The Fourth

This year we had a truly fabulous Fourth, celebrating with lots of our favorite people.  We started our holiday weekend in St. Louis, checking in at world's best Hampton Inn.  First, let me just say that I think we all are getting a bit spoiled - luggage cart rides, free cookies, Diamond Elite parking, ginormous breakfast!  (Thank you, Grandpa!!)

This trip, we decided to check a big item off the kids' STL to do list:  the St. Louis Zoo!  We picked up Grandma bright and early, then headed to Forest Park.  The weather was perfection.  We snapped a quick pic in front of the World's Fair Pavilion before heading to see the animals.

The kids got the full experience, from carousels to chimpanzees...

Annalise insisted on making a visit to the herpetarium (!).

No St. Louis Zoo experience would be complete without a train ride!

Our final stop was the River's Edge, where we were greeted by elephants - and Grandpa!  Having just flown back in town from a business trip, he met us at the Zoo, and then our whole crew went to lunch at the Forest Park Boathouse.  There we ran into Uncle Steve and Aunt Linda, who were visiting from Tennessee (small world!).  It was a fun-filled morning, and the kids were snoozing alongside their new St. Louis Zoo red pandas before we even exited the park.

In the evening, Adam and I met up with our STL friends at Anheuser-Busch Brewery (InBev who?).  It had been a long time since we had taken the brewery tour, but that didn't stop us from indulging in some similar photo ops.  ;)

After the tour, we enjoyed free samples in the fantastic new (not really new, but new to us) biergarten.

So grateful for all these friends who came out and spent quality time with us!

 
The following day, we got in the Fourth of July spirit at G&G's house.  Everyone was decked out in their red, white, and blue.

Adam, Annalise, and Grandpa made the pilgrimage to a fireworks stand across the county line, and, when the rain stopped, we were ready to go.  Sparklers, fountains, Roman candles, oh my!

Our mini display was a hit, and, before long, a small crowd of neighborhood kids had gathered to watch.  I think they were genuinely disappointed when we used the last of our supply and headed inside. 

We capped off the night with some delicious desserts!

Sweet dreams indeed...

On the 3rd, we returned to the OP for Chip's birthday party.  Not pictured:  as we were preparing to leave the hotel, Andrew had a massive blowout while sitting on my lap, then followed that up by biting my leg with his blue Fruit Loop mouth.  Three guesses as to what I was wearing!  If you said white jeans, then you win!  Thank goodness for the Tide stick.  ;)

For the Fourth, we met our friends at the super fun, family friendly VillageFest in PV.  Annalise again was mesmerized by the dinosaurs, while Andrew had his fill of pancakes.

The petting zoo was a big hit once again.  We encountered a bit of a stumbling block at the bounce house (notice Mommy entering the house to retrieve Andrew in the pic below), but all's well that ends well.

In the evening, the kids indulged my request for a front porch photo shoot.  Then, the Green clan and G&N Walker came over for sparklers and snakes.

There is something about a burning "snake" that is just mesmerizing to children...

As dusk fell, we headed to the overlook in our subdivision, suckers and glow sticks in tow.

We watched three different displays from afar, and were home in our beds at 10.  Putting this one in the win column!  Happy Fourth, y'all!