Pumpkinland at Thies Farm

Filed Under Eighteen Months, Outings, St. Louis | 3 Comments

We went to the Pumpkinland last week with my friend Amy and her daughter Kaitlynn. It was at Thies Farm, which I had never been to before. I was really impressed! We got there around 10:30 in the morning and I think if the girls didn’t need naps and we didn’t get tired of chasing them, they could have played there all day. There was so much to do. They had a huge corn maze, a bunch of those hay maze/tunnels (which were so dark you needed a flashlight), a wagon ride, a pirate ship with a treasure chest, zip lines, things to climb on, a big slide, swings, pretend horses, real goats, giant pumpkins, a big swing, and a farmers market. I know that we will definitely take Bailey there again next year. I wish he could have gone this year to see how much she loved it.

My camera crapped out on me again while we were there. You know my camera issues if you have been a reader of this blog for longer than a month. I think this time when we take it in to get repaired it will get replaced. You know, since it’s the fourth time and all. It is really starting to make me angry, and the warranty runs out this December. But that’s a topic for another day.

Here we are when we first got to the pumpkin patch. I convinced Bailey to sit down with me for a picture, until I made the mistake of saying we were sitting on a swing, and then she wanted nothing to do with it. She hates swings!

She also loved riding on this little play tractor. There were three of them, and she had to sit on each one before she was satisfied. Sometimes she gets a little picky about things being done a certain way

Bailey loves wagons and was going crazy because there were so many wagons at the pumpkin patch. They had them for people to pull their pumpkins in. She wanted to climb in them all but they were kind of dirty inside.

Playing in the treasure chest with Kaitlynn. It was full of mardi gras type beads and fake gold coins. They thought it was the greatest.

These are the tunnels through the hay. I guess they were kind of like mazes. They looked so fun, but once you got about five feet inside or went around a corner, it got pitch black. You couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face. People were buying flashlights to go through them. Bailey kept wanting to do it and then backing out when it got too dark.

And last of all, a picture of me with my sweet little girl on the hay ride. Except that there was no hay, so it was really a wagon ride. I thought it was funny that there was no hay. I guess for allergies, but- THE ENTIRE PLACE WAS COVERED IN HAY. The ground had hay at least three inches thick through the entire pumpkin patch. Every play structure was either made of, or covered in hay. So I don’t think that people with serious hay allergies would be there anyway. But. Bailey really liked the wagon ride and I prepared her by talking about how it was a rule that we had to sit on her bottom the whole time. To my surprise, she didn’t even try to stand up. She is starting to understand and obey more. When she’s in the mood.

Grant’s Farm Halloween Night

Filed Under Grandparents, Halloween, Outings, Seventeen Months, St. Louis | 3 Comments

Last weekend we went to Grant’s Farm for their Halloween event. It is every weekend in October, I think. It was $20 a car to get in, but no per-person admission. So it wasn’t too bad considering that we fit the three of us and my parents all in our car! I think it was really well done. It was cheesy kid-scary stuff. Like Bailey was not afraid of anything except this woman dressed as a witch who kept trying to talk to the kids. She was really nice, but they were scared. Anyway. We met Dave, Amy, and Kaitlynn and Christopher, Emily, Emily’s parents, and Ella there. We all rode on the tram separately and then met before the goats.

These first few pictures are from when we were waiting in line for the tram. The line started on the parking lot side of the bridge, for those of you who are familiar with GF. It was the longest I have seen the line but my guess is we waited no more than 20 minutes.

Also now you get to see what Bailey’s Halloween costume is. I know I was being funny keeping it a secret. She is going to be a frog. She loves her costume and wore it the first part of the night, before she got too hot.

Here’s a really funny one of me, when we were riding the tram. I just never have any normal pictures of me with Bailey!

Once we got into the park, we took a bunch of pictures on the bench. Obviously it’s not easy getting pictures of three toddlers. And Bailey and Ella kept poking at each other and trying to kiss.

I loved seeing my little Muffin in her frog suit. However, quite a few people commented on how “HE” was such a cute frog. I knew that was going to happen. I have to remember to glue a bow to the head of the frog suit before she wears it again.

When you walked through the park, there were things like ghosts in the trees, and at one part it looked like giant moth traps, and some version of the Scream guy. But if it was stuff your kid was going to be scared of, it would be really easy to distract them so they didn’t look up at those spots.

