4th of July

So I know it is almost August but here is our adventure for 4th of July.

We went to visit one of my very best friends, Paul, and his wife Ellen in St. Louis and had just the best time. We didnt take tons of pictures but a few to remember the trip. The drive is about 7 1/2 hrs and that to date is the longest trip the kids have been on. We stopped every 1 1/2 -2 hrs at a chick-fil-a or somewhere with a play place for the kids.
We left town around 9 Friday Morning and made it to St. Louis by 6pm. We enjoyed visiting with "Uncle Paul and Aunt Ellen" and Chance (their boxer mix).
Saturday we got up and went to the St. Louis Zoo. One of the best features at the zoo is it is a free zoo.
Our first stop was the primate house and these little monkeys were as cute as can be.



Next we went and saw the Lion... He had just woken up and was roaring.... Very cool and Porter got a huge kick out of it.



Next we walked over to the tiger and while we were looking for him they let him out of his den into his "Yard" and he went straight into his pool. Very cool... and someone (Paul or Tripp) kept saying "I didn't think cats liked water"



The Giraffes were still inside, so we went there and they were HUGE. The kids were fascinated by not only how big they were, but also by how close they were to us.



The Zoo was the biggest zoo I had been too, so there was a lot of walking and it was very hot.
The Very best part was the penguin house, and of course we didn't take any pics. Here is a pic from The TLC website for vacay spots. It was cold cold in there and just amazing. The penguins were swimming and splashing Padyn and they have these slide and occasionally they will skip on the water and fly over the wall and end up in the walkway. Seriously one of the coolest things I have ever seen.



The rest of that day was low key and relaxing at their house.

Sunday we made it over to the local 4th of July carnival. The clouds were looming and we didn't get to stay very long.







You can totally see the clouds and storm coming....


We quickly ran back to the car, but my amazing, hubby went back out and begged us a funnel cake to all share. All in all it was a short sweet trip to to a carnival.

Here are the guys and the kids while the kids ate dinner after the carnival.



Tripp with the kids as they were DESTROYING their house (and they never let me see that it bothered them )


We had an AMAZING trip and Porter was so good in the car we stopped on our way home to get him a t-ball set and bat.... Here is little man in the car!



THANKS AGAIN UNCLE PAUL AND AUNT ELLEN!