"Sink" Louis - Day 2: A Trip to the Zoo

We knew we had to get moving this morning because the zoo opened at 8:00.  And for the 1st hour the special Sting Ray exhibit was free.  Admission to the zoo is free, but they do charge extra for certain things.  The Sting Ray exhibit isn't something I would have payed for, but if it was free, I'd check it out.

We got up and around and headed down to the free breakfast.  It was pretty good.  They had some yummy breakfast burritos that I could go for again.  Before we got down, I told everyone that I was looking forward to some eggs and bacon.  They wanted to know how I knew they had eggs and bacon.  And I didn't, but I figured they would.  What kind of hot breakfast doesn't have eggs and bacon?  Well, no eggs except what was in the burritos.  And no bacon either.  But they did have sausage patties that were really yummy.  So I wasn't feeling ripped off or anything.  It was all good.

We left for the zoo around 8:00.  I knew finding the zoo might be a little tricky because it's inside this HUGE park called, Forest Park.  When we got into the park, the GPS told us to go one way, but a police officer was directing everyone the other way.  So we took the scenic route.  The very scenic route.  Eventually we found the parking lot we were looking for and headed in.  We still had about 15 minutes before that first free hour was up.

We walked right in and got some Safari Passes.  The Safari Pass gets you into everything the zoo charges separately for, but not the Sting Ray exhibit.  And since we were members of the Peoria zoo we got then for half price.  So they were only $5 apiece.  I had some coupons for everyone else to use.  I don't think anyone had to pay full price for theirs. And we found out that for Memorial Day weekend the Sting Ray exhibit was included in the Safari Pass!  Woohoo!  Unfortunately, I had our last year's zoo pass with me that expired in December.  Luckily, Shane had the current one, though.  I still don't know where my current one is.  I may have thrown it away when I was swapping it out with the old one.  I'll have to check what I can do next time we go to the zoo.

We made a pit stop at the rest rooms and checked out some animals they had hanging around.

 

Bethany said this guy was her favorite thing see saw that day.  Silly girl.

We walked over to the Sting Ray exhibit and ended up being the last family in line to get in for "free".

Amanda, Bethany, and Mom checking out the rules to pet the sting rays.

 Notice Bethany's look of concern.  She said she didn't want to pet them.

We all had to wash our hands then got our turn.

 

So I know the burning question you may be asking, "How did they feel?"  My answer, "Gross."  They were kind of squishy and slimy.  It was kind of cool to do once, but not something I need to do again.  It took me a couple of times of sticking my hand in the water before I got the courage to reach out and touch it.  I can't imagine where Bethany gets that from.  And she didn't even get her hands anywhere close to the water.

Next stop was the penguin and puffin house.

Papa and William. Notice William already has some snacks.

This area had a unique aroma.

The first penguins you came to were outside.  I think I knew this at one time but had forgotten: not all penguins live in frigid climates.

Then we went inside to check out the cold penguins.  And it was cold in there.  One of the zoo keepers said around 45 - 50 degrees.  The penguins were jumping in and out of the water and zipping around.  It was very cute, but I didn't really get any great pictures of it.  Those suckers are fast!

Next up: The carrousel.  Normally $3 per ride, but it was included in the Safari Pass. William rode a cat, which is appropriate because he loves cats.

Bethany chose the snake.  Don't ask me why.

After a fun ride on the carrousel, we went to check out the monkeys.

I loved the ground.  It so reminded me of Disney World.

We saw the orangutans, but I didn't get any spectacular photos.  Then over to the gorillas.  I love watching gorillas.  They are so human-like.  I took this picture through the fence, but was able to manipulate the picture so the fence kind of blurs away.

After the gorilla area was the 3D motion simulator, which was also included in our Safari Pass.  It was called the "Bamboo Express" and it was basically a run-away train through a tropical environment.  Bethany said she would ride it, although I'm not sure if she knew what she was getting into.  Since William couldn't ride, we split up into two groups.  First up was Bethany, Amanda, Mom, Dad, and me.  This was a different kind of motion simulator than I've ever been on.  Instead of the whole car moving, two seats were connected together and tipped back a little.  Then those two seats moved.  There were about 20 some seats total.  They were pretty far off the ground, too.  So my feet were dangling, which is probably what you would want anyway.  It was a really fun ride, but a couple of times we had bugs or scary animals right in our face.  I thought Bethany would be scared, but she did fine.  She said it was fun.

We got off and took William so Shane, Lane, and Bill could ride.  I asked Bethany if she wanted to go again and she said yes.  So she went off with them.  We waited around, and William found a way to occupy himself.

 These stairs were great!

After a little longer, Shane came back out with Bethany and I thought they were done riding.  It turns out, they were just getting ready to go on, and Bethany said she didn't want to ride again.  William was getting restless, so I just told Shane we would meet them in the giant bird cage up ahead.

This bird cage was so cool.  It was originally build for the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.  It was crazy to think about it lasting for over 100 years.

Some birds I spotted.

