Citygarden

Citygarden really is cool! It has water features for the kids to play in and art sculptures from all over the world nestled among some of St. Louis' finer downtown buildings. It does have one major problem, in my opinion, no restrooms, except for port-a-potties at at the far west end of the park. If you know that before you get there though, you can have a lot fun at Citygarden.

Citygarden has sculptures from all of the world in a garden setting representing Missouri and its native plants and features. Hailey took a field trip to Citygarden in June that included a guided tour and time to play in the water features. Grandma was in town for a visit, so Grandma, Ethan and I joined the class. I found the tour very interesting, though I'm not sure the kids did. 

Even though it was a rather cool day in St. Louis, the kids did love playing in pools and  fountains.

I don't know how often the food trucks hit Citygarden, but they were there the Friday we were, so we decided Grandma needed to experience some street food.

I think the above truck served authentic food from South American (see food on the left of the picture below). It was so good! 

It was a fun adventure, and even included another cake picture.

Happy Birthday St. Louis!

St. Louis is having a birthday! Its 250th birthday, and it's kind of a big deal. STL250 has been throwing a celebration of grand proportions complete with a birthday party and 250 cakes.

In February, the Missouri History Museum hosted a free birthday bash. There were free crafts, performances, cupcake decorating and a new exhibit highlighting St. Louis' 250 years with 50 people,  50 places, 50 images, 50 moments and 50 objects. The exhibit will be open throughout the year.

Birthday cakes are also popping over all St. Louis! The Cakeway to the West includes 250 birthday cakes at different landmarks, businesses and schools throughout the area. It makes for a fun scavenger hunt with family and friends. My friends and I made an impromptu girls night out of cake finding. It took a little while for my kids to warm up to the idea, but even they have gotten on the cake finding bandwagon. Here are just a few of the cakes we have encountered.

There is plenty going on in St. Louis this year, so get out there and celebrate. You could find a cake, visit somewhere new, or start your own 250 project. Happy Birthday St. Louis!

Bucket List Items

Since I started this blog in 2011, we have done tons of fun things. Some of them from a bucket list I made (see side bar) and many other things we just discovered along the way. We've long ago accomplished most of the bucket list, but we've still had a few items left to experience. Last fall we crossed two more items off the list...Art Fair and Tour a Cathedral.

St. Louis Art Fair

Hailey and I visited the St. Louis Art Fair in Clayton with the cousins. The kids had a lot of fun. There is a kids area set up with tons of different crafts the kids can do for free. It was definitely worth the trip. Check it out in September!

The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis

Technically, we didn't take a tour, but we finally made it inside The Cathedral Basilica so I'm counting it! We've even been twice!

The Cathedral includes 83,000 square feet of mosaic art created by twenty artists. Construction started on the Cathedral in 1907 and the mosaic art was installed over a 75 year period.

It blows my mind that this is all made of tiny squares. The Mossaics were created with over 41,500,000 pieces of tesserae.

I think all we have left unchecked on the bucket list is a visit to the top of the Compton Water Tower!

Benton Park Cafe

Happy 2014! Our New Year's Day tradition is going out for breakfast. The first year we went to McDonald's. Luckily, we've only gone up from there. After some "best breakfast in St. Louis" research, I decided we would try Benton Park Cafe. It was the right choice.

The kids ordered chocolate milk. The waitress apologized for the chocolate milk taking so long because they had to melt the Godiva chocolate to go in it. What!? Why are my kids the one's drinking this deliciousness?

The food was so good! I ordered non-adventurous french toast, but it came with a cream cheese spread that was to die for. The bacon was also some of the best I've had in a long time.

We had to order a BP Slinger after we saw one delivered to the table next to us.

The waitress recommended the South of the Border Burrito.

The food all tasted good. It had lots of flavor, a little kick to it, or just a little something extra. The kids gave their pancake breakfasts a thumbs up, and Brenton said I had made a good choice on where to eat (he had been hoping for IHOP).  The best part of our New Year's breakfast though was that Grandma and Grandpa flew in the night before and got to joins us. Yay for visitors, family, traditions and holidays!

You can check out where we ate last year here.

Wild Lights at the St Louis Zoo

I hardly got to finish my piece of pie at Thanksgiving when I realized that Christmas was right around the corner. It's kinda amazing how having 6 less days between Thanksgiving and Christmas can throw you for a loop. Our tree went up the day after Thanksgiving and the calendar started filling up with holiday events. I do love participating in Christmas activities, and since the weather was nice we headed to Wild Lights at the zoo. This was our first time ever attending. I figured I had enjoyed plenty of free days at the zoo, so the $5 a person to walk through the display was the least I could do. We invited some friends to join us and enjoyed a beautiful, night at the zoo.

Only a few animal exhibits are available to view, the Insectarium, the Herpetarium (Reptile House), and Sea Lion Sound. Sea Lion Sound is pretty cool anyway, but I thought it was pretty neat at night with all the lights. Unfortunately, I don't know how to use my camera well enough to capture all the action. And the one shot I did like is loading washed out. It doesn't look like this anywhere but here, so I'm not sure how to fix it.

The kids had a great time making crafts, listening to storytelling, and wandering through the lights. 

It was a fun night!

Wild Lights is open on weekends from 5:30 - 8:30 pm and then every night Dec. 20-23 and 26-30. Parking is free in the south parking lot, next to I-40. There is an entry fee of $5 per person or $4 for members. Children under the age of 2 are free.

Must Stop for Treats on I-44

My favorite part of Thanksgiving is rolls and pie. Everything else, I could skip! This year was no exception. There is something fun and delicious about pie. Have I ever mentioned I host a "Pie" event on "Pi" day, 3/14? Plus, one of my favorite pies is also one of Oprah's Favorite Things. Last spring, Casey and took a trip to Branson for our anniversary. One of the highlights of the trip for me was the food we discovered on the way down. So if you're ever headed South on Interstate 44, part of the old Route 66, make sure you stop by one of these gems...

We reached Rolla just in time for lunch. I wanted to try something new, so we stopped at the visitor centers to ask for suggestions. The host informed us of a few local lunch spots and then added, "But we're really known for "A Slice of Pie." She had my attention! We got some lunch, since pizza is the only kind of pie my husband eats, and then headed for this hidden gem. It's next to a laundry mat and looks like it hasn't been updated since in was opened, but it was divine.

My pictures, taken in the car, do not do these pies justice.

I had also texted a friend who traveled between Springfield and St. Louis frequently asking if she had any good suggestions on where to eat. She mentioned a Rocking Chair Restaurant in Conway, Mo with cinnamon rolls the size of your head. Casey thought she was joking...she wasn't.

We stopped here on the way home. It was packed for being in the middle of nowhere.

We ordered four cinnamon rolls. One ready to eat and three frozen for later. Yay for getting to enjoy the deliciousness for a couple days afterwards. So yummy!  

The section of I-44 south of St. Louis has lots of fun roadside attractions (a giant rocking chair, vacuum museum) and some great food!