Oktoberfest and Other Stuff

This Saturday was the Oktoberfest on post. We decided to go (since I had not been out of the house after 7 PM in several weeks) even though it meant keeping Grady up a little late. The brats we good and we knew lots of friends there (and by lots, I mean the 12 people we know cumulatively). Grady played in the sand, and was in and out of the jump castle without so much as a jump. He climbed on the haystack and ate all of the whipped cream off of our apfelstrudel (the sacrifices of being a parent!) Normally, Grady can hang out late with the best of them, but this time he did not crack so much as a smile, as you can see.
Some other fun things from the weekend: climbing dirt hills and throwing rocks off of it, 


wearing mom's shoes,

 and Alex taking requests! Grady has learned so many songs and will sing to himself, but as soon as I take out the video camera, stops and says,"Hold camera. See pictures Grady." That child never tires of looking at pictures and videos of himself. I had to sneak this video. Some of his favorite songs are Jesus Loves Me, I'm a Little Tea Pot (which he calls "Pot"), 3 Little Monkeys (which he knows all of the hand motions to, but probably doesn't realize that the alligator is successively eating all of the monkeys in the song), and his ABCs.

Baby Sis

 I went for my 20 week ultrasound last week- a little late, at 21.5 weeks. I was none too impressed with the experience, as I had to just stare at the wall while the ultrasound tech took the baby's measurements instead of watching on the "big screen" like I am used to.  And no 3D technology! At the end, she showed us the "girl parts", heart, arms, feet, and got one profile pic, seen here. (We could have had some good "looking straight on" photos, but those are a little creepy.)

This little one is very active- I have been feeling kicks since she was 17.5 weeks, which I think was providential so I would not worry about her health during the LONG wait until getting into a dr here in MO.

Minnesota Trip

 We had so much fun visiting the Gillmans!
 Grady loved the cats and playing with the girls.

Especially dressing up!

Have ever wished you had said,"Less ice cream,please?" Me neither, until we visited this famous ice cream place. $3 for a "kid's cone" that was about 5 scoops of ice cream. Here Grady is enjoying his half. They put it in these small cups with flimsy spoons, and it just gets everywhere! SOME people couldn't even eat ice cream for dessert after dinner because of this experience!

Here we are at the park and then the Children's Museum.

We already miss "Cat-twin and Fware!" (and Suzanne and Jeff.)

4th and Final Day of Vacation :(

Today was our last day in St. Louis. It was actually pretty cool when we went out today, so I thought Grady might not want to get wet.

I was wrong.

Shortly after this picture was taken, Grady was soaked. 

When Grady's lips started turning blue,
we changed him into some dry clothes.

But not before I took this picture of Grady looking at himself on the big screen.

 It finally warmed up, and we headed to the Arch. Then we stopped by Chick-Fil-A (the closest one to the Fort) and headed "home".


I am thankful for Grady being SO GOOD on our trip. He is never great at restaurants, but we only had to pull out the iPad one time! I am also thankful for Alex doing all of the driving and carrying of Grady- which was a lot (except when Grady begged,"Hold Mommy!")   

St. Louis Vacation Day 3

 Today we had a lazy morning eating our fill of the continental breakfast and swimming in the heated pool. We then went to New City Fellowship Church. We have missed going to a PCA church and singing our familiar songs, and this church is multi-cultural,so we decided to check it out. We sang in Swahili, Spanish, and some of the scripture was translated into French! Some interesting things were that kids stayed in service for the first half of the 1 hr 45 min service (challenge! But nice that all the kids were loud, not just ours) and then went to the nursery for the latter half.  We broke into small groups during the middle of service to pray together, and stood in a large circle to take communion.

After service was over at 12:45 we drove aimlessly to find a place to eat. We ate at the delicious City Diner and headed back to the hotel for a late nap. We all fell asleep and finally I woke up at 5:45 PM. I knew we were going to be pushing it to do anything on our agenda, eat, and be back at a decent hour for Grady's bedtime.

First we stopped by City Garden,  a free sculpture garden.

I don't think Grady noticed the scary head behind him.

This neat old firetruck sold ice cream. Of course Grady demanded to,"Sit on it!"

I forgot about the sprinklers, so we improvised.

Grady would call this waterfall a "water bottle" 

We only explored a little if the gardens, then went for a leisurely stroll to LeClede's Landing for dinner. Unfortunately, there was a Blues Festival going on, and all of the restaurants were packed. I started getting stressed because it was getting late.We finally found a restaurant that was "only" a 35min wait. We ate, then hurried back to the hotel. Well, I was in a hurry. The boys decided they needed to get in this fountain.

 This is part of the City Garden, which we will probably finish exploring- with bathing suit in hand- tomorrow. You can see Alex and Grady right in the middle, taking their time, getting all wet, when Mom is trying to get the little one in bed! But Grady had so much fun, and will let us sleep in a bit tomorrow!

St. Louis Vacation Day 2

  Saturday we went to the zoo and the Cardinals' baseball game.

Grady loved the small animals.

We thought it was cool how close you could get to the hippos (there are 3 all snuggling behind Alex).

 Grady was not impressed.

Grady preferred animals one might find on a farm.

Grady learned that yelling, "Hum on, Goat!" was not the best way to get the goat to come to you. 

By far, the most fun Grady had was riding the train.

Saturday afternoon we went to the baseball game. There is a great view of the city from the stadium.

Grady was holding out his hands to catch a foul ball.

Finally we went to a delicious pizza place called Pi. It was a ridiculous wait (we didn't eat until 8 pm, and that was ordering a pizza "to go"), but was great. Unfortunately, Grady tripped on our walk back to the car, and his tooth went through his lip! It is not as bad as it sounds. It was just the corner of his tooth, so the cut it just a little dot.

St. Louis Vacation Day 1

 The first thing we did on our way to St. Louis was stop by The Magic House, a GIANT children's museum. Some of Grady's favorites:

He dragged this boat around on a string forever.

Catching a fish!

Floating balls (and my belly).

He wasn't a huge fan of static electricity.

Grady got to try out some future professions:

They had a hospital nursery he enjoyed.

President White 

After The Magic House, we enjoyed some of Ted Drewes famous frozen custard.