Meet me in St. Louis

scaredy cat had no fear of the goats

the goats could climb the wall, so our two goats thought they could too

we were amazed by the goats on the wall

six of the seven kids eating custard (Kate missed out due to a nap)

I'm definitely my dad's daughter--before the trip I not only planned out our activities but also our food. I found this custard recommendation online, and the custard was great--especially since it was 85 degrees in March!

I don't think I had ever seen a camel in real life before

miniature versions of their dads

those little eyes get him out of so much trouble with me

The Children's Museum had a beanstalk that went from the bottom floor to the third floor that the kids could climb. So cool. I think a lot of people were confused because the girl in the zebra print kept showing up on various floors (only a few of us knew there were actually three girls in zebra print).

Kate was cracking herself up at the Arch

Kate started walking home at one point.

pretty girl at the Arch

These dads have their hands full!

David and I faced our fears and took all three kids on a little vacation this week. I had been searching for a good family destination that was within driving distance, and St. Louis kept popping up as a family-friendly place. Because the thought of our three kids on a trip wasn't crazy enough, David got Chad, Jill, and four of their toddlers to go with us.

We hit the road Monday on a five-hour trip that actually took six hours due to Chick Fil A and bathroom stops. At one point when we stopped for gas, Jill and I opened the van doors and instructed the kids to run around in circles for a minute. Those toddlers are like hummingbirds sometimes with all that energy. I was nervous about the drive, so I put together a bag for Lindsey and Benton (Kate was out of luck) and gave them each 10 tickets. Every thirty minutes I told them they could give me a ticket and pick someone out of their bag to play with. The plan worked pretty well, and the trip was low-whining.

When we got to St. Louis we went straight to the zoo. Their zoo is free, and it is amazing (that's Benton's favorite word right now, so every animal we saw was "amazing"). One of the coolest parts was the penguin exhibit. They were inside a building that was literally freezing, and they were so fun to watch. I can't describe the exhibit very well, but it truly felt like we were inside the movie Happy Feet. After a few hours at the zoo, we checked into our hotel, cleaned up a bit, then headed to meet Hace and Sally for dinner. I had researched eating places and found a deep dish pizza place called Pi that was supposed to be authentic (Obama had eaten there while campaigning). We were disappointed with the food but loved the fellowship with Hace and Sally (who probably will not have kids for a long time after supper with our seven children).

We went back to the hotel, and the most dreaded part of the trip was upon us: sleeping arrangments. Much to our delight and shock, all three kids slept great. We put Kate in a pack and play, then we each slept with a child. Throughout the trip, we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of tantrums, fits, and meltdowns and the generally happy dispositions our kids had. Kate was a trooper and truly went everywhere we drug her without any complaining. We think she was tired of us leaving her behind for trips and felt like she had something to prove.

Tuesday we started the day at the zoo again. This time we hit the children's area, but it was much cooler than it sounds. Our favorite thing there was the goat exhibit, which does not sound cool at all, but these goats just walked around and you could pet them and brush them. The funniest part was that they kept climbing a wall and resting on the wall. Luke and Benton thought the goats had a good idea and tried to climb the wall themselves. This would be a good time to point out that Luke and Benton had a blast together--almost as much as David and Chad did--and I think they truly appreciated some man time since they both are surrounded by sisters (Luke has a couple more though). Another cool thing in the children's zoo was a plastic slide through the otter pool, so the kids could literally slide through the otters. We rode a mediocre train through the rest of the zoo then finally convinced the kids there was more to St. Louis than the zoo and got them to leave. After a relatively quick lunch (nothing is really quick with that many kids), we went to the Children's Museum. Again, I can't describe how cool this place was, but it put the Memphis Children's Museum to shame. After several hours at the museum, we lured the kids out with a promise of ice cream. In my research I found a custard place that had great reviews, so we drove through the middle of nowhere to find this place--and we were not disappointed. At this point we finally gave in to the kids' begging for swimming at the small, nasty hotel pool. We swam, we ate (and drank root beer) at Fitz's, then we all crashed on night number two.

Our final day we wanted to see the Arch before we hit the highway. The Arch was beautiful. It was in a lovely park. Unfortunately, the kids were not impressed with the arch and really just wanted to get in the van and take a nap, so we took a few pictures then hit the long road back home.

We truly all had a great family vacation and feel like we can tackle another vacation with all kids in tow. However, if grandparents want to join us, we won't turn them down.