A family fun "STAYcation" (Part One)

We were so happy to welcome Tommy, Melonie, and Brooke to spend some fun time with us here in St. Louis. We tried hard to keep them busy but leave enough gound uncovered that they would want to come visit us again! I promised to make the visit fun for everyone...but secretly was looking forward to having some "girl" time with my cousin.


They made me slave away cooking dinner while they played card games...


Day One: We jumped right in for fun times with a trip to Six Flags!

We watched while the dads rode. Ava and Brooke found a sprinkler and ran through the mist. We picked a perfect day to visit. We walked right up to the front of the line on almost every single ride!!


Sweet Cousins...



The girls rode nearly every ride in the Looney Tunes forrest...





Ava rode her very first roller coasters. The first one was the Runaway Mine Train - which she loved all except for the huge hill in the tunnel. Then her second roller coaster was this...The Pandamonium {previously known as the Tony Hawk}

Looked pretty low key...I thought I could try it later...which I did, and regretted it instantly!

Ran through more fountains~



Ava ate lots {well, all actually} of Brooke's cotton candy...



The girls got tattoos...




ALL THE GIRLS :)




We saw a dance party.


Got hugs from Sylvester.




Then, of course we rode the TRAIN!


Looks like we've had an exhausting time?


Brooke tried to teach Ava how to ride with no fear...


Six Flags was a hit! It was the most perfect day to go. The weather was nice, there were minimal lines, and we rode everything we wanted to. We got soaked on Thunder River, laughed a lot about that. Ava's favorite ride was the log flume...she laughed and laughed every time she came down the hill.

Fun Day?? Mission accomplished!!

A trip on a train

We took a train trip to Chicago!


Our trip to Chicago was much more of an adventure than I had anticipated. We were a few minutes late leaving because they were adding an engine to the end of our train. We didn't know at the time but the southbound train engine had lost power and the train was sitting on the tracks...we were headed to a "rescue" :)

Because we were late, our entire schedule was thrown so we spent a lot of time behind a freight train which apparently has to travel slower than a passenger train. We also spent a good bit of time sitting waiting on trains to clear the tracks ahead of us.

So, our short little 5 hour trip turne into an 8.5 hour trip. Let's say my little girl got PLENTY of train time. My patience proved better than I could have hoped...especially once we learned that the snack car was out of provisions!!! Amtrack made it a little more bearable by sharing a "snack pack" with us free of charge...


The train was an adventure...it isn't really wasn't any faster than driving but it was nice to just sit back and have some down time {and snugle time with my little traveler}...


Ava had a few friends along for the ride...Baby Grace and her pink bear...






Daddy and Uncle Mark took a ride on the scooter to meet us in the city at the American Girl store. Ava, Aunt Nancy and I took the train.




Dancing to one of the bands playing at the street fair


American Girl






Shopping Michigan Avenue ~ "the magnificent mile"








LUNCH


Silly Balloons from a street vendor. She loved that she could wear her new art!


Window Shopping, Yep...Daddy is teaching our little girl not to settle when it comes to jewelry!


Riding the "L"








A Day at Lake Michigan




Oh, we had some silly times. We picked the HOTTEST day of the year to visit. We made an attempt to go to the aquarium...like the rest of the tourists in Chicago...so we went to plan B. We took a water taxi over to navy pier for some lunch at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. While we waited for our table, we played in the children's musuem with some really cool toys...




Afternoon at Navy Pier










Ava found a friend in Mellenium Park








Lunch! The Rain Forest Cafe was an adventure, especially dodging larger than life snakes, frogs, and elephants! hahaha