Pappy's Smokehouse

Friday I got my belated birthday date with my husband. Of course that meant we needed to eat from the bucket list! I figured we couldn't miss if we headed to a place "Voted as One of the 101 Best Places to Chow Down in America" by the Travel Channel.

Pappy's Smokehouse is located near the downtown area, kind of situated behind another restaurant. You can see in the picture where they smoke the meat. They cook what they figure is enough meat for the day and when it's gone, it's gone and they close the doors.

It's a popular St. Louis destination for athletes and celebrities, from St. Louis and elsewhere. My favorite is Melissa Gilbert's signature (I own every single season of "Little House on the Prairie" on DVD).

Pappy's was featured on the Travel Channel's Man Vs. Food. It has also received many other awards and recognition.

The verdict....it deserves the praise. It was very good. Someone who works there suggested one of us get the Ribs and the other get the Pick 2 Platter with Pulled Pork and Beef Brisket so we could share their most popular items. Casey loved the ribs! I thought the ribs were good, my favorite was the Beef Brisket. Oh, and the sweet potatoe fries...covered with sugar! Casey also recommends the Fried Corn on the Cob and the BBQ Beans.

We'll definitely go to Pappy's again. Casey heard someone say they were from out of town visiting St. Louis for a couple days and they had already eaten there twice and planned on coming again.

The Museum of Transportation

Our Connecticut cousins were in town, and we had so much fun getting all of the cousins together (see our Six Flags post below and our awesome homemade tie-dye shirts)! We had purchased Groupons to The Museum of Transportation a while back to use during their trip here. We have fun with our cousins no matter what, but...it was really, really hot the day we went to the Museum (though we didn't have any not hot days to choose from). This trip was a first for many of us and there was kind of mixed feeling about the Museum. Those feelings might have been heavily influenced by the excessive heat warning in effect for the area. But the kids enjoyed it and I think it could be neat in nice weather (as long as you use some sort of coupon).

We started off with the train ride, which actually starts with a tram ride to the tracks.

The train looks a lot like the one at the zoo. It's not a real long ride, but they do take you around twice.

Then we entered the only air-conditioned part of our adventure, which unfortunately, lasts maybe 10 minutes with kids, probably closer to five. They have several cars from movies or that were owned by famous people. However, my kids had never heard of them. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I'm not really ready to see anything of Justin Bieber's in a museum.

Then we explored all the trains. This would be a great place for kids obsessed with trains.

They have a couple trains they allow people to ring the bell on. Very popular with kids, even if some of them aren't strong enough to do it themselves. Brenton would want me to make sure that you all knew he could do it himself though.

You can take a short tour of the passenger trains.

One sweaty group! But they were good and had fun anyway.

The Museum also has a Creation Station play area for an additional charge (the train ride was also an additional fee) that we did not do.

Six Flags

My kids have anxiously been awaiting this trip all summer! Cousins, rides, games, what isn't wonderful about a family trip to an amusement park?! Maybe heat, and it was hot! But that meant short lines! I don't know what else to say about Six Flags, it's expensive, but it's fun! Here are a few pictures from our fun-packed day!

Pi

Mr. President, we have finally found something on which we can agree...Pi pizza is GOOD!

Friday we decided to send Grandma off with another St. Louis first from the bucket list, Pi on the Delmar Loop. I heard about Pi a couple of years ago when President Obama declared he loved Pi pizza and even sent the owners/chefs to Washington to make pizza for an event at the White House. You can read about it here and here. This was a pretty big deals since Chicago takes great pride in its pizza.

They do have a small picture of them with Pres. Obama in the restaurant, but I was a little embarrassed to take a picture of it (though now I really wish I would have done it anyway). So I have these pictures instead.

This was actually one of the best restaurant experiences I've had in a long time. It wasn't crowded at the time (so I don't know if that would make a difference), but the service was great. Even better than the service, this...

