Just Monkeying Around

I took Laneah for a walk yesterday, and since she can run off really fast and likes to dart into the streets and parking lots, I had her wear the monkey harness. She loved having the monkey on her back, she thought it was really funny.
I love this picture of her.

After our walk, she wanted to keep it on and play in front of the house.

She played with some chalk.
And did some somersaults
And rolled around in the grass
She just looked so cute in her monkey backpack I couldn't resist taking her pictures. While we were walking up the street towards the school holding hands, we looked at each other, and with her back pack on, I flashed forward to the future when I would be walking her to the school up the street and I teared up. Don't grow up too fast little one.

Music Makers

Today Music Makers started and we were very excited. Music Makers is for kids nursery and preschool age and is lots of fun with singing, dancing, story time and marching band. And the best part is it is a free weekly activity because the moms of the groups take turns with the activities and it is at the church.
Laneah during movement time with a bean bag.

Laneah and Dallas during marching band.
Luke and Danny during singing time getting 'eaten by a snake'.
Laneah and Dallas during singing time.


The kids during dancing time. Everyone had a great time and we can't wait to go back next week.

Its Raining, Its Pouring

Today we had a big rainstorm. As soon as Laneah saw the rain she begged to go outside. We dressed her in her rain coat and rain boots and Jason took her outside to play.
She put her head back to try and catch the rain in her mouth.
Her favorite part of playing in the rain is jumping in the puddles.



Afterwards we put her in her duckie towel and she walked around saying "quack, quack"

The Last Days of Summer

Summer is quickly coming to a close so Saturday we went to the pool for the last time before it closes. Laneah had a great time playing with daddy in the water.
and playing volleyball

An Afternoon in Downtown St Louis

One afternoon Christy, Alex, Laneah and I went downtown to see the Arch, and to our surprise, the city had built this amazing water fall and fountain in front of the capital and arch. (later I found out it had been built for the All Star baseball game that had just taken place in St Louis). This fountain became even cooler when we found out that you could walk and play in it. There were higher spots in the middle of the fountain that you could walk to and sit on with the water running all around you. Luckily I had a change of clothes for Laneah because she got soaked. She loved playing in the water and walking up the steps with the water splashing her.
After changing Laneah we walked the arch and found these cool mini arches that they also built for the game.

They have a huge park surrounding the arch and the water front. Laneah ran around like crazy because running is great when you are a toddler
She saw the arch for the first time, although she cared much more for the park:)
We went to the water front to see the big River boats. We thought about going on a tour, but they were too long.
After the water front we enjoyed some lifesaver popsicles, which were actually really good. Laneah wanted her own, but did share with me after a while which was nice.
After popsicles, she chased a squirrel, but got mad when it went up the tree. Then we played ring around the rosie in the park for a little while before we went home.

Highlights from St Louis

Laneah and I had a great time in St Louis spending time with Nana, Poppa, Aunt Christy and the Uncles. My sister and two of my brothers play the guitar and Laneah wants them to play for her all the time. She also likes to help them or play on her own.My parents bought Laneah a little turtle kiddie pool while we were there. The turtle squirts water out of its head and Laneah liked to think of it as her own personal drinking fountain.
We went to the Butterfly House of course, which was lots of fun. I think Laneah enjoyed it this time more than any other time, but it was hard to take pictures because she was running so fast yelling "bufly, bufly!"
She put on her new dress shoes and rain boots whenever she could if she wasn't wearing any of our shoes.
One day when my parents were working I took her to Bounce U, which is a place just full of inflatable bouncers, slides and obstacle courses. Laneah loved bouncing, but of course mostly wanted to be anywhere the balls were. I went down some of the slides with her (they were really fast) and she thought that was really fun too.

And of course it wouldn't be a trip to Missouri with out some crazy thunderstorms. Laneah had so much fun playing in the rain and jumping in the puddles. Luckily for me, the uncles were there to play in the rain with her:)
We had lots of fun and we miss everyone!

Suson Park and Grants Farm

There are a lot of great places to take kids to in St Louis. Two of my favorite places are Suson Park and Grants Farm. Suson park has a huge playground, three big ponds full of ducks and geese and tons of farm animals for kids to look at. We went to Suson park twice and Laneah is a perfect age for it.

She had so much fun playing at the park with mommy, Nana, Aunt Christy and Uncle Alex

Seeing all the pigs, cows, horses, chickens and other farm animals


And feeding the ducks for the first time. She was so funny because she would take a piece of bread, eat it and then give the next piece of bread to the ducks. She wouldn't feed the ducks unless her mouth was full of bread.



We also went to Grant's Farm. It is owned by the Anheuser-Busch company and it is free to get in. The land was once owned by Ulysses S. Grant and the home he lived in is still there. The fence surrounding the property is made up of the barrels of guns from the civil war. You take a tram around the property to the farm and see elk, buffalo, deer and other animals on the way. The farm has lots of exotic birds and even bald eagles. We watched a show where animals did all kinds of tricks and Laneah really liked it. Then we saw the elephants and had some hot dogs and snow cones. Laneah's favorite part was feeding and playing with the goats. I let her feed them outside of the fence so they wouldn't jump on her and knock her down and then my brother Alex and I went in the pin with her.

She loved petting the goats and running after them. She even thought it was funny when they would chew on her shirt and pants.
She kept putting her hand up to their mouths so they would lick her hand and then she would laugh when they did.
If you are ever in St Louis, these are two fun places to take your kids.