For our day off of school, we went to the Science Center and to the Butterfly House. It was 50 degrees out, but really warm in the sun. After lunch we played on the play ground and then hit the Butterfly House. The house was huge - but we were a bit over dressed - it is kept very hot and humid.

The kids had Friday off of school so we went to the St Louis Science Center. There was a fun exhibit that was based on Grossology... farting, burping, barf, zits...... all of the gross things that kids say but have no idea what it means.
Julia is in a big nose and climbing on skin, warts and zits. Josh is next to a dummy that looked a lot like him that made all sorts of weird noises.

Pumpkin carving time. Halloween is on Sunday and you would barely guess it at the grocery store. The Christmas decorations are bigger than the Halloween decorations. I heard that, long ago, there was a holiday in November between Halloween and Christmas.

Shaw Nature Hike

It's hard to believe that for as long as we have been members of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, we have never visited the Shaw Nature Preserve. Lots of great trails that wind around and are easy and fun for the kids. Includes a Cemetery !
Last weekend was a great time to visit. Warm and all of the leaves have or are changing colors and falling.
2500 acres of natural landscape with a verity of gardens. Pictures below.

Cave Hike

A hike outside of Columbia. There are these huge caverns cut out of the bluff for limestone (?)... The government found it to be a great site to house thousands of documents and formed the National Archives. Sorry, no space aliens or goblets of fire.

The Boy Scouts made a well groomed trail up to the top with miles of windy trails and excellent views of the river bottoms. On the back side you end up at the Archives. SO, you could walk ALL the way around to the front of the trail - OR - make a short cut through the very dark, and a bit daring tunnels dug through the bluff. It's not recommended.. there are boulders in the ceiling that appear to be held by the slightest bit of pebbles and dust. It's amazing how big the tunnels are - they haven't been mined for some time - and they look to go into the bluff for a long way. No bat warning - and we didn't see and signs of them. Most caves that have bats have been completely shut off from the public due to "White-Nose Syndrome".

Summer Pictures

I forgot about these pictures taken over the Summer.

Fall Festival

The kids spent the afternoon at the school's Fall Festival. No hay rides - but, Julia waited in line for a face painting. She's a "Cat".........

More pictures from the Hiking Trip...

After a huge FRIED CHICKEN dinner Josh had room left for the biggest hot fudge sundae EVER !

We hiked over the weekend in S. Illinois. Taking the kids out to SIUC brought back fond memories of college.......
It was Joshua's idea to make sandwiches for lunch.

Lone Elk Park Hike

Last weekend the kids had a 4-day weekend. We started it off with a hike out in Lone Elk Park. Heather took the time off too ! It's beginning to feel like Fall...... one day it's 50 degrees and the next it could be in the 90s....

Fun with Fonts !
Here's a picture from the St Louis Balloon Race. It's a balloon festival that starts from down town St Louis. Julia is not in the picture - she was really crabby that day. It was an unusually hot day for September.

Let's see.... The other weekend Julia helped make breakfast. I threw together a real rarity in this house - Eggs and BACON ! Very rare indeed

I could easily delete all of these old posts... it has been 2 years since the last. Nice to see how the kids have grown.