Best of Saint Louis Adventures 2011

Exploring Saint Louis has been one of the most fun things we have done as a family. I'm so glad we've been able to experience all these different places. I just wanted to share a few of my favorite things we did this year. There are so many, it's hard to choose.

Kids Vote for Best Adventure

Johnson Shut-Ins

Best Place We Ate

Pappy's

Best New Holiday Traditions

Christmas in Historic Saint Charles

Fair Saint Louis - Independence Day Weekend

Best Museum

City Museum

Best of Forest Park

Everything! I have renewed appreciation for this place!

Shakespeare Festival in the Park is now a must every year!

Best Treat

We had some awesome desserts at Crown Candy and Ted Drewes, but I'm going to go with

Fitz's Rootbeer

Actually, I just prefer a bottle. I don't even like soda, but this could become an addiction.

Best Must See At Least Once

Balloon Glow

Best Team, Best Fans, Best City

You can't be a true Saint Louisian without being a Cardinals fan! 

The fun's not over, either. A few more things for the list...Alton, Ice Carnival, festival in Kimmswick, downtown, to name just a few.

Way of Lights

We did this great Christmas Activity three weeks ago, but things have been so busy since then, I haven't had time to blog about it. I have to at least blog about it before Christmas though. So even though I should be cleaning my house and getting ready for one awesome Christmas Eve dinner (and it better be awesome because I just spent A LOT of money on tenderloin), I'm going to throw some pictures in this blog post and wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows' Way of Lights is very popular in the St. Louis area. Why we had never gone, I don't know. They provide a free drive though Christmas light display centered on Christ's birth with over a million lights and a beautiful manger scene. My camera did not take beautiful  pictures of the manger scene though, so you'll have to settle for a Wise Men.

They also host several free Christmas activities. The kids enjoyed a puppet show, making a craft and checking out Christmas trees with storybook themes.

They also do camel rides and a laser show for a fee.

If you've never been, it's worth the drive over. Activities will be going on though January 1st. 

Christmas at Historic Main in St. Charles

Let the Christmas festivities begin!
I love Old Main Street in St. Charles! We use to go there on a regular basis, then we had children. Strollers and kids who touch everything aren't a good match for the shops on Historic Main Street. However, their Christmas activities lured us back. Though we didn't take them into any of the stores, the kids had a blast.

Historic Main Street in St. Charles allows you to stroll down the brick lined street hosting speciality shops and restaurants housed in building from 200 years ago.

During the holiday season, Historic Main hosts Christmas Traditions.  An "old-fashioned Christmas with storybook characters, Victorian Carolers, and Santas from around the world." Characters from Christmas pasts, stories and legends roam the streets, greet you in character and pass out character cards (similar to a baseball card) for the children to collect. Here is Hailey with a few of her cards at the beginning of our adventure (she ended up with about 25 out of 33).

Brenton receiving a card from the Ice Queen.

The kids with the Civil War Santa.

A visit with Santa Lucia.

All the characters do a small parade in the afternoon and a short show. I don't think either one is really necessary to attend. The parade is short and you have to be right next to the show to hear it, but the kids had fun with their cousins anyway. It might be a good place to finish collecting cards though.

We also saw roasted chestnuts (who knew they weren't just part of a song?)

and heard the carolers perform.

There are plenty of treats available to purchase...cookies, hot chocolate and icecream (and the weather was nice enough that people were actually eating icecream). We got our treats from the English Shop since Dad's grandmother is from England and he has a soft spot for Cadbury candy.

Historic Main is right next to the Missouri river with a nice trail and grassy area. The weather was beautiful the day after Thanksgiving, so we spent some time down by the river playing with our cousins as well.

Dad slept through this part. He did all the crazy hour Black Fridays shopping so he's forgiven.

The kids loved meeting all the characters and collecting the cards. The Santas, Tiny Tim and Clara from The Nutcrackers were some of their favorites. I think we'll definitely try to go again next year.

Taste of St. Louis

While we are getting ready to eat lots of good food in a couple days, I thought I'd finally do my Taste of St. Louis post from September. It only lasts a weekend, and since I didn't post about it immediately after, I figured it would have to be for future reference anyway.

Every September, Taste of St. Louis takes place downtown. Admission is free, and then you pay for the food you want to try. The food usually ranges in price from $2 to $7. They also have entertainment, an art and wine walk (liked looking at the art for sale, didn't try the wine), booths from various companies and an activity area for children. Casey and I went as a date and had lots of fun. We'll definitely go again, but we're still not going to bring our kids. Even with activities for children, my kids aren't to an age where it would be fun or cost effective to feed them this way.

Taste of St. Louis takes place at Soldier Memorial Park downtown.

