family vacation

Spring Break is officially finished and yesterday was back to business as usual — my husband went to work, our son went to school and I did our taxes. Sounds like fun, eh? I actually didn’t mind the shift back to real life, because our family adventure to St. Louis last week was a perfect three-day respite for the early spring blues.

Our son had never been to the far side of the state, so St. Louis was a fun trip for our youngster (and a Mom and Dad who hadn’t been in many years). We had originally planned to visit this summer, but it seems like we are always in a dead sprint when school lets out so we decided to move up the date a bit. We knew the weather would be iffy in March but we decided to risk it, and the cold and rain cooperated for most of the outdoor parts.

We visited the St. Louis Zoo the first day, with its playful polar bear, butterfly garden and oodles of other cute and/or ferocious creatures. Admission to the zoo is free, but it costs $15 to park (oversized vehicles cost extra), and an Adventure Pass is also an additional fee. The pass covers all the fun stuff like the train, petting zoo, sea lion show and carousel, and you can definitely save money by purchasing the pass instead of paying for each event individually. We received an additional discount on our passes because we are season ticket holders at our local zoo, so make sure you ask about that.

The third day we visited the Gateway Arch and took a riverboat ride along the mighty Mississippi. It turned off cold and rainy that day, but other than the walk from the parking lot we were inside most of the day. We couldn’t see much from the top of the Arch because it was so cloudy, but that gave the view from there its own sort of mystique. I remembered the cramped egg-shaped tram to the top from my teenage years, but this time it was so much fun to see the thrill of adventure register in my little guy’s eyes! Thankfully I purchased tickets online weeks ahead of time, or we might have been tempted to skip the day’s activities because of the gloomy weather. . . and it was certainly worth braving the elements.

You can purchase combo tickets for the Arch and the riverboat ride, which will save you a few dollars and give you a set time to start both activities. It cost us $30 per adult and $19 per child for the combination tickets. Our ride on the river was a dry and warm endeavor, because let me tell you, the “Becky Thatcher” has a heater that will keep you toasty! We didn’t spend much time on the cold, wet deck, but we did nab a table by the large windows, perfect for city viewing and hotdog eating.

Yes, I know I skipped day two, but only because I wanted to save our favorite adventure for last — the City Museum! While it’s not really a museum in the standard sense of the word, it must be one of the coolest man-made places on Earth! I’m not even sure how to describe this place. . . It’s like a rabid welder crossed Carlsbad Caverns with the rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland and created an incredibly insane multi-storied play place for children and their adults. This place is soooo cool! I’m not sure who had the most fun? Wait, yes I do; I think it was me!!!

Admission is $14 for anyone three and up, but there are special rates after 5 pm or Fridays and Saturdays. When the roof is open (it wasn’t while we were there), access costs an extra $5. Don’t bother trying to pick a less busy day to visit, because according to a couple of workers the place is very popular every day between March and October. I do recommend you go on a day it isn’t raining, because there is a huge outdoor area that shuts down during inclement weather. We got lucky the day we visited because the rain didn’t start until we were walking to our car. It was another cooperative weather day for the family vacay!

As you can see, St. Louis was an awesome and energetic adventure for our little clan of three and you might understand why it wasn’t so difficult to slip back into the usual routine. Okay, so completing the taxes and discovering a refund didn’t hurt my Monday either.

We returned from our Florida family vacation last week; and while it’s so good to be home, I feel like I’ve been playing catch-up for the last several days. I sure do love to travel, but I always love to come home. I think it makes me appreciate what I have. . . and home is a good thing to have.

My in-laws rented a house for the whole family smack dab in the middle of the state and we descended on the hapless retirement community in true crazy family fashion. We arrived in shifts with several days of overlap, so we had some good time together, but never quite toppled into the typical family bickering and complaining stage (and, yes, most of you know exactly what I’m saying).

This year’s trip was full of firsts, so I thought I would share a few fun photos with you. What began as our son’s first airplane flight immediately became our son’s first three-hour airport delay, as we waited and waited for our plane to arrive. We made the most of it with dinner, plane watching and puzzles (I am so glad I packed several kid-friendly time fillers), but it was barely light enough to see the earth fall away when we finally took off after 9:00pm. Our son didn’t care, he was all in for this trip.

One of our first stops (when we actually made it to Florida) was Sea World — another first for our son, and one for my husband too. We arrived early and spent an entire day visiting most of the rides, shows and attractions. We chose Sea World for several reasons: 1) we enjoy the animal interaction, 2) I don’t do Disney in the middle of the summer when the sun is hot and the lines are long (or visa versa), and 3) although I’m glad the Orca’s will be gaining their improved living conditions in the next few years, I wanted my son to see their awesome show before they retired.

Another first for our little guy was the ocean. He had never been to the coast, waded into the Atlantic or built castles in the sand. Check, check and check. We drove to Daytona one overcast day and had a fabulous time at a not-so-crowded beach along a stretch of super-fine white sand. It was a day of firsts for all of us. We had never been to “the world’s most famous beach,” and I had certainly never driven a car onto the sand as you are allowed to do. I kept thinking I would sink our little rented Ford Focus up to its axles, but I managed to keep moving through the thick sand and out the other side. Wish I could say the same for those other folks in that mini van.

The wildlife state park at Homosassa Springs was a fun little day trip for my son and a couple of nieces. We drove over one afternoon to see the alligators, manatees and other rescued animals at this fun little attraction. You can park in town and take a tram or boat ride to the actual park, and we finally got to spy a wild gator in the water as we boated back at the end of the day.

Of course we also threw in some golfing, swimming and other activities during the trip. We even found time to “find Dory” along the way. We wrapped up our Florida vacation with a daylight airplane ride, complete with our son’s first connecting flight, which suited him just fine.

Tag: family vacation

The Coolest Man-Made Place on Earth

Florida Vacation Full of Family Firsts