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!

Summer

Oh my goodness! Where has the year gone? The kids are back in school and the holiday season is only a few months away. Our summer was great, even though I can sum it up in only four words...travel, swimming, library, park. Other than a few amazing trips, we were kinda boring, but it was good!

We traveled over 6,000 miles this summer and visited or passed through 15 states. We saw the beauty of Yellowstone in the West and the charm and history of the Northeastern United States. I wish all our family lived closer, but if they can't, I'm glad they live in cool places.

Sorry for the picture overload, but when you take almost as many pictures as the miles you drove....

Anyway, when we were in St. Louis, we were swimming (lessons and pool) or at the library. It was a rather cool summer, so we hit the park a few times, too.

One special St Louis activity we did do this summer was visit Bob Kramer's Marionnettes with Nanny. It was a good experience. Bob and Dug truly have a passion for what they do.

It was fun and educational. Brenton even came home and made his own marionette.

Busch Stadium and Downtown St. Louis

Baseball season is right around the corner, so what a perfect time to tour the St. Louis Cardinal's Busch Stadium. I read an article several months ago that called St. Louis "one of the last great baseball towns." It really is. I tell people all the time when they move here that they'll love the Cardinals before long. They usually respond, "No, we're not really baseball people." Wrong! This isn't about baseball folks, this is about a sense of community. St. Louisans love the Cardinals and their love is contagious. Trust me people, I think baseball is boring too, but there is nothing boring about St. Louis' adoration for its baseball team! Go Cards!

Anyway, this was an awesome adventure because Aunt Cari was visiting! She had two requests, to see the Eads Bridge and ride the MetroLink (the closest thing we have to a subway system or L-Train, though I've ridden both and the MetroLink hardly compares). Since I felt we needed something else to do downtown as well, I suggested the Busch Stadium tour (Cari has done the Arch a couple times). Cari, who loves baseball, said a stadium tour would have been on the top of her list if she would have known they had one.

The tour starts outside of Busch Stadium at the Stan Musial statue. "Stan the Man" is the best Cardinal of all  time. He died earlier this year and I was seriously tempted to attend the viewing, but thousands of people and a predicted 2 to 3 hour line kept me at home. The local channels even televised the funeral.

During the tour, you get to check out the Cardinal's World Championship trophies.

The Cardinals have won a 11 Word Series, second only to the Yankees.

You also get to see the various club rooms and places we'll never have the money to hang out in.

The view from the radio broadcast room is amazing! Too bad I didn't take a picture. However, the highlight of the trip was getting to visit the Cardinal Dugout. You can't walk on or touch the grass, but Ethan was so excited to walk on the warning track to the dugout.

After the tour we headed to Laclede's Landing, next to the Arch. Laclede's Landing is where St. Louis got it's start. In 1763, a French merchant Pierre Laclede Liguest wanted to set up a trading post near the mouth of the Missouri river.  The original area was too swampy and they staked out a place 20 miles south of where the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers meet. The following year, Liguest left Auguste Chouteau to start a trading post. When he return, he called the settlement St. Louis after the King of France. Today, St. Louis' oldest district, Laclede's Landing is home to several restaurants, clubs and shops.

We headed to one of the few kid-friendly places in Laclede's Landing, The Old Spaghetti Factory. The service was good, and the decor is fun, but I don't need to go back.

We then checked out the Eads bridge. The Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River. When it was completed it was the largest arch bridge in the world and the first made primarily of steel. It was also a lot of other firsts you can read about here. Another fun fact, they used an elephant to prove it was safe because, supposedly, elephants will not walk over anything unstable.

 We then took the MetroLink across Eads Bridge. Cari was very excited.

A view of the Arch from the other side of the river.

Most of our adventure travel took place by the MetroLink. Ethan loved taking the "train." It was nice to be able to hop on and off between stops, especially since it was cold outside. I'm still debating how economical it was for our outing, but if you don't want to have to mess with parking and are just going to a specific event or place, you might want to give it a try.

We miss you, Aunt Cari!