South to St Louis

We have started a fun tradition of joining Dave on his business trips and turning them into road trips. This summer, we turned a one day trip to Birmingham into a nine-day loop across the country! Our first stop: Hannibal, Missouri.

 Hannibal is where Mark Twain grew up, and this town was the inspiration for Tom Sawyer. The tourist town plays it up and created some scenes that help you visualize where Tom would have lived (Notice Tom's house in the background of this picture where he convinced his friends to white wash the fence). Growing up listening to tapes of the adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, I loved this stop! Seeing the town nestled on the wide Missisippi River, the caves, the buildings...it was like diving right into my imagination of where Huck and Tom lived. It proved to me that Twain's descriptives are clearly brilliant -- what an amazing author! I need to introduce my kids to his writing.

Stop 2: This was our first time visiting St. Louis. There are not many places that Dave and I have both not been to, so whenever we find one it is fun to explore it together. We were impressed by the Magic House, zoo, science museum, Grant's Village, and all the numerous fun children's activities offered. Classic family picture above-- there's always someone not feeling it!


This boy was all smiles at the fun fork lift at the Magic House. Everyone enjoyed the Magic House; however, Teyah had a bit of a mishap and got lost for just a few minutes in the climbing structure -- just a little drama!

The girls loved this replica of the Oval Office. Aubrie particularly loved giving a fake speech at the president's podium.

The free zoo was insanely busy, but definitely enjoyable.

Well, so maybe Teyah was a bit worn out from all the walking and people!

Grant's Farm was also particularly enjoyable. Good thing that kid was on a leash!


I loved seeing the Clydesdale horses close up and in their home. In my hometown growing up, these horses often visited our Fourth of July rodeo. They were always my highlight of the rodeo.

Seeing these horses was so exciting for me. Dave noticed my excuberance, and brought to my attention how much I have always loved horses. I loved them as a kid, but I haven't thought about it in a long time. When I was Ellie's age, I wanted to be a veterinarian, mostly due to how much I loved horses. My life certainly did not take that path, but I definitely still felt a connection to these beautiful animals.

The "goat experience" was another memory we will never forget in this family. We thought our kids would love the chance to bottle feed these baby goats. At first, Ellie tried to go with the fact that three goats were completely eating her dress!

But then the goats became a little more aggressive and not only ate their dresses, but started to jump up.

In a matter of seconds of entering the goat pen, three of our four kids panicked and started crying in total fear and desparation of the attacking baby goats!

Aubrie was tall enough that the goats didn't jump on her or eat her dress and had a hard time not laughing at the situation. Well, the others... not so much!

Daddy finished off the feeding job. If you look close, you can see where Teyah's dress is wet and eaten! To top it all off, when they came out of the pen, Kyler, Teyah, and Ellie attacked me, seeking comfort. I picked up Kyler and Teyah and hugged them. I then decided we all needed a drink of water to calm down. As I bent over at the drinking fountain, someone tapped me on the shoulder and told me my kids had left a present all over the back of my dress (from the bottom of their shoes). So at that point, I felt like joining the crying fest because I realized I was covered in goat poop and our car with a change of clothes was a walk, a wait for a tram, a tram ride, and another walk away. Needless to say, I was a bit stinky that day! Enjoy the moment below.