Hacker Family Day of Fun Part 2

Ok, so where did we leave off??  I think our next stop was Crown Candy Kitchen.  This place is an institution in St. Louis.  There is always a line out the door, or so we have heard.  And in fact, there was a line out the door when we go there.  The Food Challenge guy has visited this place.  The challenge is to drink 5 milkshakes in an hour.  Wade and I each had a milkshake and I can say I couldn't finish one in an hour, let alone 5.  The milkshakes were delicious, very rich.  The great part about this place is that you can carry out your ice cream and skip the line, wahoo!  So that is what we did.

The kids played in, on, and around these circles while daddy went in to get the ice cream.  It kept them entertained!



Both of the girls got chocolate.  The portions were very generous! 



Next we headed to Turtle Park.  Which is basically a little park right next to the highway that has turtle sculptures for the kids to climb on.  If it hadn't been so cold, I would have enjoyed it more.  The kids did not seem to mind the cold at all.  Really, we were just killing time before we went to the arch.  I had bought tickets on line to avoid the line and we had a little extra time that I didn't have planned out.

  



After playing here for a while we headed down to the arch.  We were still a little early, but they let us in line early, so that worked out great.  If you have never been, it is pretty neat.  You go up the arch in this little elevator car they call an egg.  It is very small and they shove 5 people in it.  I, really, am not a fan.  It is small and hot.  It takes 4 minutes to go up and 3 minutes to come down.  The kids didn't mind it.  At the top there are small windows that you can look out over the city or over the dirty river, whichever you prefer.  Keira really thought it was neat. 

The view of the city.

The View from the other side.  I thought the shadow was neat. 

The view from outside, directly under the arch.

The girls looking out the little window.

After this, we headed to Build A Bear workshop to finish up our day.  Keira had been begging to go to one for months and months and there isn't one super near the house, so that was how we ended the day. 

Overall, it was a lot of fun and totally exhausting.  Mallory did really well up until the very end.  For a two year old with no nap and hopped up on sugar, she did great! 

I am already planning Hacker Family Day of Fun, Take 2!

Hacker Family Day of Fun

Stomach flu be damned, this family was going to have some fun!  We had big plans last weekend of heading out of town for a weekend of fun and friends, but those got spoiled when Wade woke up the day before we were suppossed to leave with the stomach flu.  We had some disappointed people in the house, so this weekend we decided to make up for it.  I named it, "Hacker Family Day of Fun" and boy was it a full day of fun!  And what better way to start out a day of fun ....

Yes, thats right, Donuts for breakfast.  I figured we were going to be eating crap all day anyway, why not start out all sugared up?!?  Ha. 

Our first destination was The City Museum.  http://www.citymuseum.org/  This is quite a crazy place.  It if filled with slides, tunnels, skate ramps to run up and down, a miniature train, ball pits and all other sorts of unique things.  Keira's favorite part was the 10 story twisty slide.  It was a long walk up, but a very fun ride down. 

Inside the mouth of a whale

Next to an elephant

There were dinosaurs!

Lots and lots of slides and places to climb.

Another slide .... This one was my favorite.  It was super fast!

Ropes to swing on.

There is also a large outdoor area that we didn't get to see as well as a rooftop part for climbing.  It was pretty nuts.  It is definitely great for wearing kids out, but what I didn't like was that there were lots of small tunnels and climbing areas the adults couldn't fit that they kids could sneak off into.  Very hard to keep track to the munchkins.  But we had fun and I counted this as my cross training workout for the week because of the amount of stairs we climbed!

Next we headed to Fitz's Rootbeer for Lunch.  http://www.fitzsrootbeer.com/  A restaurant where they bottle their own root beer.  The root beer was really good.  I let the girls have pop for the first time ever.  Both chose orange.  Mallory loved it, but I think Keira was a little disappointed.  She didn't drink much of hers.  I think she thought it was going to be great and then, not so much.  But she put on a great face.  Food was average ... burgers and wraps.  We did get to see the root beer being bottled, so that was cool and kept the kids attention for a bit.

Mallory with her Orange Pop, which she finished!

Keira with her Orange Pop ... Putting on a good face!

Mallory looking a little too happy to be shooting her sister!

Keira loving her grilled cheese, she would eat grilled cheese every day if I would let her!

Stay tuned tomorrow for more of Hacker Family Day of Fun ... we visited the Crown Candy Kitchen, Turtle Park, and the Top of the Arch!



The Tooth Fairy

Well, she went and did it again. What you ask, did she do again? Grew up. Quite frankly, I am getting tired of it. :) She is getting way to big way too fast. Last week, she lost her first tooth. She was really excited. And, she pulled it out herself. Which is good, because Momma doesn't do teeth. There are very few things that gross me out, but teeth is definitely one of them. Just ewwww. She went into the bathroom one day after school while I was making dinner and then walked into the kitchen and handed it to me. I almost fainted. She handled it like a pro and I got to be tooth fairy for the first time. It was fun. I left her a cute little letter and some money which she chose to spend on a Magic Tree House book. I, I mean the tooth fairy, was clear in the letter, that the first tooth is special and all subsequent teeth will not generate a $5 bill. We will see how that goes as she has two other teeth that are loose now. She only had one request of the tooth fairy ... she wanted to keep her tooth. Uhh, hell no! It would smell, right? And rot? Ugh, gross times 12. Sorry kiddo, take the $5 and run!

Red Velvet Disaster

I have been obsessed with baking lately, but more on that later, right now, I just had to share this picture of Mallory who was enjoying some of the batter for the Red Velvet Heart Cookies I made for valentines day. What a mess! But she sure enjoyed it!


Here are the cookies, they were really good! I made cake balls once using red velvet and didn't care for them at all, but these cookies were delicious and cute! I put them in little cellophane bags and gave them out at playgroup. Too cute!

What we do when Daddy has the stomach flu ...

What? You are telling me you don't try to balance 2 liter bottles on your head when your husband has the stomach flu???

Are you ready for some football?

Since the birthday party is over, I have turned my attention to football food for the big game on sunday. I have to say that I am quite jealous of those of you in Indy. I have missed being there this week reading about all the fun things going on in the city. Hope you got a chance to enjoy some of the events. Here is what our menu is going to include:

Taquitos http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/04/baked-creamy-chicken-taquitos/
I haven't ever made these before, but they sound yummy. And yes, they will be without cheese for that loving husband of mine.

Guacamole and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus served with chips, carrots, crackers, etc

Meatball sliders

Chicken Wings - Wade's in charge of these, he is going to make them on the grill this year.

Mini Pigs in a Blanket - the kids favorite

Cheesy Garlic Breadsticks - http://www.laurenslatest.com/fail-proof-pizza-dough-and-cheesy-garlic-bread-sticks-just-like-in-restaurants/
I haven't ever made this before either, but really, how can I go wrong??? Reminds me of cheese sticks from college. Hope they are as good.

Black Forest Trifle - http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/black-forest-mousse-dessert-90590.aspx
You TTT girls will remember this. An old favorite. I think I might have a sister in law that loves it too ;)

That is all I can think of, I think there are probably a few other things but that about tops it off. Should be a good time.

GO GIANTS!

Its Winter? Really?!?

It is hard to believe that we are already through the month of January. We've had hardly any snow, our heat bill has been awesome, and we've been playing outside all week! Who can ask for anything more?? Yesterday we had a picnic in the driveway with our afternoon snack.

As those of you with two kids or more know, you can't ever get a good picture of both of them. Top one is good of Keira, bottom one is good of Mal. :)

I