The Delmar

I do think this is the best pizza I've ever had. My mom loved it, too. I'm glad I was with my mom, Casey does not appreciate pizza like this (he thinks $1 frozen pizzas are delicious).

The kids enjoyed their cheese pizza as well. I'm okay that they don't enjoy all the finer things in life yet. It meant more good pizza for me.

I agree with Hailey, I love Pi!

The Muny

I love the Muny! It's one of my favorite things to do in the summer! The Muny is "America's oldest and largest outdoor musical theatre." And the best part...they have free seats available! You have to come early to claim them, but I think it's worth your time. I've sat in the free seats, really good seats and in between seats. Really good seats are awesome! For the price, I don't think in between seats are much better than free seats, but that's just my opinion.

Here's a shot from the free seats.

The Muny has a great schedule this year. We had a family and friend girls night to Legally Blonde. Casey's sisters and I saw it in NYC a couple of years ago and we still loved it at the Muny. Last week, Hailey and I took Grandma to see The Little Mermaid. It was really good!

Singing in the Rain is playing this week. I've seen it twice before. It's one of my favorites, so if you haven't been before this is a great week to try out the Muny. I'll even go with you!

Missouri History Museum

I've mentioned Hailey loves museums. I think she's how we stumbled upon the Missouri History Museum in the first place and definitely the reason we went back a second time. However, the second time we discovered the great storytime crafts they host. This summer the museum is hosting a Summer Family Fun series with a special visitor or children's act on Tuesdays, and storytimes and crafts on Thursdays and Fridays. It's all free, so if you have kids, I highly recommend it. Your kids might pick up on some history afterwards, or just make you nervous they are going to break something.

Tuesday we went to the Missouri History Museum with Grandma, Mom's cousin Laura and her little girl Brynlee. It's located in Forest Park and is just as pretty as the rest of the park.

Mr. Saxophone was performing Tuesday morning. He played the saxophone, guitar and sang and danced with the kids. I've noticed my kids have found a way to get to the front for things like this.

This is how Ethan participated.

But I did get him to smile for me.

The museum has a replica of Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis.

The plane gives the museum my kid's stamp of approval.

They don't care if they really see anything else after the plane as long as they get to listen to the phone type things. I think the replica of the inside of Lindbergh's plane is really cool. However, Brenton was more excited to hear a plane take off.

The museum has a nice World's Fair Display (and I know it's getting old...but I can't help being reminded of Meet Me in St. Louis, I really need to track down that movie).

A couple other exhibits also survived our visit, but I didn't manage to take any pictures of them.

Jordan, Laura and Brynlee just moved to the area. We're so excited to have them close and to get to play with them!  If you are family, there is now even more of us here in Missouri to come see!

Ted Drewes Frozen Custard

We had so much fun while grandma was here that I'm a little behind in posting.  But I ate some really good food and have fun things to post about! Monday night we headed to Ted Drewes on the old route 66 for some frozen custard. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I had never been there. Ted Drewes is not just St. Louis famous, it's...well, take a look at what Casey's sisters and I found in New York City a couple years ago.

And since it's always better when someone's in the picture! Go Megan! This is while we waiting in line at The Shake Shack! So good! So good, it was listed as one of the best places to get a burgers just the other day on msn.

Anyhow, back to St. Louis.

Casey says Ted Drewes is known for their concretes and the ability to turn them upside down without losing it. They have a trophy in the window of this position and I think the girl might have flipped it upside down before handing it to us as well.

They have lots of things to choose from, but I would recommend the concrete. I actually got a brownie sundae, but was less than impressed. Then my husband said, "I told you to get a concrete" and switched me (he is a nice guy). The concrete I did enjoy. Brenton was a little surprised by his toppings, he was convinced he needed to order something with the word fox in it.

Hailey ate all of hers and some of everyone elses.

Definitely a fun treat in our hot summer weather! Oh, and in the winter you can buy Christmas Trees there!