Bison and goats and camels, oh my!

This past weekend we headed to Grant's Farm with Uncle Ky, Aunt Mer, Carter and Taylor.  Grant's Farm is one of the many free family friendly attractions in St. Louis.  You read that right, free.  And they serve free beer! Anheuser Busch is the best.  A kid friendly AND parent friendly attraction - check! While we didn't take advantage of the beer this time around, I'm sure we'll do so in the future. Especially since Ky and Mer are moving within walking distance of the place.

After parking, you take a long tram ride through the grounds, over hills, past Ulysses S. Grant's cabin, and animals of all sorts.  And these animals are close.  Like too close for comfort (at least for Uncle Ky who was a little freaked by the close proximity of the bison to his seat).

At the end of the tram ride are a number of animals that you can see, pet and even feed. Our favorite spot? The goats chugging milk from bottles.  Lill's giggles during this part of the visit were just priceless. At the end of it all is a large beer garden with concessions to fuel up for or cool down from your visit. It was a beautiful day to get out and explore with cousins and we'll definitely be back!

Lilly enjoyed the up close and personal animals

Our Phoenician Friends

I don't even know if that is a word, but I was trying to figure out the Phoenix version of 'Michigander' and that's what Google suggested.  I'll take it.

You may recall our trip to Phoenix this past March for some warmth and sunshine as well as to visit our dear friends, Andy, Andrea and Nicholas.  Well, this August we were lucky enough to receive a visit from them! They stayed with our other friends, Paige and Chris, but we spent as much of the weekend together as possible.  Corey even spent the night there one night; sipping fancy bourbon (or so I hear) and reminiscing about the Northwestern days.  They got in on Friday so we all headed over to the Larose's.  The kids played and the parents caught up. The kiddos then took a group bath before bedtime.  (Lill went down over there such that mom and dad could enjoy dinner with the adults and spend some more time with the Stone's during their visit)

Saturday we made our first visit to the City Museum before an afternoon nap and then adult night out. We went to I Fratellini, a quaint little restaurant with delicious Italian cuisine and a wonderful ambiance.  Wonderful food with even better company; all while relaxing without kiddos?  What more could you ask for?

Sunday the crew headed over to our place for a pool party and barbecue.  Unfortunately the weather didn't really coopoerate at it was unseasonable cool (which is rather ironic as the last time the Stone's visited, Labor Day 2013, was unseasonable sweltering...they just can't win).  The kids and dad's got in for a little bit and the kids enjoyed playing with the water for hours to come.  We ate, played and enjoyed our last day all together before the Stone's headed back home.

It was a wonderful weekend and is so fun to watch these great college buddies reunite.  While so much has not changed, so much has....like the number of 'mini-me's' running around.  And next year will just add 2 more.  That's right, the Stone's shared that they are expecting as well just a couple months after us!

Exploring at the City Museum

It's a...

Bouncing Baby Boy!!!

I still don't really get why they say that...but the ultrasound technician said that he was moving all over the place so she was having trouble getting all the views she needed.  She managed to get them all, just required a bit of maneuvering from her and mama :-)

Lill came along and was a bit concerned by what the doc was doing to mama on that bed thing in the dark.  Once we found 'the goods', Grandma took Lill out to the hallway to run around and let off some steam. Corey and I stuck around to confirm he had all the parts; arms, legs, cute little feet, 4 chambers of the beautifully beating heart, two kidneys, etc.  Most important of all, it seems we have a healthy little guy on our hands (or, in my belly).

We ended the evening by picking up carry out, heading home to share the news with big boy cousin, Carter and the rest of the family.  We whispered the news to him so that he could tell everyone.  He was very excited to shout, "IT'S A BOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!"