A Seven Hour Drive (Part 2 of 4)

Friday (continued)....

After Sonya's nap, we hit up the St. Louis Zoo. It's free other than the $12 you pay for parking. I have to admit that it's my favorite zoo. With limited time, we didn't get to see the big cats or the monkeys, but we were able to see the rhino, a hyena, cheetahs, fish, the hippos, elephants, apes, bears, and a few others. It was really cool that we got to see the zookeeper feeding the Andean Bears and the penguins!

Passing the St. Louis Arch on the way to the zoo!

Black Rhino

Hiding with Papa

Sonya w/ Papa & Grandma

Hippo

Cheetah sleeping

Choo Choo!

Elephants! (the baby was so cute!)

Posing by the gorilla statue (a tradition!)

Caleb & the gorilla

Mommy and Sonya

An attempt to get the three of us

Andean Bear

Penguins!!

Feeding the penguins

Flamingoes

Goofy family

Caleb & Papa rode in the Elevator

Passing Busch Stadium on the night of the last World Series game

The arch again (with a semi) haha

After dinner at Denny's, we ended the night with a bonfire and s'mores! There might've been some "bad" singing around the campfire after the kids were in bed. So glad there's not a video to prove it! :-)

Burning brush and tree branches

The flames were really bright!

Watching the fire

Justice and Caleb smelling Tim's feet.... lol

Playing with fire

Caleb and Kelly

Papa is still playing with the fire

Just waiting for the flames to die down

Ready for roasting marshmallows

Sonya watching the fire with Grandma

Not sure what Caleb was doing

Ah! Tim and Michelle (a close-up)

After the Christmas Tree was thrown on

To be continued with photos from Saturday....

A Seven Hour Drive (Part 1 of 4)

Caleb had two days off of school so daddy took off of work and we drove down to southern Illinois to visit Grandma and Papa Nikolai. We left right after school got out on Wednesday and drove 7 hours before arriving around 10:30pm. Caleb had fallen asleep in the car so we got his pajamas on and put him straight to bed when we got there. Sonya had dozed on and off in the car and was just too excited to go to sleep again. So she stayed up to visit with Grandma and Papa for a little bit.

Thursday was a pretty low-key day. We spent time at the house and ventured off to the farm where Grandma Nikolai volunteers. She showed us around a little and we all got to pet the horses. Sonya really LOVES horses, but is still a little shy when it comes to touching them (or any animal for that matter). I know she enjoyed watching them though and kept playing with the toy horse at Grandma's house during our entire stay there. "Neigh!"

At the farm

Papa and Sonya

Grandma and Caleb

Saying "hi" to Stanley

Petting Stanley

Chow time!

The mini's

Aunt Kelly with Caleb

Hello Buttercup!

Such a friendly horse

Friday was quite eventful. Before I go into that, I wanted to share a funny video of Caleb with his Papa. I crack up every time I watch it. Caleb's laugh is just so darn contagious. :-)

The Tickle Monster

VIDEO: Papa tickling Caleb (a pretty hilarious clip)

In the morning, we went over to the park to feed the ducks. Caleb was throwing bread right at them sometimes. When the bread ran out, the kids (and the adults) played on the playground.

Getting ready to feed the ducks

Sonya is throwing some bread

I think she actually got it in the water this time

Sonya has Papa wrapped around her finger

Look! A duck! 

Throwing more bread

Trying to figure out which one to throw it to

Swans, ducks, and geese

To be continued in another post.....

AWANA - Campfire Night

Caleb loves going to AWANA on Sundays -- well, most Sundays. He was pretty excited about the campfire night when they got to eat s'mores! All of the clubbers were supposed to invite a friend to come along and Caleb decided to bring TWO friends. I decided to stay and watch the Sparks club partially to see what they would be doing for the night and also to keep an eye on the extra kids. They talked about what fire and our tongues have in common. It was pretty funny to hear some of the responses the kids gave for the different questions.

Watching the fire

Listening to the AWANA commander

Roasting Marshmallows

Eating s'mores

Again

I enjoyed watching the kids play different games as a way to build each other up. It added excitement for the kids and entertainment for the spectators. :-)

Playing games

Posing for the picture

Caleb is a fast little man

This was before Caleb got "out"

Being goofy

Caleb stacking cups

He did it!

Now it's Gabe's turn

Stacking them back inside each other

Stevin gets to try now

Awesome job!

Go!!!

Picking out their team's victory treat

While the clubbers were in council time sharing the verses they memorized, the new friends got to talk to Pastor Seth for a little while. Caleb got to do his verses first so he could join his friends right away. They talked about what they are afraid of -- the dark, various critters, dying, etc. Death doesn't have to be so scary if you know where you're going afterward. Thank goodness for Jesus and the loving sacrifice He gave!

Listening to Pastor Seth