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summer

Blog, city garden, Family, st. louis, summer

St. Louis night life


That blog title drew you in, didn’t it? Well, if you have kids and you’re looking for something fun to do in St. Louis, maybe it will be relevant.
 
I should be a spokesperson for the Citygarden. The two times we’ve visited this year have been two of my favorite outings with the kids. This time I really wanted to be there after the sun set so we could also see the fountains all lit up.
boy playing in water
young boy having fun at splashpad
dad and daughter
reflection in the water

We got there a couple of hours before sunset so we could swim in the pools. The splash pad was pretty crowded when we got there but was pretty much cleared out by the time the pool closed at 8. 
(the only pool open that night was a pool for kids 5 and under. If you are wanting to swim in the other one, you may want to check to see if it’ll be open)

fun kids activities for summer

 

this kind of has an Olympic gold medalist vibe, eh?
smiling boy at city garden

 

young girl having fun at water park
wet hair

 

liam at city garden
mom and daughter

 

If you ignore the fact that my arm kind of looks like a nub, I sort of love this picture of Evangeline saying “hi” to Kingston.
mommy and little girl

 

boy with strong pose

 

young brothers running

 

boy watching colorful lights at city garden

Also ignore the giant water spot on my stomach, left by a little girl who shall not be named 😉 I really wanted a shot with the fountains. But I think there was some sign posted somewhere that stated “if you see this family trying to take a picture, do whatever is necessary to photobomb it.” 
We had almost the whole place to ourselves at this point. But there always happened to be oblivious kids jumping in all of our shots.

pregnancy picture

Even though we had been playing there for 2 hours already, the boys went crazy once the lights were more apparent. Liam declared it “so much more fun than playing video games.” How’s that for a review?

colorful changing lights at splash pad

 

lights changing colors at water park

 

light display at st louis splashpad

 

The darker it got, the harder it was to photograph. So you’ll just have to trust me when I say how awesome it is at night. The kids said they had even more fun than our last visit–which of course made me decide that we have to visit one more time before this baby is born. And of course, after he makes his appearance. 

And that appearance? Hopefully that will promptly follow my best friend’s wedding on July 4th. The weeks leading up to the wedding will be filled with many events, extreme nesting, and a waddling pregnant woman with rapidly dying brain cells. 
Thanks for reading along 🙂

 

Blog, Family, iphone, Kids Say, summer

Kids Say


Like I’ve said a million times before (and will keep reminding you,) the Kids Say posts are some of my favorites. This one will probably be a little more special to me down the road because I questioned Liam and Kai on some things about me. 
 
I had seen some people posting a questionnaire that kids had answered about their Moms. But when my friend, Rose, posted her daughter’s answers on Facebook, I knew I had to join in. It was so sweet to me that the answers reveal in a childlike way how much they love and are being loved.  I asked Liam (age 6) and Kai (age 5) the questions separately so they wouldn’t base their answers off what the other said. So if you’re interested in reading, those are posted at the end of this regularly scheduled Kids Say post 😉
 
(plus a few extra iphone shots that didn’t make the cut in the last post—because I take too many pictures and I don’t like to blog without pictures!!)
kids walking in a line

 

a boy and his little sister

 

large family at creek

 

Kai was trying to determine the source of a bad smell…

Me–“well, what does it smell like?”
Kai–“kind of like…..a bad duck.”
 
Me–“Kingston, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
Kingston–“A firefighter….with brown skin.”
(Sorry buddy, just like your parents, you will probably never exceed “extremely pale.”) 
 
After asking Kingston if he was excited about Chris and Rachel’s wedding..
“Yes! I love hotdogs!”
 
Because she has older brothers who always run to the window to watch the ice cream truck drive by and yell out which characters they see on the side of the truck (Sonic and Batman), every time Evangeline hears the ice cream truck coming, she shouts “BATMAN!” and runs to the window to watch it drive by.
 
As he was slurping out the last bit of gogurt from the tube, Kingston heard all the (obnoxious) sounds he was making and said, very seriously, “This is a beautiful song.”
 
Kai–“No, I didn’t say that out loud. I said it out quiet. 
 
Me–“Evangeline, were you testing your limits?”‘
Liam–“She was making her own limits.”
 
Liam–“It smells like Doritos in here. I guess it’s just Kingston’s feet.”
 
dad and son grilling hot dogs
artistic boy
1. What is something mom always says to you?
L-“I love you.”
K-“I love you.”
2. What makes mom happy?
L-“Me kissing you.”

K-“When I give you hugs.”

3. What makes mom sad? 
L-“When I do bad things.”
K-“Not getting your baby out.”
4. How does your mom make you laugh? 
L-“By saying funny things.”
K-“Saying funny things.”
5. What was your mom like as a child?
L-“lovable”
K-“a little girl”
6. How old is your mom?
L-“25”
K-“40”
7. How tall is your mom? 
L-“About like 30 inches tall.”
K-“really tall”
8. What is her favorite thing to do?
L-“cuddle”
K-“go to sleep”
9. What does your mom do when you’re not around?
L-“Watch ’24′”
K-“talk to daddy”
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? 
L-“That you had so many babies” (<—-probably the answer that made me laugh the most)
K-“because you’re famous”
11. What is your mom really good at? 
L-“Sewing”
K-“sitting”
12. What is your mom not very good at?
L-“exercising while there’s a baby in your tummy” (he’s right!!)
K-“sleeping” (also right!)
13. What does your mom do for a job?
L-“take care of us”
K-“take care of us”
14.What is your mom’s favorite food?
L-“chocolate”
K-“tacos”
15.What makes you proud of your mom?
L-“When you make lunch quick.”
K-“When you hug and kiss me.”
16. If your mom were a character, who would she be?
L-“Kate from LOST when you wear your hair in a bun”
K-“Princess Leia”
17. What do you and your mom do together? 
L-“Make crafts and paint”
K-“cuddle”
18. How are you and your mom the same?
L-“We both have brown hair.”
K-“We love each other.”
19. How are you and your mom different? 
L-“You have green eyes and I have blue eyes.”
K-“Mommy is a girl and I am a boy.”
20. How do you know your mom loves you? 
L-“Because you said it so many times.”
K-“You make brownies for us.”
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? 
L-“You like to hang out with him while we’re sleeping.”
K-“You like to see him.”
22. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go?
L-“Ruby Tuesday”
K-“To the place that has really yummy burgers”
23. How old was your Mom when you were born?
L-“This one’s a math question….19”
K-“41”
24. What is your favorite thing about your Mom?
L-“That the baby is about to come out.”
K-“That you love me.”
25. What is one thing you wish you could change about your Mom?
L-“That you would wash the dishes faster.”
K-“That you could go to sleep better.” (This kid knows about my sleeping issues!)
26. How much do you love your Mom?
L-“To the sun and back, 30 times.”
K-“So much….to the Death Star and back, a billion times.”
**I added questions 24 and 25 and Liam added 26.
If you have young children, ask them the same questions to see what they say. It was a fun little questionnaire that I’ll have to do for Father’s Day (and my husband will just have to pretend he didn’t just read that 😉 )