Next to this beautiful building, which I think is City Hall (though I could be wrong, it's been a while).

Anyway, there are lots of white tents set up with little chalk boards with menu items and prices.

I had this delicious tenderloin sandwich from Pujols 5. My dad raised beef cattle so I appreciate good beef, and this was good.

And I tried someones famous lasagna.

Casey tried lots of barbecue (and there was lots of barbecue places to choose from).

It was lots of fun trying things from different restaurants. And it was nice to have such a variety of restaurants to pick from.

One thing to note -  No outside food or beverages are allowed. Not a problem, since you came to eat anyway. However, alcohol is the primary beverage for sale. Water has to be purchased and it was not cheap. The rules were only posted outside the event and I can't find them easily online, however, I do think you can bring in water bottles?

Fall

Well, well...It looks like I have kinda been a slacker! But here's what I've been looking at out my kitchen window.

It's been beautiful here and the weather has been almost as nice. Then there was all the World Series excitement. Did you see Game 6? Crazy?! But of course, the Cardinals won it all and everyone in all of Saint Louis is very happy! Especially this boy, who was Albert Pujols for Halloween.

So now that I'm feeling a little cold and a little less distracted by other things, I'll fill you in on our Saint Louis fall activities after the fact (I have a post I still need to do that is really after the fact, so this is nothing).

We headed to Bass Pro Shop for free Halloween pictures, crafts and s'mores. They have since started their Christmas festivities.

We also made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with our Saint Louis cousins and Nanny (Papa was busy). There are so many pumpkin patches and farms here that have fall festivities. This year I was hoping to try somewhere new, but we kind of ran out of time and ended up at Stuckmeyers for the third or fourth year in a row. We always have a good time there though.

We like Stuckmeyers because admission is free. There are a few animals to see (which included the cutest little pig ever), tricycles to ride, a small maze, sandboxes to play in and a large playground to enjoy.

Ethan especially liked this green pumpkin. His favorite color.

They also have a couple activities you can pay for...pony rides, bouncy houses and a hayride to name a few. We always do the hayride. It's $3 a person for about a 15 minute ride. It has character cut outs  along the way that the kids love.

My favorite part of the the trip turned out to be food (I guess that's not surprising for coming from me). We bought kettle corn and then found these delicious carmel apples. After the apples were gone we dipped the popcorn in the carmel. It was all very yummy!

I already have plans to visit some fun places for the Christmas holidays. I'll try to be a little more timely about posting those adventures.

City Museum

We had visitors!

My cousin, Paul, and his wife, Ali, were in town for a convention last week. Tuesday night we picked them up from downtown and took them to some of St. Louis' favorite eats and treats, Pappy's and Ted Drewes. Pappy's was as good as I remember and Ted Drewes continues to grow on me. It was so fun to see them and have them in our part of the country. It did make me wonder though where we would have gone out to eat before I became a self-imposed St. Louis tour guide (seriously, sometimes I sound like a St. Louis travel book)?

Then, last weekend, Casey's sister Megan brought her boyfriend Nate to Saint Louis. I love it when Megan comes to visit, but I was also excited to have Nate visit because it meant we got to plan a Saint Louis outing. And it just so happened we got to go do something super fun, that I haven't done, that was on my to do list.

Saturday we went to the City Museum. I have heard good things about the City Museum for years, but I had also heard to wait until my kids were a little older. After I decided my kids were finally old enough, I was told to not take them all by myself. Saturday we had 8 adults and 6 kids so we were set.

The City Museum is like massive piece of art that you climb and slide threw. It is so much fun for the kids and young adults (that includes everyone under the age of 35)! And I think the regular adults (grandparents) had fun watching everyone, too!

I don't think my pictures do the place justice, but I still made every attempt to catch some of the action.

Like I said, there are lots of slides. Went through a hole in the cave area and found this one.

The Cave area also hosts a 10 story slide. We had some brave kids!

The Hamster Wheel was a huge hit!

What better place to run around and do tricks?

Ethan finally laid down in the center for a rest. I don't blame him. This place wore me out. We stopped to watched a small circus performance and my legs ached when I got up.

The outside of this place is amazing. Planes, towers, vehicles all way up in the air.

My boys loved the big ball pit.

Megan, Nate and Hailey were all over the place outside.

I was glad we ended up at the City Museum. It's kinda awesome. It was also worth the $12 a person. I know, so expensive for Saint Louis. However, I have to remind myself that we're just spoiled with free things. However, $12 would be a great deal if were were in Chicago or anywhere else. I do highly recommend it, unless you are overly paranoid or extremely germ conscious. Oh, if you go on a weekend, you can park on the street for free.