The Kassel Family Project Life 365

For Day 2 of our mini-vacation, we visited the St. Louis Zoo.  Our first stop was the Children’s Zoo, which is free for the first hour of the day.  The kids had a great time brushing the goats, petting the guinea pigs, and looking at all the different displays.  Laura thought this sign was particularly funny…

Next, we stopped to visit the bugs at the Insectarium.  Of course, you have to take a picture on the big bug!

We actually got lucky because the only time it rained all day was while we were inside the Insectarium.  The rain did the weather good because the rest of the day was beautiful!  We wandered around the zoo enjoying the different animals.  The kids always love the elephants.

We all loved seeing the Sumatran Orangutans.  We got an amazing view of the baby, “Ginger,” that was born at the zoo this past December.  Her mother brought her right up to the window for just a few minutes.  We were lucky enough to be standing right there to see it.  So cute!

At some point during the early afternoon, I checked Facebook only to discover that some great friends were also at the zoo.  I sent a text message mentioning that we were headed to the Sea Lion Show and, when we arrived, they were there!  The kids were very excited to get to watch the show with their friends.

It was a great, fun day at the St. Louis Zoo!  Right about 5 pm, we took our sore, tired feet back to the hotel for dinner and some time in the pool.  We didn’t swim for long though because the pool was packed and the kids were tired.

After returning to our room and getting the kids to bed, Andy and I enjoyed a bottle of wine in the smallest wine glasses.  A great ending to a busy day.

Today begins our three-day St. Louis mini-vacation.  First up, LEGO KidsFest!  We really didn’t know what to expect…

Wow, what a neat experience!  It’s essentially a travelling LEGOLAND.  There were different stations set up all over the floor of the Edward Jones Dome.  The kids got to build, build, build!

One of Laura’s favorite parts was the biggest pile of LEGO bricks “ever!”  She climbed right in the middle and got down to business building.

John had more fun just jumping in the massive brick pile.

We also had fun looking at all the different models.  Really, how could you not LOVE an Indiana Jones made entirely out of LEGOs?!?

Or Lord Business from “The LEGO Movie”?  And, yes, Lord Business was tall…  Very tall…

The girls and the boys split up for a bit and, when we met back up, Laura and I found John and Andy building a race car.  It’s a good thing they even have race tracks to race those cars on!

We wrapped up LEGO KidsFest with one last swing through the Model Museum.  I was most impressed with Lightning McQueen.  It took a LEGO Master Builder and his team 2,000 hours to build.  Lightning McQueen is made up of over 325,000 bricks and is 12 feet long by 6 feet wide.  The detail is really just amazing.

LEGO KidsFest was so fun and I am glad we went.  It was a great way to start our mini-vacation!

Andy took the kids to the annual train show at Paquin Towers today.  Of course, John loved every minute of it, but Laura was a bit bored…  That is, until she started talking to one of the modelers.  She came home just full of information about the trains.  I think it was a success.

…are made for walking!  It was a walking kind of day…

We had this dragonfly window cling hanging on the dining room window for quite a while.  Tonight, Andy told Laura to move it to her bedroom window.  She said that she should hang it on our bedroom window.  Andy told her that he would throw it away if he found it on our bedroom window.  Laura went over to the window, took the dragonfly window cling down, and disappeared for a minute.  When she returned, she was smirking.  Later, we discovered it on our bathroom mirror.  Technically, it is *not* on our bedroom window and, therefore, cannot be thrown away.  Well played, kid.  Well played.

We are wearing our green!  Are you?!?