Who knew there was a French district in St. Louis!?!  Apparently, the Mardi Gras festival in St. Louis is second only to the one in New Orleans.  Cool.

And they had a fish tank...what more could these kids want?!

We finished off the night enjoying some gooey butter cake at the house and we sufficiently stuffed! Mmmmm, mmmm good!

St. Louis Zoo

All week we'd been driving by the Zoo and the girls would get so excited every time they saw the elephant statue out front.  We kept hoping for warmer weather, but decided the 50s were gonna have to do.  Julie had told me it was a free zoo, so I imagined it would be rather small and quaint - boy was I wrong!  It was huge and so much fun! 

 Libby at the hippos - though it looks like just a bunch of fish, the hippos are the giant rock-looking things behind all the fish.

 My little cuties!

 They had a cool sea lion tunnel like the shark tunnel at Sea World that the girls thought was awesome.

 Libby getting up close and personal with one of the orangutans.  They were bosom-buddies since they both share a strong affinity for snuggling up in blankeys for a nap! ;)

 Monkeying around with the gorillas.

 Libby and one of the camels.

Lexi with the giraffes in their indoor enclosure.  That was something new to us - the idea of a zoo getting too cold to keep all the animals outside.  They had a few of them inside for the chilly day outside.  I for one was happy to visit the like-minded cold-hating species! ;)

What a great day at the zoo!  We wore the kids out and had a great time doing it.  A totally free experience - WOW!

Pappy"s BBQ Joint

Among two of the most famous BBQ joints in St. Louis is Pappy's.  They stay open till they run out of food (which usually happens sometime between 5 and 7 pm).  Typically, there's a line out the door, wrapped all the way around the building, and back again.  We finished up at the City Garden around 6:45 and decided to try our luck and stop by on the way home.  Well, wouldn't you know it...it was open!  They only had two remaining items on the menu to offer - chicken and pulled pork (which is what I would have ordered regardless!), but there wasn't a single person in line and we walked right in.  Talk about perfect timing!

 The girls were super excited to see a "Pops Pig" as soon as we walked in. 

 Lexi being Lexi - I love it!  We figured we'd better get Pops a shirt from his restaurant, too.

 Enjoying every bite of that St. Louis BBQ goodness.  Even our vegetarian hosts enjoyed it! :)  Tells you what great hosts they were that they were willing to take us there.

Finishing off the night reading books together - a favorite pastime whether at home or on vacation.

The City Garden

After the kiddos all took naps, we headed out for a late afternoon stroll through the City Garden in downtown.  It was a really fun area with lots of cool statues and sculptures for the kids (and Brad) to climb on and play around.

 How perfect that they had this Easter Bunny statue for the kids to climb on!

 Those three had so much fun together!

 We love the Arch!  The girls would holler out "Arch!" anytime we were driving around and they saw it out the window.  Lexi would like to tell where she saw it, too - "Arch - Lexi's window!"

 This year is St. Louis' 250th birthday, so there were these fun birthday cake statues all over the city.  The kids loved climbing on them and having their pictures taken.  Even Iko got in on the action this time!

 And leave it to Brad to outdo everyone in craziness.  He climbed up this statue and completely freaked Julie out by walking across the top.  Gotta love that boy!  I know I do! ;)

 Just strollin' along through the city with amazing views!

 The kids found water and made a beeline for it, as always.  Freezing temperatures or not, you can't keep them from splashing around.

 Whoa!!!  Is that my family inside a man's head?!  Crazy!  And, yep, women, it's like we've always thought...empty!!!! ;)

 Those are some of the cutest little eyeballs I've ever seen!

 We love St. Louis!

 The world's greatest hosts and tour guides!  They were seriously awesome!

 Group shot as the sun was setting.

 And, of course, another birthday cake.

Don't worry, only 2 flowers were destroyed in the taking of this picture. :(  That Lexi, she's an animal!

The City Garden was awesome - big cities sure are fun!