This is KIND of what I wanted, only you can hardly see the blocks. Plus, I found out that keeping an 8 month old safe on the steps, keeping the blocks together, AND snapping a picture is nearly impossible. Not sure what I was thinking.
Amelia loved every second of the Arch experience. It was her first time seeing it up close and she has always been curious about it and full of questions. She could hardly grasp the concept the first time we told her that you can go up in it.
She may have actually enjoyed the outside more than the inside (although, its really a toss up). It was like she couldn't get enough of it--touching it, looking at it, and I think I even saw her smell it once.
Surely if you've ever been up in the Arch you remember these tiny pod-like elevators. They are supposed to seat 5, but 3.5 people inside was enough for me. Luckily, we went early on a weekday, so it wasn't crowded at all and we got an elevator all to ourselves. I'm a bit claustrophobic, but luckily I kept it together for the kids sake.
Once we got to the top, I wasn't sure how we were going to get Amelia back down. She insisted on looking out every single window (might as well get your money's worth, I guess). 
I thought it was neat to see the new baseball stadium next to where the old one was...
Henry liked it too. He also figured out rather quickly that the carpet was pulling away from the window and that it fit perfectly in his mouth. Ew.
Heading back down (finally).
I found it very difficult to get a good picture of the Arch in such close proximity. I even drug Amelia up a really big hill in hopes of capturing the whole thing--to no avail. The whole experience was fun, nonetheless. What a great well to celebrate living in St. Louis (and check another thing off our list)!
The Wizard of Oz gang (tin man, scarecrow, dorothy (with red bows at the end of her braids), and lion) on the yellow brick road. Oops! I almost forgot Toto there on the ground in the blue basket.
This is Amelia's drawing of Martin Luther King, Jr. She was looking at a picture of him and made sure she had the hair and eye color right. She was also thrilled to draw her first mustache.
Amelia got herself into some trouble the other day and she sat down to write this card for me. She did it completely by herself in the other room and I was suprised that she got everyone's name down so legibly. "Amelia" is on top, then heart "mom", heart "dad" and then Henry underneath. (Henry gets two hearts).
This is her Texas-inspired lasso.
a "beautiful necklace"
Amelia came home with these flowers one day from school. The paper was all folded (obviously by her) and stuffed into an envelope (her favorite thing to do at the 'writing center'). But I thought it was really beautiful and luckily I was able to flatten it out some. I already had a frame on hand, so I threw some construction paper behind it and I LOVE the way it looks hanging in the playroom.
One of the highlights of the visit was attending the dog show. The dogs did some incredible tricks and the kids enjoyed watching the fun.
Amelia also LOVED the baby pigs and I have to admit that I briefly thought about sticking one into the basket under our stroller. Too bad they grow up and get all big and stinky.
Amelia got her first taste of a rope swing!
And if we would have let her, she would have driven tractors all. day. long. It was like 800 degrees up in the barn loft, though, so we eventually shut it down.
Unfortunately, we missed the cow milking demonstration, so we had to settle for this fake stand in. I was pretty surprised though that Amelia walked up and knew right what to do.
We had fun checking it all out, but I think I will wait for some cooler weather before I return. And we will stay away from the ducks and geese. One went after Amelia's hand and nipped it a bit. As with any memorable event these days, we have to act it out daily around here.
But now we are busy recovering from the fun. It's great to be back home in our own beds (and in our cousin's chairs that their mom bought for them at a flea market in Texas, but then couldn't take with them on the flight home.....)
This location happens to be inside a mall and we had walked by and looked around earlier in the day. We told Amelia that if she took a good nap, we would return for dinner. She was completely overwhelmed with all there was to see and she hadn't even been inside!
Once we were shown to our seat, both kids couldn't get enough! I was concerned that they may be afraid of the "thunderstorms" that occur every 12ish minutes. But, they were both fine. We were seated near a family of gorillas and they were fun to watch.
When a balloon artist came around to our table and offered to make Amelia any animal she wanted, she picked a gorilla--pink, of course. She became very fond of this little guy (despite his almost immediate deflated left leg) and named him Butterfly.
Seriously, can you say overstimulation?
All of us mid-thunderstorm. Maybe if you look hard enough you can see our gorilla friend in the background.
This was really a fun place (I had only been one other time when Amelia was a tiny baby), but I am so glad we don't have one in St. Louis. It sure made the experience much more special--since it was unique! Oh, and for about a week afterwards, Amelia was convinced that there was a gorilla under her bed at night. At one point, she mentioned she thought that Butterfly's mom came looking for her to get her baby back. Sheesh.
