Our Day Downtown

Last weekend, Jason, Amelia, GG (and some of her Curves friends), Susie, Natalie, and I participated in the Heart Walk.  We originally thought the entire 3 miles was around the warning track at Busch Stadium.  Luckily, the walk was actually around downtown St. Louis and only the last lap was around the track.  (I kept thinking we were going to get dizzy!).

I was pretty excited about being on the field--can you tell? 

Unfortunately, they had the dugouts blocked off (BOOOO!).  This is the best we could get.

Amelia was pretty taken with the foul line.

Since we were already downtown, we decided to swing by Forest Park for a bit and take advantage of the beautiful weather!  We ended up at the Boathouse and took out a paddle boat for an hour.

Do you see the bride on the bridge?  Amelia was fascinated with her the entire time she was in view.

Jason climbed up to the front of the boat to snap a few pictures of Amelia and I.  And while these may be the best pictures from the outing, we were pretty close on several occasions to going overboard.

We got to go under several bridges.

The Art Museum/Art Hill

Amelia really, really wanted to drive the boat through the fountain.  We tried, but they have rings around them so you can't get too close (thank goodness).

Earth Day 2009

I must admit, this year's Earth Day was a little short on the planning.  I had lots of ideas, but little time to initiate.  I felt like it kind of snuck up on me a bit.

The most memorable thing for Amelia, surprisingly, was playing an Earth Day game on the site, www.starfall.com.  It is a game where she uses the mouse to click on trash and then place it in the appropriate recycling container.  As she "picked up" the trash, animals began to appear and return to their habitat.  HERE IS a direct like to the game.  I like this game for multiple reasons and I think Amelia really understands (at least in part) why we don't throw trash on the ground.

Needing to take a trip to the grocery store, we decided to walk instead of drive.  Absentmindedly, I forgot my canvas reusable bags, but instead of caving to plastic, I just placed our groceries at the bottom of the stroller instead.  During our walk, we talked about the trash on the side of the road and how it was harmful for the animals and how it was hurting the Earth.  I would love to pick up trash with her, but I need to find child sized latex gloves first.

We made sure to fill our bird feeder full of seeds upon our return home.  Oh yeah, and I recycled my two beer bottles that night ;)  (Of course, I do this all the time--everyday is Earth Day, right?)

The last activity occurred during the weekend following Earth Day, but is definitely the best!  Jason built a raised garden bed for our backyard.  We got a book about SQUARE FOOT GARDENING and have planted a multitude of vegetables and flowers.  So far, we have planted squash, sunflowers, carrots, two types of lettuce, radishes, cucumbers, and peas.  We have plans to add tomatoes, garlic, and potatoes in the near future.  

These are not the most recent pictures of the bed, in fact it looks a lot different now with various sections and a removable caged top.  Also, upon checking on it today, I noticed the first sprouts poking through!

DC: Day 5

Our last day in DC came way too fast!  The kids spent much of the day playing both inside and outside.  Early in the trip, I found a recipe for making ice cream in a plastic bag.  The recipe was similar to THIS ONE (we also added chocolate chips).  We decided to give it a try after lunch since it was basically our last chance!  I had to get a picture of everyone doing their part in the 10 minute shaking process.

Aunt Amy LOVED the shaking :)

Amelia wasn't a big fan because it was too cold and too heavy.  Needless to say, she didn't do her part!

Andrew decided he would help out by shaking his booty instead.

Jacob's job was just to look cute during the entire 10 minutes.  Mission accomplished!

Derek was "too cool" to act like he enjoyed the shaking......

But guess who was first to give the finished product a try! (And who wouldn't stop talking about it for the next 24 hours).

Both kids enjoyed it as well!

Thumbs up from Andrew!

Amelia concurs!

Later that evening we went to my cousin, John's house to visit with him and his family over a DELICIOUS dinner (seriously, it was amazing John and Anne!!).  Andrew, Jacob, and Amelia added a new playmate, Max, to the mix.  

As you can see, Amelia had some computer work to catch up on while visiting.

She took a special liking of Max's downstairs potty that was conveniently placed in their new sitting room.  Amelia liked it so much, in fact, that she used it three times and successfully stunk up the ENTIRE room.

But that did not deter Max and Andrew from cozying up on a chair together in the room to watch the hockey game.

And as usual, GG hogged the baby.  Sweet Baby Olivia.

Much of the night was spent searching for and finding the "monster" in the closet.  The kids would take turns opening the door and then screaming and running from the monster.  Here is Derek, um, coming out of the closet.

And so ends our much to short trip to DC.  It was such a great time as usual and we are already trying to figure out when we can make a return trip!  Thanks for a great week Derek, Amy, Andrew, and Jacob!!

DC: Day 4

After a few busy days around town, we decided to relax a bit around the homestead.  Day 4 started with some painting.

And then turned quickly to dress up.  Can you see us laughing at this picture for YEARS to come?  That is Amelia's Snow White dress that we brought with us.

After a busy morning of crafts and dress up, we walked to a nearby park.  Mr. Photogenic loved people watching from the stroller.

That night, after the kids were all tucked in bed, we sat out on the back porch with some Margaritas and some good music (like Afroman).  After putting a few back, I got a craving for something salty.  Reminiscent of my college days, my mom and brother went off to the late night grocery store and returned with three bags filled with salty snacks.  If I remember correctly, we polished off two of the three bags.  Not too bad!

DC: Day 3

Day Three brought more adventures!  After picking Andrew up from school, we headed to the Mall to have a picnic lunch and enjoy the beautiful weather.  

Seriously, Jacob may be the most photogenic baby I know!

Amelia and Andrew enjoying some their picnic.

After lunch, these two spent most of their time digging.

And digging.....

And walking to better digging spots.

GG tried to catch some more ZZZZZZs.

Until Amelia mistook her for Sleeping Beauty and decided to awaken her with a kiss.

We took the kids on a little walk to a sculpture garden nearby.  

I tell you, there really isn't a better place to picnic.  With the National Monument on one side and the Capital on the other, it was perfect!

Here's a picture we took during a visit when Amelia was about 10 months old.

Here's my attempt to re-inact it!

The Banocy Family!

Our first attempt at using a port-a-potty.  (Actually our first AND second attempts took place here).  Amelia was pretty impressed with the "tiny potty room".

The day ended with another bath of cousins.  This time Jacob briefly got in on the action too.  This is the best picture I got since Jacob was not feeling the love!