August - part 2

We LOVE having visitors at our house

if you couldn't tell!

Our sweet cousin Darcey came to visit

us for a week!

We decided to make an adventure out

of it and headed over to St. Louis.

We took a well needed break

half-way there and discovered

a cave called "Devil's Icebox"!

It was starting to get late so we knew we

had to hurry before nightfall.

The maps ended up being too confusing

and we walked around forever 

and didn't end up getting to the cave.

Don't worry - we stopped on our

way home from St. Louis

and made sure we found it!

Those pic's are toward the end...

I tried to go in order this time :)

We had an up close and personal

view of the Arch from our hotel room!!

The girls had so much fun being so high up in the air!

I was scared to death one of them 

was going to fall.

We skipped out on quite a few

naps and we explored this new city!

There was so much to see and so much to do.

My sweet girls kept taking turns passing out

in the stroller or on one of us.

I was AMAZED.

My kids seriously never fall asleep anywhere

except their beds!

I was very grateful for Darcey's extra

helping hands!

Just over the hill past the Arch

was a huge staircase that led down to 

a bunch of horse carriages and hot dog stands.

They had music and dancers 

and they also had a ferry that went up the Mississippi river.

Madison and Darcey stamped some pennies.

Madi thought this was the coolest thing ever.

These are also some views from our hotel.

Here is the baseball game that was going on!

And the Arch at night.

It was so gorgeous!

We tried to keep our eating to 

local diners and such

to really get the feel of where we were.

We love to do that as we travel.

All the ladies in this place googled

over the girls.

We weren't in the south,

but they were your typical southern folk.

Some random guy acted like a pro photographer

and wanted to take our picture....

not so pro eh?

I think he asked for money after.

There was a museum underneath the

ground when we went to tour the Arch.

They had a bunch of history about the area in one part.

Of course we had to get a picture with the Madison River!

Here is the tiny bomb shell that we all

squished in to travel to the top of the arch!!

Everyone take your last deep breath!

You had to LAY on the side to see out the tiny windows!

At first it really freaked me out.

It was such an amazing view.

Daddy and Rae checkin' it out.

Madi kept asking me where the Arch went?!

Sweetie - we are IN the huge arch:)

We visited the City Museum.

This is probably the most random museum

I have ever been in.

As we pulled up we were a little nervous.

It was in a sketchy part of town and the building

looked worn down.

It literally looked like a recycled garbage dump.

We were daring and went in anyway,

and boy are we glad we did!

Recycled was the right word.

They had reused a bunch of different stuff

and created this humongous play house!

The floors had crazy designs

throughout the whole place.

Madi and Trevor crawled and climbed through the

craziest places.

This is them up in the ceiling trying to figure out which way to go.

After two floors of fun,

there was still more to do outside!!

Madi had the time of her life!

If we are ever in this neck of the woods again,

we will be hitting this up for sure:)

Daddy was a serious trooper!

His knees were killing at the end of the day

from crawling all over creation.

There was a "cave" part that you

had to walk through small spaces and tunnels

sometimes with very little light.

It was so fun,

except for when daddy scares you....

I didn't do much of the crawling

since I stuck with Rae most the time.

But I was quite exhausted after this part!

Madi getting ready to catch me as I slide down the ramp!

We found a kiddy corner where we all

sat and relaxed for a few while

Raelee went wild!

Daddy helped Madi scare the rest of us this time!

On the very top floor they actually

did have museum stuff.

So, the kids still get to learn

while having loads of fun!!

The bathroom walls were made up of

old bread pans!

They made wonderful drums and sounded

great!

And this is proof Madison loved this place.

Poor girl did NOT want to leave!

Of course we couldn't resist the fountain!

One of my very favorite things to observe in life

is watching my girls play and laugh together.

That face spells pure JOY!

Every one enjoyed the the relaxing break from

running all over.

As you stepped on these squares a bell of 

some sort rang out.

Nothin' better than bouncing and making music!

Pinocchio lives in St. Louis!

We also visited another museum of sorts

called the House of Magic.

Here is daddy teaching Madi in the pretend

school section.

We climbed Jack's beanstalk!! 

And yes, I did make it out alive.

Art center

We thought these next few were 

quite appropriate:)

This place was filled with the most creative stuff.

We could have spent a couple days in here!

I think we sat and stared at this wall for at least

10 - 15 min.

They had these soft balls that you would put in

one opening and it would suck it through

these different tubes and pop out another end.

Everything happened so fast you had no idea where it went.

There was also a lever that you could pull and would switch

the tube that it popped out of.

There was a gardening area up on the roof.

Raelee had picked all the veggies out of the ground!

They had a play house as well that they could cook up

all the food in.

Construction!

They did have hard hats,

but who really wears those right??

The chairs actually made music as you sat

on each one..

Trevor made the biggest bubbles I'd ever seen!!

Madi is always "fixing" her bike,

so she was pretty stoked to be able to

really work on a car her size!

There was a little tykes water play area.

Thank goodness for the water proof aprons

or we would have been soaked.

Daddy forgot to take off his glasses!

I could not stop laughing....

she has some serious hair!!

We really wore her out.

We hadn't even left the parking lot yet and Rae

had passed out!

St. Louis temple

One of the many cool bridges we crossed

My kids NEVER took binkies.

13 months, finds it in the bottom of

the diaper bag and NOW decides she knows

what to do with it.

( don't worry it was the only time she used it! )

Stopped on our way home at Devil's Icebox,

and this time we actually found it!

As you climb down these last stairs you feel the

temperature drop 20 degrees instantly!

It was really hot out,

so if felt FANTASTIC!

It was pitch black down there, 

good thing we had some flashlights.

We found a teeny bat!

I seriously couldn't even see Darcey

cause it was so dark.

We were laughing so hard!

We sure do miss her!

We were only allowed to hike in one area.

The other side you had to have a guide to go through.

From the pictures it looks so awesome!!

We are planning to come back again and take 

the real tour!

Back in Topeka we visited

the Combat Air Museum.

My grandpa would love this place!

They had stuff dated so far back

and it was so cool to see the different aircrafts!

They had shut down the highway because

they were bringing a really old plane in.

So this is us chillin' while we waited to watch!!

We had such fun exploring some new places

and we were so happy to have Darcey come visit!!