St. Louis

St. Louis, Here we come!! Two vans full of us. We decided to take a road trip to St. Louis at the end of the kids Spring Break. We invited Grandma, Papa and Uncle Mark to come along. The more the merrier and a merry time we did have.

Busch Stadium, where the St. Louis Cardinals play

Since it wasn't raining and the weather was perfect, our first stop was the St. Louis Zoo. We've been wanting to visit this zoo for a while now. We have heard it was really nice. It is also FREE which is a HUGE plus when you are paying for nine people wherever you go. We had a great time there and spent until dinnertime exploring and viewing all of the animals. Did I say the weather was gorgeous?

For dinner we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. It was yummy, but would have been better if one of the kids didn't get sick as we were sitting waiting for our food. :( That evening we took the kids swimming for a while. I'm sure they would all say that was their favorite part of the whole trip. Funny how kids are.

The SEVEN of them

Zoe

Taking a wee rest

Checking out of the hotel. Mind you, we only went for one night and this is what luggage looks like for nine!

After we checked out of the hotel, we did a bit of shopping at a mall close by. We had a birthday present to buy for daddy at the Apple store, his birthday was that day. We ate lunch at the mall and then headed down to the St. Louis Arch (aka The Jefferson National Monument Memorial).

We left St. Louis around five to head home. Thankfully, we beat the storms and tornados. About an hour and a half after we left, tornados hit St. Louis pretty badly. God was watching over us and we didn't run into any storms on the drive home. We all had a great time and it was fun to do the trip with Grandma, Papa and Uncle Mark.

Dad, Leah, Tristan, Anna, Grandma and Uncle Mark were the only ones brave enough to travel to the top of the Arch.

Daddy and his brown eyed girl

Lego Land

On Monday, we surprised the kids with a trip to Lego Land. We didn't tell them where we were going. I truly think we may surprise them like this more often. That morning they were calm. If they would have know where we were going, they would have been bouncing off the wall. It was so fun too. They had no idea, until we were driving in the drive of Lego Land. Cason looked around and saw giant Legos. He said, "Hey, I think we are going to Lego Land!" They were thrilled.

For those of you that don't know, Lego Land is an amusement park centered on Legos. They also have stores spread out through the park, so we didn't leave without buying some Legos. It is a nice amusement park for our kids. It isn't too big and our kids were able to go on most of the rides. Steve and I both admitted, though, that once you have been to Disney nothing else compares. Disney just rocks. Lego Land was fun, though and the kids had a great time, so that is all that matters.

A picture of most of us and the Lego family near the entrance to Lego Land.

Andrew and Cason on their first ride.

Daddy and the girls on their first ride, Sky Rider.

The girls, Tristan and Dad racing Cason and Andrew in a fire truck game. You can see Andrew and Cason in the background, spraying water.

Mommy and Nate in the hot air balloon ride.

Tristan driving a Lego boat.

Mommy, Leah, Anna and Nathanael watching the boys ride the Lego boats.

Our family riding a fairy tale ride in Duplo Land.

We all enjoyed another day out as a family.

Visit to Windsor

It has been a few weeks ago now, but I wanted to document our trip to Windsor. We left on a Sunday morning, skipping church and headed down to Windsor. It is right outside London. The drive took us a little over two hours. We headed straight to Windsor Castle. We went there last summer, but that was when President George W. Bush was visiting the Queen at Windsor castle. So, obviously the castle was closed that day. It is such a beautiful castle from the outside, we wanted to go back and tour it. Windsor castle is one of the homes of the Queen.
They had free audio tours and kid ones too. That is what all the kids are holding up to their ears in the above picture. The girls just thought they were phones and had conversations on them the whole day. It was pretty funny. Andrew listened intently through the whole tour. (I couldn't even listen that long.) When we finished, I asked him what he learned. He said he learned that when you listen to someone talking for two hours it gives you a head ache. I told him he didn't have to listen to all of it and he said, "he didn't want to miss anything." The facts and such he picked up from that tour are amazing. He has taught me a few things.

We were able to see a huge doll house that was given as a gift to the Queen's grandmother sometime around 1912. The detail and intricacy were amazing. One of the workers in that exhibit came up to us and was telling us about the doll house and how everything in it works. It has running water from the taps, and the sewing machine, lights, etc. all work. It was incredible.

We also saw two giant (by this I mean girls size) dolls that were given to Queen Elizabeth and her sister Margaret when they were children from France. They came with a whole wardrobe of clothing, accessories, boxes and even a little car. They were gorgeous as well.

Steve and a tower from the castle

Whenever we visit castles, the boys search out the canons. They love canons, the bigger the better. They also want their picture taken with them.

Mommy and the girls

Mom, Tristan and Nathanael watching the armed guard across the courtyard.

After we left the castle, we stopped for some yummy ice cream before heading to our hotel for the evening.

Ring of Kerry - Ireland

This is the house we stayed in for the rest of the week. Through all of our travels, we have found that it is much easier for us to rent a cottage/house for our holiday than to stay at hotels. Hotels just aren't big enough for us, so we have to get two rooms. We, also, don't have things like a refrigerator. Having a kitchen enables us to have breakfast at home before going out for the day and to make picnic lunch to take with us. That it what we did everyday. It saved money too, as we only ate out dinner. Price wise, renting a house is cheaper for us than getting two hotel rooms for a week. In our opinion, the way to go!

This house was in Killarney, and it was perfect for our family. It was big, plus it had a huge fenced-in driveway and garden/yard for the kids to play in. It also had everything we needed for the week, for example a washer and dryer. This house was also well decorated, had comfy furniture and beds and it was super clean. It, by far, was the best cottage we have stayed in across Europe. If anyone is headed to Ireland and you would like the info, let me know. You won't be disappointed.

Ross Castle in Killarney
Tuesday - 1st full day in Killarney, we just did local things.

Cason and his lucky clover.

Picnic lunch at Ross Castle

This is at a viewing area just up the road from our house. It looks down to the lakes at the bottom of the mountain.

Wednesday - We drove the Ring of Kerry. It was a windy gloomy day, but when we wanted to get out of the car it was dry. We drove for a few hours and then followed some signs and found a beach. There were only two other people there, so we had the beach to ourselves. We climbed a few dunes and then the kids just enjoyed climbing on the rocks and playing in the sand. After we did the beach, we ate our lunch in the car and then continued on the Ring of Kerry. It is a beautiful drive through the mountains and on the coast.



Wednesday was also Steve's 33rd birthday. After our drive, we headed back into Killarney and had dinner at a traditional Irish pub. Steve's dinner is shown above. He, of course, had a Guinness. You can't go to Ireland with out having a Guinness. Everyone says they taste so much better in Ireland, much smoother. I did have a drink, but gagged. He also had Steak and Guinness pie. I tried that too and it was soooooo good. Funny, though, I don't remember what I had to eat.

Dinner at the pub

After we ate, we headed back to the house to have birthday cake. I had run into Marks and Spencer and got a Black Forrest Gateau earlier. Yummy!

On a side note, Happy Birthday, Babe! I hope you had a great one. We sure had a great time with you in Ireland.