I tried to get a shot of Bailey and Ella kissing (again) but I was too slow. They kept doing it but I just didn’t get the timing right with the camera. They were so cute and funny. I am so glad that the girls are starting to interact with each other more. It’s fun to watch them develop their little friendships.

Bailey and Grampa- and she was no longer wearing her frog costume because she got really hot in it. It was about 70 degrees out- too warm for a busy girl to be wearing a long furry suit!

Family picture in front of the Anheuser-Busch sign/logo, but our flash didn’t light up enough to really get a good shot of it.

We went and enjoyed our free drinks and let the girls run around and play. Bailey was definitely busy the whole time. She found a Grants Farm stroller that someone had abandoned and wanted to go for rides in the stroller, then the girls decided it was more fun to push the stroller. She also danced A LOT and got so sweaty.

My mom bought Bailey one of those wand things with spinning lights in it. She was obsessed with it for about five minutes. Then it quit working, they traded it for another one and it was put together funny, so they ended up returning it. We got her some glow necklaces and a different wand for next time we go out at night.

Relaxin’

If you live in the area and you haven’t been to Grant’s Farm for their Halloween event, you have to go before they close for the season!! We had a great time and will definitely do this again next year.

Merry Christmas, only 75 days early or so

Filed Under Random, St. Louis | 8 Comments

Yes, 101.1 (used to be The River) is playing Christmas music already. Tonight I got into my car to hear “said the little lamb to the shepherd boy…” WHAT??? If you are in St. Louis please turn to that station and tell me I’m not just hearing things.

Pictures from Grant’s Farm and Lone Elk

Filed Under Friends, Outings, Seventeen Months, St. Louis | 2 Comments

These pictures are from last weekend… we went to Grant’s Farm on what we thought might be the last really warm day of the year. Well, we were wrong and we got a few more good ones this week! We met some friends up there (my friend Renee–wearing green and her husband, SIL, and nephew) and hung out with them for a while.

About two minutes after we left GF, Bailey fell asleep in the car. We knew it would ruin her nap since she would sleep the whole way home- then it would be just enough that she wouldn’t need to go back to sleep (plus it was already like 4 p.m.) so we decided to go drive through Lone Elk Park to kill some time. Apparently it’s elk mating season. There were signs warning us to be careful. I was excited because I knew we would see animals! Here is the first elk we saw.

This guy was really close to the car

We also saw a bunch of buffalo/bison which are my favorite! They were kind of far away, and I didn’t want to get out of the car because of the whole elk mating season thing. I think next spring, we are going to bring a picnic and do some hiking there. I remember that there are some trails and picnic tables. But most people just drive through and maybe stop for a picture or two.

After we got home, Bailey woke up and played in her Cozy Coupe in our garage. Every time we walk past it, she has a huge meltdown if she can’t go for a ride.

I can’t believe how hot it is today

Filed Under Fourteen Months, Outings, St. Louis | 5 Comments

We were crazy enough to go to Grant’s Farm today right at noon, during the hottest part of the day. I don’t know what I was thinking. The company was great, but I just hate the heat. First we sat in the shade in the guinea pig area… then we sat in the shade near the sprayers and the bridge… then we sat in the shade at the gazebo. Yeah, the kids really only saw goats and guinea pigs but they were just as happy to see their friends and eat snacks. They love stealing each others cups and snacks and stuff. Also in the guinea pig and chicken area, you can buy corn out of machines for a quarter. Bailey kept picking corn out of the woodchips on the ground and trying to eat it. You would think I don’t feed her by the way she acts.

Here is Bailey before she got all dirty and snotty and wet. She started the day looking really cute and clean. Although we did get yelled at on the tram for talking too much by this crabby trashy lady in front of us. She asked if we could be quiet (only she was really rude when she asked) so I told her no. I hate when people try to talk to me like I’m a little kid. Seriously, nobody sits silently on the tram listening to the tour guide. It’s like a 20 minute ride, full of kids. Get over it, or don’t go to a kid friendly park if you want silence. Or I could tell you where to find some of the best headphones so you can tune us out.

