The fun was had by all!!!!

St. Louis has this amazing...sorry, AMAZING, museum called City Museum. 
It's very hard to explain this place.  It's what I imagine crazy might visually look like...where you can literally touch crazy. 
It's amazing, insane, awe-inspiring, weird, cool, painful (you can hit your head a lot if you aren't careful), funny, laughable...kids become even more crazy than normal and adults become kids again so it's just CRAZY!!!!

Here's a little info about the place from their website...

"Housed in the 600,000 square-foot former International Shoe Company, the museum is an eclectic mixture of children’s playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel made out of unique, found objects. The brainchild of internationally acclaimed artist Bob Cassilly, a classically trained sculptor and serial entrepreneur, the museum opened for visitors in 1997 to the riotous approval of young and old alike.
Cassilly and his longtime crew of 20 artisans have constructed the museum from the very stuff of the city; and, as a result, it has urban roots deeper than any other institutions’. Reaching no farther than municipal borders for its reclaimed building materials, City Museum boasts features such as old chimneys, salvaged bridges, construction cranes, miles of tile, and even two abandoned planes!"

Here is some of the fun we had!

The outside area. 
It's full of about anything you can imagine. 
(The pics aren't great cause it was a cold, cloudy day)

See the bus on top of the building behind the airplane?  Yea...you can go into that bus.  We haven't gotten to do the rooftop yet.  I guess there is a Ferris wheel up there too.

Z and his friend in the ball pit. 

K and her friend in one of the overhead walkway tunnels

 

Crazy right?!  The man at the top of the pic is not actually floating in thin air...this is another caged tunnel that comes off of that airplane.

There is some cool inside stuff too...

The caverns that are built within this building.  They lead you all over the place.  This is the part that can be a little painful.

This is my favorite part.  This pic is looking up to the top of the building.  Those are slides!!!

Hamster Wheel!

This is the artist's vision of what the inside of a whale looks like!

We had such a fun time!  We took our great friends with us and each kiddo had a partner to go explore with.  It's really nice having kiddos that are each old enough that they can just go run around and have the greatest time and you know that they are safe and really having the best time. 

If you ever make it to St. Louis this must be on your list of activities!!!

Random .... !

This is a fun idea thanks to Family Fun Magazine!

Wood floor Shuffleboard

We didn't measure, it's not perfect but who cares!  It took Z and I about 5 minutes.  We changed it up a bit from their directions but it worked out perfect!
We used painter's tape to make the board and checkers for our sliders...super simple!

FUN!

Mother's Day 2010

We had a simply perfect day all set up...the weather couldn't have been better and Mom, Dad and Donna were able to join us!

First we headed to this little nursery to get some flowers to plant...just a few...

Geraniums...my absolute favorite!

Mom and Dad brought me a basket full of petunias!  We decided to divide the basket and make 2 beautiful pots full!

 Mums...perfect for Mom's day and so cheery...I love their smiley faces!

 Katia, Mom and I planting away!

 Our bounty! (these beautiful pots are now in the garage as snow has decided to fall once again in CO...just have to love that...NOT!!)

Planting wasn't the only fun to be had though!

Lili was busy painting...she was inspired!

Nerf catch with Grampa

Eating...

Dessert!

YUMMMMMMMMMY!  It may look messy but it sure tasted amazing! 

It was the perfect day! 

Love you Mom!

Snow Family...snow fun!!

Sending the kiddos outside to do their "rough-housing" ended up being a wonderful idea!  After quite awhile, they all came back saying Dad and I had to come out and see what they had done...it was our likenesses made of snow!!!  Wow...had to see that one for ourselves so we booted up and headed out.  

After making the trek across the park behind our house...

This is what was unveiled...

Masterpieces!!!  Starting on the left (snowmen left, that is)...Dad, Mom, Big Sis, Brother, Little Sis, baby, baby, baby (I hope that is not wishful thinking on their part!) 

This is Snowman Dad (a.k.a. Carl)!

Snowman Big Sis (Katia)!

Snowman Brother (Zander)!

Snowman Little Sis (Lili)!

Hmmm...where is that darn picture of Snowman Mom...hmmm...can't find it anywhere!

I am so glad they were driving each other crazy inside and decided to go play outside (with only a little encouragement from me)...this is what happens...I love it!!!  They were out there for a good hour and had such a great time, together...who knew it was possible after all the arguing and wrestling that had happened just before.  Holiday Break can get long but there really are things to do!!!  See??

By the way, did you notice Katia and Lili's snowmen both have pig tails and Zander's has a mowhawk?  Exact likenesses!

Happy snow days everyone...don't worry spring and summer will be here soon!