You can see the roof of the cage in this picture.

My little super star.

After the birds and restroom break, we continued on our way.  The giraffes were in rare form that day.

This little guy looked was fairly young and he was living it up that day.  He was running all around the yard.  It was the cutest, most awkward thing I've ever seen.  We all said this was a highlight to the day.

It was getting very close to lunch time, and it was probably past William's lunchtime.  I was trying to hurry the group along by walking through the next animal areas fairly quickly, but everyone was just taking their time.

A quick pic of the tigers.

We just had to clear the big cat area and their was a food court area up ahead.  But while waiting for everyone to catch up.  William fell asleep.  And I could not wake him up.  So I decided to just let things be and let him sleep while we had lunch.  We put the back of his stroller down so he could lay down more and draped a coat or two over the stroller.

Lunch was pretty typical amusement park-style food.  I think I had the chili-cheese fries and they were good.  Bethany and I had a hankering for ice cream, so after we finished eating we went to check out the ice cream selection.  Bethany ended up with a push-up pop called, "Frog Spit"  She said it was good.

It doesn't look like in this picture, but she liked it.  I had a chocolate sundae cone thingy.  It was very good.  I believe it was even TRIPLE chocolate.  I hear that, and I'm hooked.  About this time, William woke up.  It worked out pretty well because we got to eat our meal in peace while he slept.  He doesn't like to stay in one place for too long.  He had been snacking all morning, so I knew he wasn't starving.  So I figured a peanut butter and jelly would be enough for him.  He liked it.

We also had another visitor while we were eating.  Can you guess what animal this is?

A peacock!  At our zoo they let the peacocks roam free too.  I love it.

Tune in next time to find out about the rest of our day.  What other animals are there to possibly see?  Will there be more rides in the future?  We'll see.

Our Trip to "Sink" Louis

We spent Memorial Day weekend in St. Louis and have a wonderful vacation.  I think Shane and I have already decided that we’re going to go again next spring.  There’s so much to do there and we feel like we barely scratched the surface of all St. Louis has to offer.

The reason behind the trip was the wedding of a college friend.  Shane and I wanted to go, but knew because the wedding wasn’t until the evening hours, that the kids wouldn’t last if they came.  So we invited my mom to come along to help babysit.  She was up for it.  So the trip was a go!  But we didn’t stop there.  We asked my sister to come, and after she switched a day at work, she was able to come down with us on Thursday, but she had to leave Sunday morning so she could go home to take a nap.  Not a big deal since we were leaving Sunday as well.  Then we invited Shane’s parents to join us too.  They were up for it, but had to leave on Saturday morning to get back for a wedding they were invited to.  And, lastly, my dad joined in the mix just a few days before we left.  Our little trip had turned into quite the undertaking.

Bethany and I had been counting down the days until "Sink" Louis and talked about what we going to do everyday.  So you may be wondering why I'm referring to St. Louis as Sink Louis.  Well, that's because that's what Bethany called it.  Shane and I thought it was pretty cute, so that's what we started calling it.  We had four days planned with exciting things, and before we knew it, it was time to go.

Thursday morning came and I got up really early.  Like 5:00 or something crazy like that.  I think that's the earliest I've been up this year.  The goal was to leave around 8:00.  Everyone met at our house and our three car caravan was on the road around 8:30.  We weren't doing too bad on time. :-)

The drive down was pretty uneventful.  Unless you count the two bathroom stops we had to make for Bethany.  It's only a three hour drive.  However, we made a rookie mistake and forgot to take her potty before we left the house.

Peacefully, I rode with Amanda in the lead car on the way down.  Shane and my mom were in her car with the kids.  At one point, Shane informed me that I was, "having the time of my life" without the kids.  While it was nice, I wouldn't go so far as to say it was the time of my life. :-)  My view for most of the drive.

I knew we were getting close, when the Arch came into view.  I got very excited to see it the first glimpse.

It was getting closer.

Really close now!

Another possible title for this trip could have been, the GPS unit that couldn't.  Our trusty GPS, we call her Sam, steered us wrong a couple of times.  We got off at the wrong exit and Sam couldn't recalculate. She just wanted us to make U-turns.  So we pulled into a McDonald's parking lot and I hopped in the front seat to get it all sorted out.  Now, it's not all Sam's fault.  We usually have the American woman's voice (Samantha), but Amanda wanted something with an accent, so I switched it to the Australian male's voice.  And Lee was the one who led us astray.  So after that minor detour, we got to our lunch destination:

Fitz's is a restaurant (obviously, just look at the sign), but they also bottle and make their own root beer, cream soda, and a few other kinds of pop.  And the neat thing is the bottling line is right in the restaurant, so you can watch them make it through these big glass windows, kind of like Krispy Kreme.  We're big fans of root beer and cream soda in this family, so I thought this would be a fun place to try out.

Grammy and Grandma walking with William into the restaurant.