There is a bridge that you walk across and there are sprayers overhead. Around the edges it’s just kind of misty but when you’re right under it you can get pretty wet. You can either go across the bridge or take another way around on a path. This is the first time I think I have taken Bailey on the bridge. First we kind of sat over to the side so she could check it out, and we could stay cool in the spray. She watched for just a few seconds…

And then she started running back and forth across the bridge and loved it! The only problem was she wasn’t looking at all where she was going and just running at top speed. I kept thinking she was going to plow right into someone and fall over but she didn’t. I am glad that she likes water so much because I have always loved swimming, sprinklers, waterslides, etc and I hate the heat so that is really all I want to do outside during the summer!

She came back to the strollers to see if Kaitlynn and Ella were interested in going in the water with her. Not so much, although Kaitlynn did step in the mud puddle a few times with Bailey. Of course, there is one mud puddle in all of Grant’s Farm and they find it and want to stomp in it. If you look at the front of B’s shirt you can see how soaked she is. I thought she would dry fast because it was literally 100 degrees or so but it was just too humid and the poor kid stayed damp the rest of the time we were there. I ended up taking off her skirt because I felt bad.

And the sippy cup battle begins- Kaitlynn and Bailey always want the other one’s stuff, whether it’s a cup, toy, teething thing… I always feel bad because I will turn around and B is just drinking out of Kaitlynn’s cup. I feel like my kid is such a mooch sometimes.

Even if I got sweaty and Bailey got sweaty and wet and dirty, I think we had a fun day. She passed out about five minutes into the car ride home, but then woke up when we got home and just sat in bed talking to herself for about 40 minutes… I think she is FINALLY asleep again. Oh and my bad parenting moment of the day- because I feel like I have a lot of them- Bailey kept wanting to go in the mud puddle and she had her good Stride Rite sandals on so I took them off and let her go barefoot. There was nothing anywhere around except wet concrete… except she ran out of the wet area and into the sun and I didn’t even think about it until she started screaming and as I sat there trying to figure out what was going on I realized she was stepping up and down and figured out her feet were burning. So I am kind of an idiot and I felt horrible, but she calmed down once I fed her Cheezits. Sometimes I suck.

Freepeats in St. Louis

Filed Under Baby Gear, Shopping, St. Louis | 3 Comments

I just followed another blog post to find a great new baby stuff website called Freepeats. They are in St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Philadelphia. Lifetime membership is free through July 1st, then after that, a lifetime membership will cost $4.95

If you have ever looked at Freecycle, it reminds me of that, only instead of random things like auto parts, EVERYTHING on the site is baby/kid stuff. Everything is free. You post your offer, then change your post to show when it is taken. I registered and I have seen some decent offers on there, like a set of Avent bottles, a boppy, shoes, etc. It’s really not junk. I will have to look through my stuff and see what I can clear out of here. There is also a section for trading formula coupons and such.

Friends from Nursing Moms Group

Filed Under Friends, Outings, St. Louis, Thirteen Months | 3 Comments

We went to Grant’s Farm again the other day- it’s one of our favorite places! This time we went with some friends that we met in our nursing moms support group when Bailey was younger. We’ve all gotten to be good friends, and even though we don’t all go to the group very often anymore, we still try to get together for playdates and birthdays and stuff.

Here are the girls when we first entered the park area after the tram ride… not pictured is Gabe, who was having a huge fit about his stroller. From left to right- Bailey, Ella, and Kaitlynn.

We spent some time in the chicken and guinea pig area. I was surprised how crowded it was, especially considering the weather forecast. Bailey loves to walk around in the chicken area, though. The fences are low, and there are woodchips on the ground. Which of course equals hours of fun…

Of course, nothing could beat the excitement of ANOTHER CHILD’S STROLLER!

The weather was really muggy when we got there. On the way home, it started raining really hard and quickly turned into a storm with flood warnings and tornado warnings. Gotta love St. Louis weather :eye roll:

No Spring

Filed Under Complaining, St. Louis | 1 Comment

It went from chilly, to nothing but rain and storms for what seemed like weeks, to 90 degree, very humid weather. We really got screwed out of spring weather this year I was hoping for lots of nice days to take B to the park and the zoo and all that stuff. If you have ever been in St. Louis in the summer, you know that the humidity is so thick and just makes everything feel nasty despite the actual temperature. I hope it cools off a little after this week.

