St. Louis Zoo

We went to the St. Louis Zoo while we were in town visiting my Grandma. During the first week and a half, while we were visiting my side of the family, nearly every 2 days we traveled to a different city throughout three states. It was a whirlwind of a trip - and we tried to pack as much into it as possible. St. Louis has a fantastic zoo and we were so excited to be able to go. Jillian loved the goats in the petting zoo!

Tara and John and Kayla drove over from Quincy to spend the day with us.

Kayla loved the goats too! I love this picture - it is so sweet!

Kayla and Jillian playing in a Hippo mouth. :)

Jillian, Me, Tara and Kayla - we're being river otters!

Stopping for a brief photo op - Tara, Jillian, Kayla and me.

Grandma Susy and Papa Doug and Grandma Missy (Tara's Mom) also came to play with us for the day. Here they are with Kayla and Jillian on the train. Love that train!

Jillian is petting a few very cute guinea pigs. Jeremy's cousin, Tiffany, said she got a pair of guinea pigs for her daughter and they have been the best pets. She said they are slow and sweet and don't bite! I wonder if they get parasites....euwwww, Hawaii has every kind of parasite imaginable. Hmmm, I'll have to talk to our vet about that. I have been planting the seed now with Jeremy that if we stay in Hawaii, then I'd like to get a pair of guinea pigs too. Or adopt a kitty. Jillian adores kitties and has been begging to "trade in" Athena for a kitty. :)

The Hippo exhibit was really neat. They swam in laps around the pool, swimming very close to the glass outer edge. It felt like they made eye contact with the children as they passed.

Kayla and Jillian are watching the swimming hippos. The zoo day turned out to be really great. It was chilly and rainy in the morning and we almost didn't go. I'm really glad we did though - because the weather started out a little icky the zoo was the slowest I've ever seen it. We just zoomed through and were able to see so many animals. We left early and I think Tara and her crew stayed for another 4-5 hours and didn't leave until they saw everything there was to see. They were real troopers! :)

Yummy S'Mores

Papa Doug built a fire pit our last night in Pacific and we roasted s'mores. Yummy! Here is a picture of our chocolate monster!

Jillian LOVED the s'mores! :)

Yummo s'mores!!!! :) Two of my favorite things to do in life are sleeping and eating. And I don't waste much time doing things I don't enjoy. So you can imagine what I am doing in 98% of the pictures Jeremy takes of me. We have too many shots of me napping and stuffing my face!

Playing in Pacific

More cute cousins! :) Jillian is playing with Auntie Sarah's boys - Jacob and Ashton. They were so sweet with her.

Jillian and Grandma watching cartoons.

This mama raccoon would come up to the deck every day and eat the bird seed. She was sooooo hungry that she tolerated all of our staring.

We left bait (cat food) on the side deck to lure her close to the doors. Jillian named her "Sholie".

I am watching Sholie from the kitchen window. We made eye contact and she seemed to like that I was not actually outside with her.

More Fun At The Science Center

Jeremy and Jillian are pretending to be Dinosaurs.

After seeing Sue, we went to "Build-A-Dino". Jillian chose a green Spinosaurus that she named "Jungle".

Jungle's first bath. :)

A T. Rex Named SUE

She is the largest, most complete and best preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil yet discovered. She is named for the lady who found her. Her real bones are displayed at the Field Museum in Chicago. They made a cast of her bones and the cast travels throughout the country. She is beautiful and we were soooo happy to see her when she visited Anchorage a few years ago. She just happened to be at The St. Louis Science Center during our brief visit to the city to see my Grandma. We had to take Jillian to see Sue! Jillian is going through a crazy-about-dinosaurs faze. :)

Here we are in front of Sue. This is the only picture where Jillian does NOT have her hand in her mouth.

Jillian is digging for fossils.

How does a T. Rex see? Did you know that a T Rex can only see forward and the green dinosaur to the side is outside of its vision range?

Pretending to be a Paleontologist.

Grandma and Jillian coloring.

Grandma and Papa Doug in front of Sue. She is massive! The Science Center had a wonderful exhibit for Sue that was VERY kid friendly. I am so glad we went!

Going Bonkers!

Quincy has this fun indoor jungle maze thing that is awesome for the kids. We met my friend Tara and her daughter there to play one afternoon. It took Jillian a minute to feel comfortable there - but before too long she was running and climbing and having a ton of fun.

Here is an aerial view of the entire place. Looks like fun, right? When we arrived we were the only ones there. After lunch the place really filled up.

All the girls riding cars! Ava and Jillian are riding the black and white Jeep. Gracyn and Kayla are riding Dale Jr's red Corvette.

My friend Tara and her daughter Kayla - aren't they so cute? Tara and I have been friends since kindergarten! Every time we go back to the mainland, we try to get together and see each other. Later in our trip, they met us in St. Louis for a day at the zoo - those pictures to come.

Good-Bye Natalie, We Love You!

Allison and Katie are kissing Natalie good-bye.

We love our sailor!

Left to Right: Mom, Natalie, Katie, me (I'm the cutest, right? Ha Ha), and Allison. We may look like we get along beautifully - but no one can argue like us girls - mom included. As soon as we took Natalie off base, Natalie said that all she wanted for the weekend was for everyone to get along and not fight. Well, it's just not possible. Twenty-four hours later and each one of us had gotten into a tiff with every single one of us. No one was excluded from crankiness and hurt feelings. Sorry Natalie! We are all in the same place at the same time for like 3 days once every 2 years. We get so excited for these visits and we probably have expectations that are too high. We argue quickly and we make up and forgive just as quickly too.

Cute Cousins

If you ever happen to be in the Chicago area, Gurney Mills (an outlet mall), will not disappoint. We had so much fun playing there, we had to go back for a second day of fun! Katie and I took Ava and Jillian to the reptile house and it was soooo cool! The girls loved holding the albino python.

Kiss me!

Strike a pose! Notice how Jillian is watching Ava and attempting to do whatever she is doing!

Auntie Katie gave Jillian her first hair cut ever! It was super cute! Jillian is 4 and I have never had her hair cut. It was so great that she got her first haircut from her Auntie. :)

Fun In Chicago

Aunt Allie and her boyfriend Kevin. How cute are they?

Grandma Susy (My Mom) and Papa Doug

My man, looking so HOT! :)
Jeremy and Jill checking out the moving snake outside Rainbow Cafe. What a fun restaurant!

Silly Sisters

Right to Left: Papa (My Dad), Grandma Leslie, Leslie's daughter Gracyn and Jillian. Jillian LOVES Gracyn and barely left her side! :)


Auntie Allie, Jeremy and Auntie Sarah getting ready to eat lunch.

First Things First...

Basic Training hair cuts are the absolute worst! So, the first order of business was for Katie to fix Natalie's hair.

Mom made Grandma's famous cinnamon rolls and brought them along on the trip. YUM! :)

My Sister is a Sailor!

Jeremy, Jillian and I are traveling on the mainland visiting family we rarely get to see. Last week we had the opportunity to see my youngest sister graduate from Navy boot camp. The graduation ceremony was VERY cool! When her division marched by us, we could see Natalie in the outer column and we screamed our heads off!!!!! She never heard us though...maybe because everyone was screaming at the same time! :) Here is Natalie hugging Mom.

Natalie and Dad. We are so proud of her and very excited for the experiences she will have in the Navy! :)