St Louis Zoo

On Saturday Aug 16th we decided to head to St Louis and take the kids to the Zoo. We also took Cody (nephew) and Travis's mom with us. We stayed in the downtown area and the kids LOVED the hotel. We went out on the street and took a short walk and found a place to eat dinner. After dinner we took the kids down to the hotel pool and swam for a little bit, everyone pretty much had the same idea as us though, so we didn't stay too long. It was really crowded.

The hotel room was a suite and had 2 rooms. 1 room had 2 queen beds and the front room had a pull out couch. My plan was to put the kids on the pull out and us and nana take the 2 beds...BUT since the kids couldn't get to sleep, Cody ended up in one of the beds, timmy fell asleep in our bed and then I transferred him to cody's bed and nana and elizabeth slept on the pull out. I don't know exactly what time it was but timmy ended up in bed with us and after what seemed like 2 long hours of his flipping and turning Travis and I finally just woke up. So at 6 am timmy was awake for the day.........

We finally all got around, went downstairs to the lobby and ate the "free" breakfast buffet. It was good and we didn't have to go in search of food.

We left the hotel and headed to the zoo. The kids were excited to get there. We got in and started at the Herpatarium. The snakes and lizards and other creepy crawlies.

At first Timmy was a little hesitant of the snakes and lizards, but then he found Orange Frogs! He really liked them and even needed a picture of them. We left there and headed to the Primate house. The kids were LOVING the monkey's. We had been telling the kids we were going to go visit their cousins! Timmy said No I want to visit my cousin the squirrel, which ran right in front of him when we walked into the zoo!

Timmy was even waving hi to all the monkey's. He would just watch them, I think he would have stayed there all day if we'd have let him.
After the monkey's we just started walking and seeing all the animals. We came to the Tigers and there was a momma tiger with 5 babies. They are 4 months old and were just having the best time playing, rolling etc. One cub even ran down into the water and just laid in it.

We eventually rode the train around the whole zoo and saw a lot of animals that was as well. There was a lot of stuff that we wanted to do, but just simply didn't have the time to do. The kids were getting tired and run down and after all timmy had been up since 6 am, so we finally left around 2pm.

Elizabeth did get to go to build a bear workshop while we were there and found a panda bear and we got timmy a MONKEY! They have carried their animals everywhere with them since leaving the zoo. Timmy even cuddles up to his monkey at night.

I want to take the kids back again, it really was an awesome zoo and we didn't get a chance to see the penguins, which I am told is the thing to see at the zoo...oh well next time.

Oh one last funny from the trip! When I got off work and was gathering clothes for the trip, I was getting timmy's stuff, since we were only going for 1 night we didn't need alot of stuff, and since Cody and Nana were also going we didn't have a lot of room in my car for a ton of stuff. So I was getting timmy's stuff and travis was helping elizabeth. She wanted to take her sleeping bag and I told her to be sure and get her bathing suit. So I stuff timmy's stuff down in the sleeping bag bag and head off to our room to get my stuff. Travis had his stuff laid out, I throw it all in a bag, we start loading the car, the kids wanted to take their pillows and we leave to go get nana and Cody. On Sunday morning we are getting ready and elizabeth didn't have any clean clothes! She got underware, socks, bathing suit and tennis shoes and nothing else packed in her bag...SO luckily the outfit she had on was still clean looking with no stains on the shirt! Note to self, ALWAYS check Elizabeth and Daddy's packing LOL!

Let's go on an adventure!

Last weekend the kids wanted to go on an adventure. So we took the kids to Ha Ha Tonka. What a great place to get lots of outdoor fun. We started off at the castle aka: Elizabeth's princess castle and then we went to the natural bridge and finally to the spring down below the castle. We did lots of walking and the kids were great about all of it. Never once did I have a kid wanting a free ride ;) The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too humid.

As we were driving down to the castle we were stopped in the road by 2 HUGE bucks crossing the road. They went on across and stopped on the hillside above us. We were able to snatch some good pictures of them.

This picture isn't the best, but it shows up the best.

The kids loved the castle and they were imagining what it looked like before it burned. They had all kinds of imaginative things. They showed us where they thought the "front" door was. We found one door which led into the basement and they decided that was the dungeon! LOL!

After spending lots of time here and walking all around it and looking off all the observation decks we ventured on down to the natural bridge. The kids thought it was pretty neat. Timmy at first was a little leary of it. He was afraid there were snakes. I told him not to worry that snakes didn't like natural bridges LOL! But he believed me.......

