Carv turns TWO

Carver turned two.  It was sad.  I want him to stay this age forever.  He is so happy and funny and just such a good little boy. He got this remote controlled fire truck from the Johnsons and he LOVES it.  We gave him a Little Tykes basketball hoop, and he was obsessed.  Once he got the ball, he didn't let go the rest of the day.  When Todd got him up from his nap he said, "Ball.  Shoot."
We sure love this little guy!

Carv's two year stats:

Height - 37 inches,  97%

Weight - 30 lbs. 13 oz., 81%

Head - 50 cm., 83%

Easter

I had to choose between a picture of Macie scowling and this one with Riley's eyes closed.  I figure we have enough of the first.  And yes, Macie is in her footie jammies. 

 And yes, it is April.  And 80 degrees outside.  And four o'clock in the afternoon.

Southern Star always has a great Easter egg hunt.  We got there a little late and all the eggs had been found, but we still got treats, tattoos, coloring and the bunny.

Charlotte made her cute bunny at preschool.

I decided to bring back matchy-matchy this year. 

Spring Break - The Arch

After the zoo we went to the mall for a little shopping and a late lunch.  We probably got to the the arch around 5:00.  The kids had been troopers.  Carver hadn't had a nap in two days, but he was still goin' strong.  We had really talked up how cool it was going to be to ride to the top

and look out over the city. 

Of course, when we got there the tours to the top were all booked for the day.  Apparently you have to get there in the morning, or at least a few hours early to get tickets. 

Who knew?

Underneath the arch is a museum.  We walked through, but the kids were tired, disappointed, and not very interested.  It was short and sweet. 

It took a lot of begging and pleading to even get them to take some pics. 

Once again, Macie exudes happiness...

Done.

Spring Break - St. Louis Zoo

Day two we went to the St. Louis Zoo -

an excellent zoo that is FREE! Dare I say the best zoo I've been to? Probably.

 I read online that from 9-10 a.m. the carousel and the kid's petting zoo are also free,

so we got there in time to do both. 

Charlotte loves any carousel. Unlimited riding was a dream come true. 

 Remember how Carver climbed 9 stories high in a tunnel made of rebar to go down a steep slide with no problem?  Well, he can do that, but as soon as his animal started going up and down he was horrified!

Charlotte kept saying, "This is my goat. She loves me brushing her."

 Distracted by an airplane -

Riley was SO thrilled to see an elephant, then we rounded the corner and there were more elephants!  Bigger and closer and even a baby!

(I often wonder if Macie will look back on all these photos and wonder why she was always so grumpy. Queen of the ice stare, I tell ya'.)

My Favorite-

Spring Break - City Museum

The weekend of Spring Break we went to St. Louis, which is about 3 1/2 hours away.

On the first day we visited City Museum - quite possibly the coolest museum ever. It is an old ten story shoe factory turned into the most amazing place of tunnels, caves, slides and play areas. It's hard to explain.  You just have to see it to believe it.

Giant ball pit

Arts and crafts area

Toddler toys

A room full of skateboard ramps

A little bit of this...

A little bit of that...

Outside was this climbing/play area with old airplanes and fire trucks suspended in the air and connected with all these tunnels made of rebar.  Crazy fun. 

Inside the cockpit.

I didn't see any reason why Carver couldn't climb up to go down the big slide. 

A little slow, but we made it.

Going down the slide!

The second floor is an aquarium. 

Carv tried his hardest to get in with the turtles.

Petting stingray

This tank is full of little doctor fish.  If you stick your hand in they will swim over and nibble on your skin.  It just tickles, but it is kinda creepy!

The other big attraction is a corkscrew slide that starts on the 9th floor and goes all the way down.  You have to go through a bunch of caves and up all the stairs to get to the top.  Unfortunately they wouldn't let Carv go, so we stayed back and didn't get any pictures.