One thing I do need to point out- strollers are NOT convenient at this place. There are several big hills where the rams are really out of the way, or can’t bring the stroller to where we are sitting at the dog show, etc. We should have just done the Baby Bjorn or sling.

Bailey was a little skeptical of this cow. It was HUGE. Seriously- I forget how big cows are until I see one up close. This was the closest she would let us get for a picture.

Here we are at the cow milking place, waiting for it to start. We got a spot up front so that Bailey could actually see.

I tried to help Bailey milk the cow. She got scared but wanted me to do it. All I have to say is, it felt like a furry boob. Who would have known that udders are furry? I was so grossed out after touching it (so I’m NOT a farm girl, lol) and Jonathon snapped this picture right as I turned around. Nice, isn’t it?

I am NOT a dog person, but this show was really cool. They did lots of tricks, caught frisbees, ran an obstacle course, and had long jump contests into the pool.

And both of my cuties in front of the elephant fountain… this is like a landmark for Bailey now. She loves seeing it as we walk into the zoo.

We love the Zoomagination Station. It’s an indoor free exploration/classroom/play area. You can pick up free tickets to visit for an hour during the day. They don’t let more than like 20 people in at one time, so it’s never crowded. I’ve also discovered it is the perfect break in the day to feed the baby and cool off a bit. Bailey was having fun with the sea creatures at the water table.

We rode the train all the way around the zoo, and I think Ella is now obsessed with the train like Bailey is. We really can’t visit without going on the train. And I have to admit, I like it too!

And this last picture- Bailey’s new “thing” is getting a map at the zoo and consulting it after each exhibit that we visit. Only she looks at it for a LONG time, turns it different directions, etc. It’s really cute and kind of funny!

Sometimes, we see a lot of animals there. Mostly elk (duh), deer, bison, and ducks/geese. Today we only saw a few geese and then a herd of buffalo that were really close to the road. One was about five feet from our car. Bailey thought it was pretty cool and wanted me to open her window so she could wave. Taylor slept through the whole thing.

At one point we stopped at a “viewing area” (there are certain places where you are allowed to get out of the car- NOT in the bison area though). There was a wooden feed bin type thing so I decided to make it a learning opportunity. I talked to Bailey about how it was a manger like what Jesus slept in as a baby. I showed her how the animals food was in there, but Mary put her baby in one just like that because he didn’t have his own crib. I love trying to help things “click” for her.

After we were done at Lone Elk, we decided to stop by the Wild Bird Sanctuary. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was right next door and it was free! It was actually kind of cool. Local moms- we will have to do a playdate there one day. I wouldn’t say it’s exciting for adults unless you are really into birds. But cool for kids to see, lots of room to run around, an “animal hospital” you can go inside, and another building with a gift shop and other animals that we didn’t get a chance to check out. And it’s something different. Bailey enjoyed seeing all the owls, hawks, eagles, and other large birds. They are in outdoor cages just a few feet past a fence.

Once again, Taylor was really impressed…

The whole thing is a big long path that you walk down and there are cages and perches on each side. I would say it’s a half mile walk maybe. There are spots where you could bring a picnic or snack and sit to eat as well. The path was gravel, which was annoying for me because Bailey LOVES to play with rocks and throw them. It took us about twenty minutes to walk ten feet because she kept sitting down to play in the rocks.

I’m so glad my dad was able to come with us and make it easier for me to get out of the house with the kids!

Definitely a cute spot I would go back to again to meet up with a friend for coffee and snacks. Although not too often- their cupcakes were SO good but I felt like I needed fat burner pills after stuffing myself that day!

Tomorrow I am going to deliver ONE Avon order (not wasting the whole day with work stuff!!) and then I am going to go to the new CVS and use my coupons! We are just starting to get CVS’s in our area but I am assuming it’s pretty similar to Walgreens. Only they mailed me some pretty sweet coupons! Like $10 off $20, which will be used for diapers…

Then I am planning on going to a book sale at the library and hopefully getting some new books for Bailey (25 and 50 cents each, if you are local, email me and I’ll tell you which branch!) and then I am going to enjoy a lunch alone with a book at either Macaroni Grill (Chicken Scalloppine) or Uno’s (deep dish pizza and dessert). I’m leaning toward pizza!

Didn’t Sarah look beautiful in her wedding dress? She is in super great shape because she has been training to do a marathon with her new hubby. She hasn’t done anything like weight loss pills, just lots of exercise and healthy eating. I should look to her for some motivation…. ha ha…

This is my favorite one from the whole day-

Bouquet toss… Single Ladies started playing and Bailey ran out on the dance floor. She lined right up with the other girls and really tried to get the bouquet. That’s my girl!