We didn't stay long at the bridge. So we went on over to the spring. We parked at the end of the spring and that is where the Lake starts. There were lots of boats floating around and lots of people swimming. The fish were even jumping out of the lake.

The walk was about a mile and a half. So it took the longest of all our walks. But it was a really beautiful walk. The spring they said was a cool 56 degree's year round and there was a nice fog off the water. There is even an island. There is also a huge rock that is balance on a cliff, but because of all the foliage you can't see it right now. I think this fall, maybe when the leaves are even changing we might go back again.

So after our adventure was over it was 5 pm and the kids were starving. SO off to the lake to find somewhere to eat. Hmmmm wonder where Travis might want to eat...Yep we stopped at Culver's. Travis thinks they have the BEST hamburgers. So that's where we always eat at the lake.

After getting the kids' bellies filled to the rim it was off to find some go carts to ride. We went down to the strip. Road around there. Got out did an arcade, which the kids LOVED and found the BEST lemonaid ever....travis's cousin man's the stand! We tried to go down below the dam to show the kids, but I guess because of all the flooding, it's closed off right now. We tried to show them from above, but you just can't really get the whole effect.

On the way out of the strip we stopped at a go cart track. Me and Elizabeth rode one and Daddy and Timmy road one and Cody had his own. We had fun. My cart kept back firing and was by far the SLOWEST. I had it gunned the whole time and Cody who was the last one out even passed me up.....

We went on down the road, headed back towards home and stopped at one other track. We rode them and afterwards found out they had a "Jr track" Timmy and Elizabeth were able to ride all by themselves! BEST $15 we have EVER spent!!! I have never laughed as hard as I did watching my kids race each other. Timmy is definatly my no fear kid! Elizabeth kept wrecking! It was definatly worth the money to watch them. Travis I think will even buy the next kid go cart he can find for them (worth the money of course!)

So that was pretty much our day. We had such a great time. And the kids loved every minute of it. I was suprised nobody fell asleep on the way home. It was 9 pm before we even got headed home. But they were pretty much out like a light once we all got home.

Here is the video of the 2 race car drivers!

Timmy Learned to ride his bike

How could I forget to write about this. Back at the end of June, while I was working 15 hour days buying fescue seed, my son learned how to ride his bike free of training wheels. He even took the training wheels off himself and told his dad he needed to put them in the trash. Travis told him to put them in the trash himself. TEAR on my part, I missed getting to see him take that first ride....

But he is getting really good at riding. He still gets off and walks the bike around when he has to turn, but last weekend he tried it, didn't fall and was so proud of himself. I don't think I have gotten any pictures of this great event yet, but I know I will soon.

He had been saying for awhile now that he couldn't take the wheels off till he was 7. That's Elizabeth's age and when she started riding training wheel free.

I can't believe my kids are growing up so fast! Seems just like yesterday that they were both just lil babies.........makes me sad and happy at the same time.

Summer pictures

As promised some of the pictures from the summer fun!


Timmy trying to hold up his pants while showing his pig. LOL!

Elizabeth and Cody riding the hearts! She LOVES this ride


Waiting, Waiting, Waiting!

My 2 lil reds all dolled up to sale their pigs.


Timmy grading fescue seed.

4th of July Who doesn't LOVE sparklers.

Who can resist riding the motorcycles at the fair?

Oh what a summer it's been.

It's been so long since I have updated that I am not even sure where to begin.

Elizabeth was in summer school till July 1st. She got to do several swimming field trips and was loving it. Timmy was still in daycare and getting more and more to the point where he was not happy about daycare. His best bud (which is exactly a year older than him) did summer school as well and then he wasn't returning to daycare so it made him the oldest kid and he just wasn't happy. So after long consideration on my part and weighing having both kids here at work with me I pulled him from daycare. Not sure if I have ANY sanity left. It's been a LONG summer since then. But they are getting better. I know he will miss his sissy as soon as school starts back up. I get no computer time is the biggest downfall for me....

The fair was the week of July 7th. The kids did really well with their pigs. Elizabeth had the #5 overall pig and timmy had the #12 overall pig. Both kids showed really well and timmy didn't climb on the fence while showing at all!!!! BIG IMPROVEMENT FOR HIM!!!

After all the showing they got plenty of ride time in. They rode several rides that I was suprised they wanted to ride and there were several rides they WANTED to ride but the carnies wouldn't let them ride, said they were too young. Oh well there is always next year.