When we got inside the restaurant I saw that some people were waiting to be seated, and with a group of 10, I knew we would probably have a long wait.  I should have called ahead to see if they took reservations.  William usually eats around 11:30, so I knew any length of wait wouldn't be good for him.  It was already noon, so it was past his lunchtime.  He was pretty good, though.  I think part of that was because he snacked on cookies in the car, and the other part was, he had lots of people to distract him.  He did really want to wander into where all the tables were.  That kid just loves to walk around see new places.  Just walk and walk.  He doesn't really get into things, just wander.

Bethany and I took a trip to the bathroom where she remarked to me, "Mommy, it smells like root beer in here."  And it totally did.  Kind of like sasparilla.  Best smelling bathroom, I've ever been in.  I think that's because it was right next to the bottling line.  The line wasn't going, but you could see all the bottles lined up ready to go.  And there was somebody in there working.

After a couple of minutes the buzzer went off and the hostess asked us if we minded sitting upstairs.  I said no because I just wanted to sit down to eat.  It was pretty neat up there and everyone was happy we were seated.

You can kind of tell how neat the old building was from this pic.

Shane and I both started with the bottomless mug of cream soda.  It was good, but I think A&W is better.  Here's what Shane thought.

William enjoyed his chicken nuggets after he wandered a bit upstairs.  It really worked out nicely to be up there.  There weren't many people and William could wander to his heart's content.

Bethany gives her root beer a thumbs up and a wink.

My food was very good.  I had the southwestern wrap and it was so yummy.  I would definitely get it again.  I think the fries I snatched from Shane and William were really good too.  My only complaint about this place was that our waitress seemed put out at us from the beginning.  Like we were inconveniencing her by being there.  Now maybe she didn't normally have the tables upstairs or something, but I don't like getting that feeling from somebody who depends on people being at their place of employment to get paid.  Anyway, I would go back again, so it didn't annoy me too much. After my first mug of cream soda, I switched to root beer and liked that much more.  So much more in fact, I drank two mugs.  I had to get my money's worth, right?

For dessert we had to try a root beer float and what was basically an orange float.  It had a fancy name, but I don't remember what it was.

It was all really good.

Originally we had plans to go to the Botanical Garden that day.  But we had several things going against us.  First, it was only about 50 degrees and threatening to rain.  Not really ideal weather to explore a botanical garden.  And second, it was about 1:30 by now and we would have had to leave the gardens at 3:00 to get to the hotel in time.  We didn't think it was worth it to pay for such little time there.  So we just headed to hotel to wait it out.

Check in time was 3:00 and we got there around 2:00.  The kids amused themselves by walking laps around the hotel with Daddy and Grammy.  The rest of us waited in our cars.  We got a super great deal on our hotel room through a friend from church, Hannah.  She works for a Hilton hotel chain in Peoria, and was able to get us a room at a Homewood Suites, which is another Hilton hotel.  She had to come down to check us in and then she took the train back.  We were super appreciative.  Thanks Hannah!

Once we got into the room we made ourselves comfortable and William found one of his new favorite toys.  Ultimately, we just had to unplug it from the wall because he wouldn't leave it alone.

Shane took Hannah to the train station and the rest of us took a dip in the pool.  Since it was a Thursday afternoon, we had the place to ourselves.  William wasn't a big fan of the pool, but I think it was mostly because he didn't get a nap that afternoon and was SUPER cranky.  He was supposed to get a nap in the stroller at the Botanical Gardens, but you know how that worked out.  Bethany had the best time in the pool.  And she spent a lot of time floating in the baby raft we brought for William and playing with Papa the shark.  At one point she told Aunt Amanda, "This is the best day of my life."

After swimming and baths, we went down to the lobby for our complimentary dinner.  They only offer it on weeknights, but it was nice to take advantage of once.

Heading down the hallway.

Remember how much fun it was to ride the elevator as a kid?

Of course, monkey see, monkey do.

 

At dinner, they had some chicken wings and Bethany tried them first.  She said they were spicy, and I just assumed they had some flavorful BBQ sauce on them.  However, she wasn't lying.  They were SPICY.  That became quite the topic at dinner about just how spicy they were.  And I think we all tried at least one to experience it for ourselves.

After dinner we went back to the room and got the kids put to bed.  We watched some TV and after playing around with the sofa bed for Mom and Amanda, we went to bed as well.

The adventure continues tomorrow at the zoo.

I'm Back! (Have Camera, Will Post)

I just got my new camera that I have been wanting for a long time.  Hopefully, this will push me back into updating our blog again.  I know we have a following who is demanding to know about all that is going on in our lives.  Okay, not quite.  But sometimes I like to pretend I'm really important.  Here's just a sample of the shots I've been playing around with over the past two weeks.

My second picture I took with the camera.  I didn't really know that much, and it gave me a great shot.  Love the way Bethany is in focus, but the background is slightly blurred.  This is exactly what I wanted in a camera.  I want my children to be the focus of the pictures, not my messy house in the background.

 

Practicing taking some pictures for Shane to use as PowerPoint backgrounds.

Bethany didn't finish her meal but William did!