Still Here - Part 2

Ok, if you are still here with me, here we go...

Tues, June 12th: St. Louis Zoo
On Tuesday, both my parents' were off work so we took the boys down to the St. Louis Zoo. That such an AWESOME zoo - and most of it is free! Can't beat that!! It was a VERY warm day and there was a good amount of people there, but over all it was a good trip. Zach wasn't into the animals much, but he LOVED watching all the people. Of course I have to share a few pictures from our trip Ready to start our morning at the zoo
Where are we?!?

A proper lady elephant always crosses her legs (Mommy to the new baby elephant, Jade born this February
Look at all those fish!
A lazy day of people watching

Man it's hot out here!

Mommy loves the giraffs
Boy they sure are BIG!

LOVE my new camera! You would never guess these little gals were down in a deep pit!

Wed, June 13th: Visit to Great-Grandma Stroud
On Wednesday my mom had to work, but my dad had taken the day off so we went to visit my grandma (my dad's mom) at her nursing home. We visited with her outside in their gazebo.
Back at my parents' the boys napped and then we took them outside to swing & run off some energy after dinner

Thurs, June 14th: Visit to Whittle Shortline & Daddy returns from Las Vegas
My mom was off work so we took the boys to Toys R Us and then to Whittle Shortline Railroad Factory & Store in Valley Park. It is a little store that makes wooden train pieces and sells them as well as Thomas the Train and Brio pieces. It also has one huge and 4 smaller wooden train tables set up for the kids to play with and try out all the different pieces (pretty smart idea to let them play with the pieces and then get them to bug their parents to by them). There were quiet a few kids there and Drew had a blast playing with all the trains and other kids. He kept trying to start conversations with other kids, but most of them just stared at him like he was from another planet (guess you don't talk to eacher at those kinds of places...just play next to each other). Finally he just went over to one of the smaller tables that no one was at and started playing by himself Problem was when it was time to leave, Drew didn't want to and threw a MAJOR fit even though he had got to play there for over an hour! After my dad got off work, he went to pick up John from the airport. John had spent the week out in Las Vegas playing in 2 of the World Series of Poker tournaments (didn't place in either of them...in fact only last a couple hours in each of them) with some friends. Oh, and Zach got to try out Grandpa & Grandma's piano for the first time. He LOVED it! My little Mozart

Fri., June 15th:
Uneventful day hanging around my mom & dad's house

Sat., June 16th: Shopping & A Visit to see Great-Grandma Jackson
Saturday morning my parents & I headed out with the boys to Target & then SAMS. Just picked up some boring necessary items at Target, and then my parents did their shopping for their annual 4th of July picnic at SAMS. When we got home, we dropped off my parents and picked up John and headed to see his Grandma (John's mom's mom). We took her out to lunch and then went back to her place for a little visit. It was good to see her since we hadn't seen her since Christmas. We then went back to my parents, where Drew helped wash my parents' Durango and our van That evening John and I went out. We were going to go to dinner and try and catch a movie, but when we got to the theatre to check the times, "Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer" was getting ready to start in 15 minutes so we decided to just get nachos and see the movie. A GREAT movie btw - LOVED it! I think I might have actually liked it better than the original...although I'm not a comic book follower so for those people it might not have been as good. After the movie we swung by the Cheesecake Factory and picked up some cheesecake for us and my parents to take home with us. YUM! Good stuff!!

Sun, June 17th: Father's Day & Time to Head Home
Sunday morning I got up and had breakfast with my parents and the boys and then started packing to head home. I had completely forgotten to work on that on Saturday so I had a HUGE job! So while my parents watched the boys I packed and loaded the van. They had to leave before I finished for church, so we told them goodbye and off they headed while I finished up. It was after noon by the time I got that all done and we headed out. An uneventful trip home...although Zach was a little crabby about being stuck in his seat. It will be nice when we can turn his carseat around and he can watch movies with Drew during the drive. With all the packing and loading and then driving and unloading and unpacking....it completely slipped my mind about getting a Father's Day picture of John with the boys. So we did that Monday morning before John headed off to work...although I just realized as I am typing this that I forgot to get individual pictures of John with each of the boys...bummer...will have to try and get those before church this Sunday maybe. Anyway, here is one of the pictures from their annual Father's Day picture (taken a day late)

And with that I think that pretty much sums up our little vacation. We have just been trying to get the boys back in the routine of things around the house. And John and I have started WeightWatchers...count those points! Nothing planned for tomorrow, but Saturday should be busy with errands in the morning for me and then back home to paint trim and try and clean out part of the office so we can get Zach's crib in there and him sleeping in it at night!! He does fine sleeping in his bed during the day, but with us in the room at night he will not sleep in it!

Speaking of the little guy, sounds like he is awake again. So bye for now! I promise to try and make the next entry much shorter :)