Going Through Life One Blog Post at a Time
One of my favorite springtime things is the smell of blooming lilacs. As a kid, I used to walk by the huge lilac that our neighbor had and smell the flowers every day. I was always sad when the blooms died off for the year. We have planted four lilac bushes around our house. It took a while, but now they all bloom! Ah, the smell of blooming lilacs….
We went to see Meramec Caverns today. Andy and I had been there before, but it has been at least 11 years since we were there. I was a little concerned that the kids would be bored, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. Laura was fascinated by everything the tour guide said and she was very excited to get to see stalagmites and stalactites up close. Other members of our tour were getting a kick out of her repeating parts of what the tour guide said. She also asked Andy a ton of questions. I walked the tour with John who was most impressed with the reflection pools and also with the colored lights they would use on some of the formations.
As an adult who can comprehend time frames, it was staggering to hear that some of the oldest formations in the cave are from when dinosaurs roamed the earth. This “table” in the “wine room” is estimated to be 75 million years old. Simply amazing.
It was a fun tour and the kids enjoyed it. I’m sure we’ll be going back sometime. Maybe we’ll even do the “Caveman Zipline” tour next time.
What a great day! We headed off to the St. Louis for the kids’ first ever trip to the St. Louiz Zoo. The Zoo did not disappoint and it proved to be a fun day. We will definitely have to go back though soon because we did not get to see everything. That’s what happens when you have 90 acres to cover and only 6 hours to do it in. Special thanks to Grandma Marilyn for using her Zoo Pass for us. We definitely loved the Emerson Children’s Zoo, the Zooline Railroad, and the Carousel! John’s favorite part was riding the Zooline Railroad. He also LOVED Penguin & Puffin Coast. Laura’s favorite part was seeing a real live Lemur and she even picked out a Lemur stuffie from one of the Zoo’s gift shop. We got a lot of great pictures of the animals and us to, of course. Here we are as a family of Otters!
This is the “Big Beetle” statue outside the Insectarium. Both kids really enjoyed that part of the Zoo. They got to see all kinds of insects and the Butterfly House was a big hit. John was a little freaked out by all the butterflies flying all around, but he still thought they were very “pretty.”
Laura was very excited to see this beauty up close and personal. When we first saw the peacock, his tail was down. He’s a gorgeous bird either way! After wandering around the back of the bird house, we discovered him with his tail open as he was working to impress another bird. He stayed that way for a while and we got some beautiful pictures.
We walked as fast as we could to see the bear feeding at 4 pm. When we first went by the bear exhibits, Bert the Grizzly Bear was nowhere to be seen. He knows that he gets fed at 4 pm though and he was waiting for the Zoo Ranger. Bert is 21 years old and quite beautiful. He wasn’t very hungry though because he got a big shank bone for breakfast that day. He did sort of attempt to catch the oranges that the Ranger tossed to him, but the Ranger said that you could tell Bert wasn’t that hungry because he can catch anything tossed to him when he wants too.
All in all, it was a great day! We were all happy to get to our hotel for the night and eat dinner. We did a bit of swimming and then it was bed time. Tomorrow, it’s off to Meramec Caverns!
I spent part of today preparing things for our short trip to St. Louis. I ran some errands, made our lunch for the St. Louis Zoo, did lots of laundry, packed the kids clothes, and packed my clothes. It’s just an overnight trip so we don’t need to take too much. It should be fun though! Zoo on Friday, followed by a stay at a Drury Inn and swimming, Meramac Caverns on Saturday, and then home!
We sold the toddler beds to a family with three-year old twin boys. It was harder than I thought it would be, because we really do have no more toddlers in the Kassel household. The twin boys were very excited about their new beds, and I’m very glad the beds will be loved and used. The Mom of the twin boys was really excited and loved the beds. She said, “Thank your Dad for making them so that my boys can love them as much as your kids did.”
A tiny crown tiara and a Corona!
Mowing time has arrived! Andy’s Mini-Me always appears when he mows. Mini-Me has been asking for at least a week if Daddy was going to mow. Today, Mini-Me’s wish came true!