My little Dancing Queen… she stayed on the dance floor all. night. long. until we dragged her off around 10:15! The photographer took a lot of pictures of her too. Her socks were so nasty from that floor.

Posing for pictures before we left- my little model-

The LONG car ride… We went with my friend Jen and her kids Adelle and Wyatt. I was glad we at least had company since we had to wait like a half hour in traffic around the zoo. Besides, Bailey is obsessed with Adelle (Ah-daw) and Wyatt.

Looking at the gators

Here she is on the train- doesn’t she look thrilled? I think she was getting tired!

But then when I asked her to smile she got really cheesy!

Ready for nap the other day, she was singing a cute song and I just love her in t-shirts, she looks so cuddly and sweet!

First day of summer camp through our school district- the parents stay and play, and it was lots of fun. We made a birdfeeder, did water play, free time, play dough, and got to go outside!

Oh and a picture from Gabe’s birthday party back in February- I just found this!

Have a great weekend!

Magic House playdate with Addison

Botanical Gardens- it was so hot… it got a lot more humid than I expected and what was supposed to be an overcast day turned into a muggy, sweaty day. I don’t do summer in St. Louis, I melt when it gets above about 85. Just ask anyone who knows me IRL, I quit coming to playdates last year for the month of August, unless they were at the pool. I am thinking this year we might potty train in August since we won’t leave the house!

But we still had fun with our friends- Ella, Kaitlynn, and Brady (whose mom just started selling Avon too!)

And yes, I had Bailey’s stroller. She hates it with a passion and so I don’t make her get in it too often. Only if we are walking really far. And usually if we are going through a parking lot. If we ever have another child I guess I don’t need to invest in a double stroller. Really the stroller is just my diaper bag carrier. And when we go shopping it’s my clothes rack!

I love that you ride a tram to get into the park. I would say the ride is about 15 minutes but can be longer on a really busy day or if there are a lot of animals in the road. The rule is that kids sit toward the inside and adults sit on the seats along the edge. So that you don’t lose stuff… or a kid… well today I turned and reached toward Bailey who was sitting on the inside and somehow my shoe (Birkenstock sandal) went FLYING off and landed on the ground. If you know me IRL you know that I tend to have outbursts so of course without even thinking I was all “OMG my shoe! My shoe is over there!” And the tram tour guide started asking me on the microphone about it. He couldn’t get the driver’s attention in time to stop (the tram is like four 10-row cars long) so they had to radio the next tram to pick it up. So then on the microphone he had to ask me what color my shoe was and everything. I’m glad they got it for me because that would be like walking through the zoo without a shoe… ick! Plus not a cheap shoe, either.

Here is Bailey before the tram ride started and before the shoe incident.

She fed a goat with a bottle for the first time today. She asked me about it a couple times. I kept trying to blow it off because I know the goats are a little psycho sometimes if you go in their pen. Like they will start nipping at your clothes, nudging you (not gently, either!) and put their front feet up on your leg to reach the bottles. Bailey was NOT happy with just feeding them through the fence- she wanted to go in there. This picture was taken within the first ten seconds while it was still fun, before she had three goats climbing on her and fighting over a bottle. She kind of freaked out and I was trying to get the lens cap on my camera and stuff it in my pocket because the goat area is so dusty AND I was afraid they would bite at it. Now when I ask her about feeding the goats she says, “No no goats! All done goats!” We will probably try another time through the fence.

And toward the end of our visit, by the camels. You can buy food to feed the camels and Bailey is always sticking her hand in the food dispensers to see if there is anything in there. They’re like those gumball/candy machines where you put in a quarter and turn the dial. She is such a scavenger.

Overall it was a really fun day and I am looking forward to going back! I am so glad we got a parking pass again so that we can go whenever we want. It is a great way to spend a morning because it’s closer than the zoo and smaller/less crowded so the kids can run around more.

These first shots are in the Little Bit of Magic area where we have always played before.

These next few are from the “Once Upon a Time” area. It’s a new area based on fairytales. There are about fifteen different stories represented and each story had its own play area. I should have just walked around and taken pictures!

This is at the Beauty and the Beast story. There was also a big dining table with lots of pretend food and platters and stuff to play with.

This was some story about a fruit or a worm… I forget what but it wasn’t familiar. Bailey liked the tunnel.

The pumpkin from Cinderella

We got to see a little bit more of the new stuff but Bailey was having kind of a crabby day so we headed home. Where she continued to be crabby. Today was better, with the exception of the hour after her nap when she cried almost constantly.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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…