st. louis

last sunday, Wayne and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. we didn't go all crazy and romantic or planned fancy dinners, but instead we loaded the kids up, grabbed all of our winter gear and drove east to st. louis. we had never been there before and to us it seemed like a great adventure.

we got to our hotel late sunday evening. it was located right across the street from the gateway arch. we had the most perfect view of it and the kids just absolutely loved looking at this arch. chase even made the comment that it looked kind of like a rainbow. and from that point on, that's what the arch was called, the silver rainbow.

as we were getting the kids settled into their full sized bed and ready for sleep, i decided to lay down with sabrina to help calm her down. i squeezed between her and chase and her little head laid gently on my chest. chase softly rested his tiny little hand on my shoulders and i remember right at that moment how perfect this night was. how completely happy i am. i am so grateful to be married to amazing man who gave me these four beautiful blessings in my life. i wanted to engrave this memory of snuggling with my babies, the smell of their freshly washed hair and the way their little chubby hands fit perfectly into mine.  this was the perfect way to celebrate such a happy time with wayne and i am so happy that they were there to be a part of it.

we woke up early monday morning and the silver rainbow was there to greet us with the most beautiful sunrise. 

  we quickly got dressed and ready and decided to spend the day at the city museum. 

i don't know exactly how to describe this museum except for the fact that it is massive and random and insanely fun. there is really no rhyme or reason to it but we spent the majority of our day there and the kids had a blast. our first stop was the craft room. they have these big tables where you can color and paint and glue and cut and well... we did it all. 

  this place was hard for fisher at first. there is just so much going on and so many sounds and noises that he got over-stimulated at first. he just sat there most of the time taking things in, but after awhile he was used to the noises and craziness and began to enjoy himself more. 

another part of this museum was a huge skate park. the kids ran up and down the ramps and used the big ramps for slides. there were tunnel and mazes under the ramps and through the walls. it was crazy fun! 

i should mention that this museum is four stories tall with this huge outdoor climbing structure and larger than anything i have ever seen ball pit. it was way too cold to play outside but inside, at the very top, is a slide that goes all the way to the bottom floor. this was the highlight for chase and sabrina. they loved going down that slide. and i should say, walking back up to the top just to go down again is a pretty good workout. 

chase started getting brave and wild and would go down in all sorts of different directions and positions. 

the museum also has this crazy aquarium where you can pet sharks and turtles and feed stingrays. it too has crazy tunnels and climbing structures and it was so fun to look at all of these neat creatures. like sloths and coaties. 

and like i mentioned before this place was just massive. they have this giant whale structure that you can climb, walk, crawl on and through and it had tiny mazes and tunnels and was so cool. but i seriously started having a panic attack because it feels like you are going to lose one of your kids, there is just so much they can go through. luckily wayne was good at keeping track and i could just sit and watch while the kids had a fun time.

after our amazing time at the museum we decided to grab a quit bite to eat and then check out the arch before we headed back home. it was completely freezing outside so we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time outside the arch but it was fun going inside and learning about this neat structure. 

chase loved looking out the tiny windows and seeing the scenery. his favorite was looking at the cardinals stadium. this boy loves baseball. 

it was fun going up in the arch. i am terrified of heights but this wasn't too bad. they have the coolest little elevators too. they are these tiny circle structures with five little seats and the kids thought it was so fun. it's a four minute ride up to the top and chase kept calling it a roller coaster. 

i loved our quick getaway. it was such a fun time spent together as a family and i couldn't have asked for a better trip. the kids were great travelers and so fun to be around. it was the perfect way to celebrate our anniversary! happy six years.