Summer Bucket List - Post Ten (ARCH!)

I started noticing last week that the summer is already feeling like it's drawing to a close. School clothes and supplies are hitting the stores, and the parents of the kids I sit for are starting to send me their schedules. I looked at the calendar and was shocked - how can it be that we only have a few weeks left before Nora starts preschool?!?!?!?!?!?!!!! My summer plan of "focusing on her before things get crazy and then the baby arrives" is rapidly diminishing.

So, in my panic, I decided that day that when Nora woke up from nap, we were going somewhere fun - and it ended up being the St. Louis Arch. I had asked Cory earlier in the summer if he wanted to come with us and he looked at me like I was nuts, so Nora and I trekked out with Mimi across the river. We had relatively good luck with going on an overcast Monday afternoon - we got there and it wasn't too hot for the walk across the park. Nora saw the arch for the first time and said "Wow." :) Not too climactic, I know! She did ask a few questions on the way to the arch about going up in it, and I answered her as best I could. It had been at least ten years since I went up in it myself!

Thanks to our great timing, we didn't have to wait very long for the "Journey to the Top". Nora was a little nervous about the ride up (it's VERY enclosed and - let's face it - kind of freaky) but she did a really good job! At the top I tried to show her some things that she might recognize (like the river, the bridges, and the baseball stadium) and pointed out the difference between the rural Illinois side and the not-so-rural Missouri side. She enjoyed looking out the little windows and telling me about what she saw.

After the uneventful ride back down, we walked around the museum a little. Nora loved seeing all the animals and wagons, but has not been in too many museums so she was confused about why she had to stay off of them. :) After that it was dinner time, so we headed to the Old Spaghetti Factory on the landing. YUMMY! :) There was a balloon guy there and Nora was thrilled when he made her a blue giraffe.

After dinner, Mimi took us on a horse-and-buggy ride through the brick streets of the landing. It was fun, but REALLY bumpy - this preggo momma was sore after that! We took a 15 minute ride, and then Nora got to feed the horse some carrots.

After that, it was home to daddy!

I was pretty sore the next day, but I am still thankful we got a chance to do that. :) What a fun trip!
Until next time . . .