Beautiful Fall at Elephant Rocks

Don't worry! We didn't fall. But it was beautiful with all the fall colors at Elephant Rocks this October. The boys were off school last Monday (October 18th) so Grandma and Grandpa Bradley took a day trip with us down to hike and climb at Elephant Rocks. It was a wonderful day!

The Circus

Once we convinced the boys to go to the circus, we had a lot of fun. It was interesting driving into downtown St. Louis from Illinois. The views are pretty. We walked past the people telling us we were paying for animal cruelty. Ryan told them- nope, we didn't pay. (Our tickets were free!)

Nick's favorite part of the circus was the high wire. But he loved all of it. He was hilarious during the tightrope act because he kept hiding his face he was so nervous. I don't think any of the performers ever fell off the tightrope. But they put the wire at an angle so the performer had to walk on the tightrope basically climbing a hill. He was almost at the top and started sliding backwards. He slid all the way back down to the first platform- maybe it was just for effect- but that really caused Nick to worry.

Alex was tired and told us he didn't like the circus. He did much better once I let him sit in my lap. Then he told us his favorite part was the chinese lions- which were people in costumes. He liked the tigers a lot, too and decided maybe he will be a tiger trainer. I think he is fearless enough to go into a cage with 10 tigers!

They both really likes the motorcyles that drove around in a cage. That was crazy. The whole thing was really good. Unfortunetaly we didn't get any really good pictues. Our camera batteries were low but we did get a few.

A Return Trip to Eckerts

Two day later (after Alex's field trip) we went back to Eckerts. Nick really wanted to go this year so we decided to try to squeeze in a quick visit before... The Circus! Nick and Alex had fun and kind-of didn't want to leave to go to the circus. Because it was a Saturday and beautiful weather, the place was packed. This also meant the rides- like the spinning apples- were open. The boys rode with our friends Hannah and Victoria who spun the apple so fast we couldn't even see the kids. Yuck! That does not sound fun to me.

Zane got to take his first trip to Eckerts in his cute pumpkin outfit. And doesn't his Daddy look like he's having so much fun- even though I heard him say at least 16 times- I am done with Eckerts!

I know exactly what you're thinking, "I want to see Zane from the front." So here is a cute picture Kerry just sent me today with the message "Zane says Happy Halloween."

Alex's first field trip

Lucky Alex did already get to go on a field trip last year, but it was much more exciting to be going on his own field trip (not Nick's) and riding the bus. His field trip was scheduled for October 14th and it turned out to be a beautiful day. It felt pretty warm but I think it was around 75 degrees. He rode the bus with Mrs. Brown and the Plattin Primary Kindergarten to the Millstadt Eckerts Fun Farm. Alex was determined to go pick apples, so we rode the wagon (by ourselves) and went out to pick apples. This was after Mrs. Brown had released him to go home with me. Alex is a hard worker and picked really good apples. He knew they were called Fuji- the only apples left for the season- and told everyone. They were really good apples. Alex found Mrs. Brown before she got on the bus to go back to school and gave her an apple. We got to watch the pumpkin cannon shoot pumpkins across the field. And Alex raised his hand and got picked to go up and pick out the pumpkin for the farmer to load in the cannon.

Here he is getting interviewed by Candy Apple or something like that.

The kids had a lot of fun walking through the pumpkin patch and picking out their own pumpkin. They could pick any pumpkin as long as they could carry it all by themselves.

Alex really loved being with all his friends from school and riding the wagon to the pumpkin patch. All day long kids would be yelling 'Alex' and he would take off running to go play with someone else. I had a hard time keeping up.

The Corn Maze was fun until I decided to wait at the front and I waited and waited and waited... He eventually came out!

Alex really likes two little girls in his class- one named Ava and one named Avery. They are both blondes and sort-of look alike. I think this one is Avery.

If you look closely, you can see the arch in the background. We were right across the river.

Science Center- October 6th

Nick is always asking to go to the Science Center. I think Alex prefers the Zoo but he likes the Science Center, too. They both love seeing the big dinosaurs and playing on the computers. I became a member so everytime we make a trip to the Science Center, they get to go to the Discovery Zone. I wish our basement playroom could be like this room. Nick played doctor and walked around in with a cane and pushed himself around in a wheelchair. He looked at x-rays and gave a 'patient' a shot.

Alex found this whole box of animals and spent a long time sorting them all and playing with them. He was very busy. He also spent a lot of time playing with the water table.

Did I mention we had the discovery room to ourselves? Usually, they let a certain amount of kids in for the alloted time, but we were the only ones in the room.

St. Louis is a great city to live so close to. I'm thankful there are so many fun things I can take the boys to do.

Family Pictures- September 2010

The day before family pictures, the school nurse called and said 'Alex fell off the monkey bars.' She said she didn't think he would need stitches but I should probably come up and see how he was doing. I stayed pretty calm and drove over to school. Some of the pictures are touched up but a few of the pictures show Alex's skinned up chin. We used liquid bandage to hold it together and it healed up in a few weeks with no scar. Alex informed me they were going to have to shut the monkey bars down- I think they actually call it the bubble- because two kids had fallen off it. He thought he could jump off the top of it like the bigger kids do and that didn't quite work out for him.
The boys had a lot of fun getting their pictures made. They both thought the photographer was very funny!

August 27th (Yeah, I know, I'm behind)

Let's see if I can remember back this far! Nick and Alex were already planning to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa Bradley. It worked out really good because we got to be a part of Zane's birth. So Congratulations to Michael, Kerry, Kaitlyn and Hannah... a little late. It was a fun night. I think the pictures will speak for themselves.