Mini Vacation...Day 1

Ellie has been waiting for our trip to St. Louis for some time now.  Our animal lover couldn't wait to go to the St. Louis Zoo and Grant's Farm. Above Ellie and Ryker thought they needed to help Dad get our cooler ready.  A movie, cooler, snacks, suit cases, two children and we're on our way to St. Louis!  We decided to go straight to the zoo and then we'd check into our hotel around nap time.

Of course Ellie wanted to get into the petting area as soon as we arrive.  Since this trip is especially for her...she calls the shots.

Ryker is now at the age of  "monkey see...monkey do."  Most things that Ellie does, Ryker's right behind her mimicking the same things.

Ellie petting the Guinea Pig

Ellie is as tall as a Pygmy Goat

Daddy is as tall as a Llama

As soon as we entered the goat area, this goat was helping himself to the leaves off the tree.  It was quite comical to watch.

At first Ryker was a little unsure of what to think, but once sissy started brushing the goats...buddy was right behind her.

God love Ellie! She is so gentle with animals.

Here she thought the goat's beard needed a little brushing. Hehe! :)

We are at the zoo and this child wants a kitty cat on her face. 

She was a little apprehensive about going through this tunnel, but SHE DID IT!  Last year she wanted NO part.

The Hippos are always neat to watch through the glass.

Ryker was very excited, continually smacking the glass with his hand.

My Life! :)

At lunch time we found a table on the balcony overlooking a pond.  Two ducks and a duckling were also on the balcony eating leftover scraps off the ground.  While Brad was getting our food, we watched the ducks and birds.  When the two big ducks flew away, the poor little duckling was lost and didn't know what to do.  She finally found the edge of the balcony and bravely jumped. Thank goodness she didn't get hurt.

This child wears me out! He thought it was hilarous to keep running away from me.  Every time I caught him, he would just laugh and laugh.  It definitely turned into one exhausting game while waiting for our lunch.  Diagonal from us was a lady working on her computer.  Ryker LOVES computers so he continued to run over to this ladies table and just stare at her.  CRAZY KID!

Daddy and Ryker running through the mister.

Ellie loving every minute of it!

Crazy Monkey!

This was the first time we entered the bird area.  One bird walked past us on the bridge, but other than that...nothing very exciting to see.

Checking out the zebras.

My very favorite part of the zoo and the coldest....the PENGUINS!

These animals are fasinating!  I love that we can observe them so closely!

Ryker wanted very little to do with his stroller...we'd had a long morning and couldn't wait to check into the hotel.  Ryker fell asleep on the way to the Hampton Inn.  Once we got checked in, we relaxed so Ryker could finish napping.  Of course Ellie wanted nothing to do with it.  It took quite a while, but she eventually fell asleep.  They both woke up at the very same time, so we ordered dinner and ate outside.  Ryker is at a difficult age (just wandering off) so we quickly shoved down our dinner and moved on to the pool.

It takes Ellie quite a bit of time to get used to pools or water in general so we were very proud of her floating all by herself.

Daddy's little girl!

Having a relaxing evening with our favorite people!

Oh BUDDY!  I JUST LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

After swimming we still had plenty of time and not a lot of room in the hotel.  We ventured to the Galleria mall and then to the Turtle Park.

One brave girl!



Daddy and Ellie



Daddy and Ryker jumping off a snake!



This was a neat idea for a park.



HELP!!!!!!!!!

At the Galleria Ellie had fun throwing pennies into the water.

She found a fun Disney store; however, most things were VERY pricey!  Ellie got a night gown and princess flip flops on clearance. :)

We had a great first day, but were anxious to switch rooms within the same hotel...giving us much more room for the kids to run around!  I'm sure I would have had much more information if I didn't wait so darn long to blog, but that's life!  Maybe next month I will blog about day 2 of our trip. :)