Botanical Gardens

Filed Under Outings, St. Louis, Twelve Months | 8 Comments

Today we took Bailey to the Missouri Botanical Garden. In case you didn’t know, Wednesday mornings are free for St. Louis City and County residents. My mom drove and we forgot to transfer the stroller to her car, but Bailey did a great job walking almost the whole time this morning. That kid never runs out of energy! They had a lot of new, kind of creepy sculptures that she played on and in with some other kids. She also sorted through the woodchips about a thousand times. We ran into some friends from our Kangaroo Kids nursing group. We hadn’t seen them in a month or two and it’s amazing how much they have grown just since then!

We ate lunch at the Sassafras restaurant in the main building. We also got to see a neat teak furniture exhibit, the Children’s Garden, the Climatron (which was a little warm today!) and lots of tulips.

Here was one of those sculptures- I think this one was a lion.

Peeking through the giant teeth of another sculpture… Now you know what I mean about them being weird, right?

Playing in the fountains- she loved it! We need to get a kiddie pool (big enough for me to get in too so I don’t melt in the sun) now that it’s warm out!

Then she started getting her shirt wet too so we decided just to go completely white trash and let her play in a diaper… but she loved it…

I felt the earth move under my feet

Filed Under Random, St. Louis | 6 Comments

Around 4-something this morning, Jonathon and I both woke up because of an earthquake! How crazy is that? At first I thought I was shaking, then I thought it must be a train (odd, there aren’t tracks right by our house) and finally he said it was probably “just an earthquake, go back to sleep.” The picture frames on our dresser had been rattling but that was really the only thing that I noticed moving. I kept telling him I was freaked out but he turned right over and went back to sleep. Honestly I am surprised he didn’t get up to check on a hard drive or something. ha. Then today I heard that it was a 5.2 somewhere near the border of Illinois and Indiana, on a fault line that hasn’t been active since like the 1960s. They said we could have aftershocks for up to 24 hours.

Edited to add: There was an aftershock at 10:14 this morning but I was in a store and didn’t even feel it.

Speaking of Cardinals

Filed Under Avon, Sports, St. Louis | Leave a Comment

There is a special Major League Baseball brochure out right now from Avon. I don’t think the stuff is actually listed on my website but here are a few of the most popular items. I have sold several of each of these, and the customers have been really happy with them.
Cardinals Watch- I guess it could be for either gender but in person the red part is shiny and looks more feminine. There is also an all silver colored men’s watch. They are also available in Yankees, Cubs, Mets, and Red Sox.

I sold quite a few of these towels. I wish we were planning on some serious beach or pool time this summer They are 60″x30″ and 100% cotton, available in Cardinals, Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, White Sox, and Dodgers.

I also sold a couple of these hooded towels to customers with kids and grandkids. They are 24″x23″ and slip over head with a closed back. They are $15.99 and are also available in Dodgers, Yankees, Mets and Red Sox.

There are also a few other baseball items available. There are mugs ($14.99), red/blue/silver MLB binoculars ($12.99 and they also come with a sheet of 32 stickers, one for each team, a carrying case, neck strap, and cleaning cloth), and charm necklaces ($9.99, silver colored 17″ chain with silver Cardinals charm and red Cardinals hat charm).

Any questions, email me at tara (at) twolinesonastick (dot) com or leave a comment

I don’t know if I want snow

Filed Under Random, St. Louis | 2 Comments

The forecast is for it to start snowing today, like mid-afternoon, and we could get up to like six or seven inches. In St. Louis, that’s a freakin blizzard. I can’t decide whether I want all this snow or not. I want to go to my nursing mom’s group today, and maybe just leave by mid-afternoon before the bad weather starts. I am supposed to deliver Avon to a new customer between 3 and 4, so I don’t want to leave the house just for that. Jonathon works at a school, and if Parkway gets a snow day tomorrow he will probably get a snow day as well. Also, I am supposed to watch Alison tomorrow, but her dad works for a school district, so if they are off, I don’t have to watch her. The school district that he works for is always one of the last ones to get called off, though. I really don’t want to go watch her so I am kind of hoping for the bad weather, but we need the $100 that I would get for watching her.

