We just returned from our 17th annual Labor Day weekend zoo trip with Joy & Scott's family. I can't believe we've kept this tradition going for 17 years with no misses! Well, the past two years we've let our resident high school seniors (Syd in 2017 and Jack in 2018) choose our destination. Since Sam didn't get to choose yet, she had the honors this year and she picked St. Louis -- a great choice! The last time we visited this zoo was in 2006, when the kids looked like this:
Yes, we've grown a bit since then! Sam, as well as Jack's friend Connor, came along for our fun weekend. What a great looking group of kids!
It was a beautiful day to be at the zoo with temperatures in the 70s and low 80s most of the day. We decided it may have been the best weather we've ever had on one of these trips. As always, we saw lots of awesome animals.
We loved watching the African elephants wave their big ears over and over again. We couldn't decide if they were mad or just waving at us.
Our favorite animals of the day were definitely the penguins. We'd never been so close to penguins before; we literally could've reached out and petted them!
Violet loved watching them swim. She just laughed and laughed. Speaking of Violet, I was so proud of my girl. We took the wagon because she usually won't walk for very long, but she walked the WHOLE DAY. She kept up and never complained, and did a great job! (Of course, it doesn't hurt to have awesome big cousins who hold your hand.)
Russ has carried a lot of kids on his shoulders through the years on these zoo trips. It makes me sad to think these days are almost over :(
Another fun-filled family day at the zoo!
But our day was FAR from over. From the zoo, we headed across town to one of the craziest places I've ever been: the City Museum!
We'd come here during our family vacation in 2013, so at least I knew what we were getting ourselves into this time! The boys all took off together to explore as soon as we made it in, and I stayed with the girls. Violet and Evie had so much fun climbing and sliding!
And we all took turns in the spinning chairs. (With Violet on your lap, these spinning chairs take on a whole new level of unease!)
We took a break to watch the magician/comedian and he really was funny. . .
. . . and then decided to explore the rooftop. We couldn't find the elevator and decided to attempt the spiral staircase. Once again, I was super-proud of my Violet girl as she actually climbed up all of these scary steps without complaining at all.
We made it to the top and ran into some friends from church! What are the odds?? Evie and Ashley posed for a quick picture. . .
. . . and then went back to playing. Joy took Evelyn up in this crazy thing on the roof (you can see them at the bottom looking up in this picture.)
And all the kids went down this fast slide multiple times.
Violet did the lily pads and the boys loved the really long slide by the praying mantis.
When we were about to call it a day, Violet decided she wanted to ride the ferris wheel. Ya, the one that sits on the roof ON TOP of the big warehouse. And she was adamant about it, so we showed her the long line. Undeterred, she went and got in line and we waited for 45 minutes. But let me tell you, it was worth it! She absolutely loved every second!
Syd was braver than me in taking her phone up in that thing! I'm glad she did, though. These videos are priceless.
Sam, Oliver, Evie and I were all able to get on the same ride, so it was fun for all!
After a VERY full day, we headed to our Embassy Suites and arrived just in time for the Manager's Reception.
We had a great evening relaxing at the hotel. For possibly the first time ever on a zoo trip, we didn't get back out for dinner. We ordered pizza and just hung out. I think we were all too tired to think about going anywhere! Sunday morning, we enjoyed a delicious Embassy breakfast and then headed to church.
Rather than find the closest Lutheran church like we usually do, we decided to attend Mass at the beautiful and historic Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. It was a very traditional service with some really beautiful organ music and a great message about humility.
After Mass, we took our time exploring this absolutely gorgeous cathedral. The mosaics throughout are truly unbelievable. According to a very reputable source (wikipedia), the "mosaics collectively contain 41.5 million glass tesserae pieces in more than 7,000 colors. Covering 83,000 square feet, it is the largest mosaic collection in the world outside Russia." These pictures don't even begin to do it justice.
Several of the mosaic pictures depicted events from the Bible, such as Pentecost.
It was all breathtaking.
We explored outside for a bit and discovered the peaceful garden area.
We left the Cathedral Basilica and headed downtown. You can't visit St. Louis without visiting the Gateway Arch!
We didn't go up in it this time (the boys remember going up a few years ago), but it's still pretty spectacular to be standing underneath such an engineering feat!
Our sweet Evelyn is the only one who doesn't remember the Arch from our family vacation in 2013.
Here are the comparison shots of Evie and Me, then and now. She is so beautiful.
We walked around the base of the arch a bit more and enjoyed the beautiful Sunday afternoon.
And with that, our 17th annual Labor Day zoo trip had come to an end. It was an awesome weekend and we're already talking about where next year will take us. Joy and I were discussing how some day we may be taking our grandkids with us on these trips, and nothing would make me happier!
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