As soon as the fair was over Elizabeth went to Kansas City for Dance Camp. We went up on Saturday evening and everything started at 7am sharp on Sunday. Sunday evening they had a dance competition. I had never experience competition so that was enjoyable. The girls did their ballet routine from recital and did a really good job, especially considering they were all totally wiped out from all the dancing they had done all day. They only had about an hour break between their classes and the competition. They got a silver placement!!!

I had to return home on sunday night and grandma stayed with her the rest of the week. Miss Dorothy (the dance instructor) was very impressed with how the girls did at camp. She said anytime she peeked in on them to see how they were doing all the girls were up front and center taking in the teachers every word! They even got to watch the teachers put on a dance for them. These teachers come from all across the country many of them have preformed for years on Broadway!

They came home from camp on Wed night and Poor Elizabeth brought home a nasty stomach bug. So the next 2 days were filled with her not getting far from the bathroom. But at least it finally passed.

Timmy was really missing his sister. They had been seperated for 5 days the longest they have ever been apart...I think he just didn't know what to do without her. BUT they made up for time apart FAST. OH my the fighting. I keep saying they had to re-establish the pecking order. But I think after a week they finally have figured it out.

Next week they are going to do swimming lessons. The lady who teaches private lessons says she can have ANY kid swimming in 3 days. They only go for 1 hour a day, SO I should have 2 swimming kids after next week. I have been bad for not getting them lessons before now.

So that brings us up to today. Mommy needed a break from the kids and my mom knew it so she took the kids home with her last night. They are going to be busy lil bodies today working in the garden, playing with their kitties and just hangin with grandma. Mommy gets time to play on the computer and to just chill!

I have lots of pics from the last month and will post some as soon as I get em loaded up.

Hope everyone else has had a great summer! I plan to take the kids to St. Louis over Labor day Weekend to take them to the Zoo. I can't wait I think we will have a great long weekend!

Fishing Fun

Today we took the kids to the pond and went fishing. It was a great afternoon, a little warm but not too bad. The kids had a blast. We had to fight brush that has grown up around the pond as well as the ice storm damage. But all in all it was such a great night.

Elizabeth used her new PINK fishing rod. The girl loves her pink. She was able to eventually figure out how to throw her own line in as well as catch a fish all by herself. She was in heaven. However, she has yet to touch a worm or a fish. LOL!

Timmy also caught fish. He would get a HUGE smile on his face. He caught the biggest fish of the day and said that he ONLY catches the monsters, because he's a boy. It was so cute to watch him. He had such fun with it.

Our nephew also went with us. He on the other hand had more fun trying to help the kids fish than he did actually fishing. I don't think he ever caught one. But he had fun taking their fish off the line as well as supplying the worms to them. He also thought it necessary in true Jimmy Houston fashion to KISS all the fish that the kids caught. It was cute and DISGUSTING, YUCK!

It was finally getting dark enough that we needed to head home. Elizabeth decided on the way home that she want's to go to summer school after all. I think a week at work being bored finally got to her. LOL. She had a great lemonade stand going, but has decided to pick it back up after summer school is out.

We got home and the tick check began. WHEW. I have never seen SO many ticks on 1 body ever. Elizabeth was covered in them. Timmy is usually the tick magnet, but somehow he escaped getting too many. I think he just had maybe 3-4 on him. Elizabeth on the other hand, I bet I picked 15 off her torso. Poor baby, she's covered in whelps now from it.

Anyway, that is our fishing fun. Here are some pics of the kids with their catch!

GardenTime!

Whew! What a night. Well it's taken awhile to get it out, but alas the garden is in the ground. The kids had a great time helping to dig holes for the tomatoes and planting beans and corn. They couldn't wait to get their watermelons in the ground. These 2 kids do LOVE their watermelons. We are also planting spinach. I told them it is popeye spinach, so I hope they will eat it. They do love popeye spinach from a can, so we will see what they think of spinach outta the garden. They were very happy to plant their pickels as well! Yes timmy kept calling them pickels, would not accept that they were actually cuccumbers LOL!

They were also very happy to help plant the corn also. I do have to say I am very happy I have 2 kids that for the most part do love veggies!

We have a few other things to add, but we did get the bulk of it done. I can now sit and drool in anticipation for all the tomatoes that are gonna come on as well as all the other great things. It's gonna be a good summer!