I guess I will just keep watching the weather and see. Also if it is bad out tomorrow but their school isn’t called off, I don’t want to drive me and Bailey through bad weather just to go watch someone else’s kid. Maybe that sounds selfish but I value our safety a lot more than a twice a month job!

Last Week- in Pictures

Filed Under Friends, Grandparents, Outings, Six Months, St. Louis | 1 Comment

I realized I am (once again) totally behind in posting pictures, so here are some from last week. One day I went to the Botanical Gardens with my mom and grandma (click here for a cool video made by a friend of mine) and Bailey seems to enjoy just riding around in her stroller there. plenty to see, and good exercise for her chunky Mommy!


Bailey and her Grammy- great grandma was there as well but we didn’t manage to get any pictures of her. She (MY grandma, Bailey’s great grandma) was in a wheelchair that day (my mom insisted that she push her in one because she knew she wouldn’t be able to walk very far) but anyway, I think she didn’t want it to be caught on film.

I wish this picture turned out better. It was in the Japanese garden area where there are giant koi fish that you can feed. I bet they are at least 25 pounds each.

After the Botanical Gardens, we took Bailey by to see my grandpa. He always gets such joy from holding her and playing with her. Which is funny, because apparently he wasn’t really “into” his own kids at all when they were little. I guess age and perspective can change things!

Last Friday, my mom and I went to the mall, and Bailey is a very good baby and likes to ride in the stroller, but we try to give her a break and let her out to play every so often. She liked the little cars and stuff that you pay 50 cents to ride on. This was her first driving experience.


Normally we strip her down for dinner. This is one of the rare occasions where she got to eat wearing more than a diaper

At night we went to a barbecue/sit around the fire evening with some friends. We had Bailey with us because we didn’t plan on staying very late. But it got cold fast, and we had her wrapped in a fleece blanket. She kind of looks a little KKK-ish in this picture, but that wasn’t our intent.

Bailey with my friend Renee (whose wedding I was in a few (three– already!) months ago.

I really enjoy dressing Bailey up. One of the perks of having a girl, I guess. I wish I could figure out where those eBay people and such get their wholesale clothing because then I would become a huge eBay seller, and keep the stuff I liked for me!

Actually, there are a lot of things I would do if I had the time and if I could figure them out. I would learn a lot of cool crafty things to do. I would host estate sales. I would volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters again. (Okay, so that’s really more of a time issue than know-how). Yeah, someday I will have time and I can research all these things I want to try. Right now I feel like I do well to make it through the day and have the house somewhat in one piece when Jonathon gets home!

Aaron and Mo’s Wedding

Filed Under Daddy, Five Months, St. Louis, Weddings | 1 Comment

A@ron and M@ureen’s wedding, October 2007
-Jonathon was a groomsman. Bailey stayed with Jen during the ceremony and then came to the reception with us. The reception was at the City Museum, which turned out to be a really cool place for a reception.

Faith and I went to Starbucks to kill time between the wedding and reception, while Jonathon was off doing groomsman things. Bailey “tried” her first Starbucks drink

Big girl at the dinner table!

Jonathon did a great job entertaining Bailey at dinner. Somehow we got stuck at the “groomsmen with kids” table instead of at the table where all of our friends were seated. That was a big bummer. We didn’t know the other people we were sitting with because they were all from New York. Sometimes you really get screwed for having a kid.


Jonathon and the groom, Aaron

I thought the back of her dress was really cool. It was SO sparkly during the ceremony!

Maureen and Me- ug, this is NOT a good picture of me but I couldn’t leave out the picture of the bride, so here it is…

Grant’s Farm Day

Filed Under Four Months, Outings, Slinging, St. Louis | 3 Comments

Our stupid camera is still gone… but here are some pics from my mom’s camera, taken on a recent Grant’s Farm trip with my mom and grandma.

Her eyes were watering from the wind on the tram ride…

So we decided to break out the cool sunglasses!

Bailey really seemed to notice the animals this time, compared to previous visits. It is so much fun to see how observant she is becoming.

Worn out from our big morning!

Look at that face

We stopped and took advantage of the two free drinks per guest. Thank you, Anheuser-Busch. We also got some snacks at their outdoor kitchen type area and sat and took a break. Sometimes I forgot how fast my grandma gets tired. It was nice that she was able to walk as much as she did, and that she could enjoy the park with us