St. Louis here we come!

Lance had his Missouri Society of Anesthesiologist Conference in St. Louis, so we decided to pack up the family and go with him. We got a pretty sweet set-up with a Hilton hotel room that was $350 a night (um, the school paid for it). I was shocked at how little we got for such an expensive hotel. No WiFi, no fridge, no microwave, teeney room--and you even had to pay for parking. That is why we prefer the Motel 6 where everything is included. Anyways, in it's defense it was a gorgeous hotel; the lobby was like out of a movie. But, we couldn't just hang out there so we went out and had fun. While Lance was in meetings the kids and I found this amazing children's museum called the Magic House. We were there for hours and never even saw all of it.

There were just way too many rooms to explain even a fraction of them, but one of Masen's favorite attractions would have to be this wall he found in the toddler section. I have spent many a moments yelling--um, I mean 'kindly speaking'--at Masen telling him to stop playing with the light switches. This was heaven for him! Laycie was in heaven too seeing an endless amount of mirrors to look at herself in. (we're working on that)

They had a bubble room that was really fun. Laycie actually got inside a life-sized bubble, and they had dozens of different ways to blow bubbles. Apparently it brought out the 'toddlers gone wild' side of Masen--so please excuse the flashing.

Laycie is so much like me when I was that age. We went into this big room with a huge stage. I joked around with her and said, "Laycie why don't you walk up there and do a dance for everyone." There were people everywhere, so I never actually expected her to. Before I knew it I looked up and there she was dancing for the crowds, then giving her thank you speech. Her next stop? The Oval Office.

My kids also loved the construction zone. They immediately went to work and didn't want to leave. Where is that work ethic when there room is a mess?? Maybe a crane in there would spark some interest...and actually help a bit, their room could use a crane or two. Oh, and do you like how apparently Andersin is channeling his inner-construction worker? :o)

There was a huge wall covered with chalkboard. Andersin was cute and tried to score some points with me by writing sweet things on the board. It worked.

I don't know if you've ever seen this little contraption. It's been at quite a few of the children's museums we've been to over the years. You can control the sucking/blowing of the air to create different pathways before it shoots out the handkerchiefs. It never ceases to amaze my kids. I wonder how hard it would be to create one in my basement....it's just PVC pipe right?....


Don't you wish you would have come with us? I know Lance does.

Here is Fairytale Land with beanstalks, feasts, and Cinderella's carriage (which oddly enough my boys were most excited about...)

It was apparently way too much for them to take in and within the 15 drive home they were out for the count.

But once Andersin woke us he thought he'd have a little fun with Masen, so on that note we'll say "Bye!"